1012 CE stone inscription from Akshi taluka of Raigad district, and a 1060 or 1086 CE copper-plate inscription from Dive that records a land grant ( agrahara) to a Brahmin. The earliest Marathi-only inscriptions are the ones issued during the Shilahara rule, including a c. Several inscriptions dated to the second half of the 11th century feature Marathi, which is usually appended to Sanskrit or Kannada in these inscriptions. Marathi, a derivative of Maharashtri, is probably first attested in a 739 CE copper-plate inscription found in Satara. A committee appointed by the Maharashtra State Government to get the Classical status for Marathi has claimed that Marathi existed at least 2300 years ago alongside Sanskrit as a sister language. The earliest example of Maharashtri as a separate language dates to approximately 3rd century BCE: a stone inscription found in a cave at Naneghat, Junnar in Pune district had been written in Maharashtri using Brahmi script. Marathi inscription at the foot of Bahubali statue at Jain temple in Shravanabelagola is the earliest known Marathi inscription found.

In its phonology, it contrasts apico-alveolar with alveopalatal affricates and alveolar with retroflex laterals ( and (Marathi letters ल and ळ respectively).

Marathi distinguishes inclusive and exclusive forms of 'we' and possesses a three-way gender system, that features the neuter in addition to the masculine and the feminine. The major dialects of Marathi are Standard Marathi and the Varhadi dialect. The language has some of the oldest literature of all modern Indian languages, dating from around 600 AD. Marathi has the third largest number of native speakers in India, after Hindi and Bengali. Marathi ranks 10th in the list of languages with most native speakers in the world. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India, with 83 million speakers as of 2011. It is the official language of Maharashtra, and a co-official language in Goa and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.

Marathi ( English: / m ə ˈ r ɑː t i/ मराठी, Marāṭhī, Marathi: ( listen)) is an Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by Marathi people in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Regions where Marathi is the language of a significant minority

Marathi barakhadi in english pdf