The cities of Baroda, Surat, and Ahmedabad (Gujrat), Belgaum (Karnataka), Indore, Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh), Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh) and Tanjore (Tamil Nadu) each have sizable Marathi-speaking communities. Marathi is primarily spoken in Maharashtra and parts of neighbouring states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Chattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh, union-territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Standard Marathi is the official language of the State of Maharashtra. There are a few other sub-dialects like Ahirani, Dangi, Vadvali, Samavedi, Khandeshi, and Malwani. The major dialects of Marathi are called Standard Marathi and Warhadi Marathi. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India Marathi has some of the oldest literature of all modern Indo-European, Indic languages, dating from about 1000 AD. It is the 19th most spoken language in the world. It is the official language of Maharashtra state of India and is one of the 23 official languages of India. Marathi /məˈrɑːti/ (मराठी Marāṭhī ) is an Indo-Aryan language.
