Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 71 million people mainly in the Indian state of Maharashtra and neighbouring states. Marathi is also spoken in Israel and Mauritius. Marathi is thought to be a descendent of Maharashtri, one of the Prakrit languages which developed from Sanskrit.

Marathi first appeared in writing during the 11th century in the form of inscriptions on stones and copper plates. From the 13th century until the mid 20th century, it was written with the Modi alphabet. Since 1950 it has been written with the Devanāgarī alphabet.

Devanāgarī alphabet for Marathi

Vowels and vowel diacritics

Consonants

Sample text in Marathi

Transliteration
Sarva manuṣyajāt janmataḥc svataṅtra āhe va srtajaṇāṅnā samān pratiṣṭhā va samān adhikār āhēt. Tyānnā vicāraśakti va sadasadvivekabuddhi lābhalelī āhe va tyāṅnī ekamekaṅśī baṅdhutvācyā bhāvanēnē ācaraṇ karāvē.

Listen to a recording of this text by Ganesh Deshmukh

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Thanks to Arvind Iyengar for providing the above sample text and to Mrunal for corrections to this page.

Links

Free Devanagari fonts
http://www.kiranfont.com

Devanagari script tutor
http://www.avashy.com/hindiscripttutor.htm

Speak Marathi - online lessons
http://www.marathimitra.com

Information about the Marathi language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathi

Marathi and Maharashtra related resources (in Marathi and English)
http://www.maayboli.com

History of the Marathi language
http://www.india4world.com/indian-language/marathi-language.shtml

Online Marathi newspaper
http://www.lokmat.com

Send email in Indian languages
http://www.rediff.com
http://www.sify.com

Other languages written with the Devanāgarī alphabet

Hindi, Marathi, Pali, Sanskrit, Sindhi

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