Marathi (मराठी Marāṭhī) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India  and is the fifteenth most spoken language in the world. Marathi has some of the oldest literature of all modern Indo-Aryan languages, dating from about 1000 AD. The major dialects of Marathi are called the Standard Marathi and the Warhadi Marathi.There are a few other sub-dialects like Ahirani, Dangi, Samavedi, Khandeshi . Standard Marathi is the official language of the State of Maharashtra. (source Wikipedia)