Marathi people

The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक, romanized: Marāṭhī lōka) or Marathis (Marathi: मराठी, romanized: Marāṭhī) are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a Marathi-speaking state of India in 1960, as part of a nationwide linguistic reorganisation of the Indian states. The term "Maratha" is generally used by historians to refer to all Marathi-speaking peoples, irrespective of their caste; however, now it may refer to a Maharashtrian caste known as the Maratha.

The Marathi community came into political prominence in the 17th century, when the Maratha Empire was established under Shivaji; the Marathas are credited to a large extent for reducing the Mughal emperor to a mere figurehead.