The Anartta country and its inhabitants were called Surastra and the Saurastras, probably after the Rattas (Rastras) akin to the Rastrikas of Asoka's rock Edicts, now known as Maharashtra and the Marathas.

[20] The Persian merchant and traveller, Sulaiman al-Tajir, who wrote of his many voyages to India and China in the mid-9th century CE, called the ruler of the Rashtrakuta dynasty, Amoghavarsha, "one of the four great kings of the world".

In 1707, upon the death of Aurangzeb, the Deccan wars came to an end after Shahu, son of Sambhaji who had grown up under Mughal captivity was released, and quickly reclaimed the Maratha throne.

The Maratha Confederacy was expanded by many Marathi chieftains including Peshwa Bajirao Ballal I and his descendants, the Shindes, Gaekwad, Pawar, Bhonsale of Nagpur, and the Holkars.

The Confederacy at its peak stretched from northern Karnataka in the south to Peshawar (modern-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) briefly during the Maratha–Afghan War[38] in the north, and to Orissa in the east.

At its peak under Maratha Koli[41] Admiral Kanhoji Angre, the naval force dominated the territorial waters of the western coast of India from Mumbai to Sawantwadi.

There were twelve kinds of servants under Bara Balutedar: Joshi (village priest and astrologer from Brahmin caste),[47] Sonar (goldsmith from Daiwadnya caste), Sutar (carpenter), Gurav (priest of Shiva temple), Nhawi (barber), Parit (washerman), Teli (oil pressers), Kumbhar (potter), Chambhar (cobbler), Dhor, Koli (fisherman or water carrier), Chougula (assistant to Patil), Mang (rope maker), and Mahar (village security).

[53][54] The introduction of printing, standardisation of Marathi, and establishment of modern schools and colleges during the early colonial era led to the spread of literacy and knowledge to many different sections of society such as women, the dalits and the cultivator classes.

[56][57] The most prominent personalities of Indian nationalism in the late 19th and early 20th century, Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Bal Gangadhar Tilak, on opposite sides of the political spectrum, were both Marathi.

[63] Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (1889–1966), a Marathi from Nashik district,[64] an Indian independence activist, who advocated violence to overthrow British rule in his youth, later formulated the Hindu nationalist philosophy of Hindutva.

[68] Although the British originally regarded India as a place for the supply of raw materials for the factories of England, by the end of the 19th century a modern manufacturing industry was developing in the city of Mumbai.

[82][83][84] For the first time, the creation of Maharashtra brought most Marathi people under one state with the mainly rural Kunbi-Maratha community as the largest social group.

They dominate the cooperative institutions and with the resultant economic power control politics from the village level up to the Assembly and Lok Sabha seats.

The rise of the Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party in recent years have not dented Maratha caste representation in the Maharashtra Legislative assembly.

The 1960s also saw the establishment by Bal Thackeray of Shiv Sena, a populist sectarian party advocating the rights of Marathi people in the heterogeneous city of Mumbai.

The Marathi people form an ethnolinguistic group that is distinct from others in terms of its language, history, cultural and religious practices, social structure, literature, and art.

[99] Majority of Marathi Hindu belong either to the cultivator caste cluster of Maratha and Kunbi, or one of the former village servant (Bara Balutedar) castes which include ‌Shimpi (Tailor), Lohar (Iron-smith), Suthar (carpenters), Mali (florists and cultivators), Dhobhi or Parit (washer), Gurav (village priest), Kumbhar (potters), Sonar (Goldsmith), Teli (oil pressers), Lingayats, Chambhar (cobbler), Mang (rope makers), Koli (fishermen or water carriers) and Nabhik (barbers).

Peshwa, Holkars, Scindia, and Gaekwad dynastic leaders took with them a considerable population of priests, clerks, army men, businessmen, and workers when they established new seats of power.

These groups formed the backbone of administration in the new Maratha Empire states in many places such as Vyara-Songadh of (Surat), Baroda (Vadodara), Indore, Gwalior, Bundelkhand, and Tanjore.

[117] After the African Great Lakes countries of Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika gained independence from Britain, most of the South Asian population residing there, including Marathi people, migrated to the United Kingdom,[118][119][120] or India.

Other ceremonies for different occasions in Hindu life include Vastushanti and "Satyanarayan" which is performed before a family formally establishes residence in a new house.

Like most other Hindu communities, the Marathi people have a household shrine called a devaghar with idols, symbols, and pictures of various deities for daily worship.

A ritual named Akshata is performed in which people around the groom and bride throw haldi (turmeric) and kunku (vermilion) coloured rice grains on the couple.

[note 1] After weddings and after thread ceremonies, many Maratha, Deshastha Brahmin and Dhangar families arrange a traditional religious singing performance by a Gondhali group.

During the nine days, Bhondla (also known as 'Bhulabai' in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra) is celebrated in the garden or on the terrace during evening hours by inviting female friends of the daughter in the house.

Like in other parts of India, Christmas is celebrated with zeal by the indigenous Marathi Catholics such as the Bombay East Indians & Korlai Portuguese Creole Luso-Indians.

[177] Most middle aged and young women in urban Maharashtra dress in western outfits such as skirts and trousers or salwar kameez with the traditionally nauvari or nine-yard sari, disappearing from the markets due to a lack of demand.

The Gandhi cap along with a long white shirt and loose pajama style trousers is the popular attire among older men in rural Maharashtra.

[186] Names like Kumbhar, Sutar, Kulkarni, Deshpande, Deshmukh, Patil, Desai, and Joshi denote the family's ancestral trade, profession, or administrative role.

[202] Many books on social reform were written by Baba Padamji (Yamuna Paryatana, 1857), Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Lokhitawadi, Justice Ranade, and Hari Narayan Apte (1864–1919).