The Marathi people or Maharashtrians (Devnagari/Marathi: मराठी माणसे, marāṭhī mānasé or महाराष्ट्रीय माणसे, mahārāSṭrīya mānasé) are an ethnic group of India that inhabits the Maharashtra region and as well as some border districts of Karanataka and Goa states in western India. Their language, Marathi, is part of the southern group of Indo-Aryan languages. Although their history goes back more than two millennia, the community came to prominence when Maratha warriors under Shivaji established the Maratha Empire in 1674.
