Illustrious by all means – Marathi brings me joy
You may find it hypocritical to read about my mother tongue ‘Marathi’, in a completely different language. But the point of writing this article in English is to tell how beautiful, intricate and culturally rich my language is. I want to tell this to everyone in the world, and not just Maharashtrians. Though Marathi is this historic and ethnic, I won’t bore you with the historical dates and important milestones of the development of language of Maharashtra. I would like to tell you more about the joy it brings me.
Recently, I was interacting with a few foreigners as a Marathi writer and poet. It was on one of the social media forums. They were happy that someone is really passionate about creating literature Marathi, a minor language from India. At first, I got a bit offended by their “Minor Language” remark, but on a second thought, I realized it wasn’t their fault. They are ignorant about Marathi language and heritage of Marathi literature. This is because we don’t boast about it, even if we boast about it, we do it in Marathi. This is the exact reason why I have to write about Marathi literature in English. It’s us, the Marathi people who are at fault for to not make the work of our writers known to the world. Marathi literature isn’t being translated widely into English or other foreign languages.
The entire Marathi community, the 83 million people speak Marathi as our first language. It’s with great joy that I can proclaim that Marathi gets the 10th spot in world’s most spoken language and 3rd most spoken in India right after Hindi and Bengali. We have stalwart novelists, poets and writers of other forms of literature who have won accolades like the Jnanpith Award for their outstanding contribution to Indian Literature. Theatre, music and other performing arts flourished with contributions of many great Marathi artists.
Through this blog series, I would like to take an opportunity to introduce you to the fine jewels of Marathi literature and culture. A small step towards taking the minor to medium if not major. Hope you all will enjoy it.
I am taking my Alexa Rank to the next level with #MyFriendAlexa. My current ranking is 6,990,756. I am trying to improve on this. Hope you all enjoy my Marathi poems. I would like to thank Blogchatter for the support you guys extend to us.
What a splendid job you are doing. Not just Marathi, I think most regional literature needs exposure. I belong to the hill state of Himachal. We have a dialect but no script as such. With English and Hindi talking over the hill states, the pahadi language is almost over now and we need serious work in this direction. So wonderful on your part. Will look forward to your series.
Thanks Sonia, Hope you will bring some glory to Pahadi in near future. Best of luck for your journey too!
There are many Indian languages which have splendid histories and literature as well as culture. I’m glad you’re going to present the wealth of Marathi in this series.
Indeed. Many regional languages have a long legacy to be proud of. Let’s try to bring a global glory for them.
Marathi is similar to Hindi and easily understandable.
That’s quite true. If you are well-versed with Hindi, understanding Marathi is not that tough if you can catch the nuances.
Mother tongue is special for all of us. I have a few Marathi friends and have realised that some words sound very similar to Bengali. This is a good effort on your end to raise literary awareness.
Interesting, I wasn’t aware about such similarities. I would love to learn Bengali some day. It’s my long cherished dream. I want to dive in the rich world of Bangla literature.
I am a translator and I love languages, so this was really refreshing and nice. There is so much of regional literature that needs to reach the world out there.
So true, I also indulge in translations some times. However, I haven’t published any of them yet. I have done it for my self.
Great post, makes me more proud about myself being a proud Marathi. Not to boast but I stay out of Maharashtra but follow spoken & written language, have all customs like ganpati, mahalakshmi at my place, have taught my kids all evening vandana and often tell them about the history of great people, Marathi theater and songs.
If we as mentors wont be proud and spread about our culture and language, the coming generations will completely forget it..
I look forward to read the complete series this October.
That’s a great thing about following our language. if not us, then who would do it. Festivities and culture is a big part. Hope you will enjoy the series. 🙂 thanks for boosting my moral!
Growing up as a Bengali brought up outside Bengal, I knew how to read, write, and talk Bengali fluently. Yet I refused to talk with someone I met socially in anything but English or Hindi because of how Bengalis get shamed for launching into mother tongue in public spaces. People from the southern states face this too. This is how languages will die over time and only English and Hindi will remain in this country. I’ve grown up in Maharashtra and everyone I know takes pride in the language. But I also agree with your observation. Regional languages must be promoted and made as mainstream as English and Hindi are in this country.
Absolutely loved this initiative of yours.
Thanks a lot for the moral booster. I always had dream to learn Bengali language. It kept me inviting. Unless we keep talking, reading and writing our languages, they won’t last. However, that doesn’t mean one has to hate other languages. They are simply a tool to communicate. That’s why I chose English as a medium to put these thoughts across.
The expressions are so well captured in Marathi. It feels great to follow and read more poems through this series.
Indeed, I would be presenting a couple of my favorite poets in this series.
LOvely post. I took to liking marathi as a language when my daughter had it as a compulsory subject in her STD Xth board exams. Some of the pronunciations are tough, nonetheless I can speak fluently. Happy to be a Maharastrian by choice. Jai Maharastra.
Thats an interesting theme. Good to know about the Marathi language. Looking forward to know more.
A good read, oflate we are neglecting our mother tongue, I havent studied my mother tongue in school too, so trying to learn the language now and trying to read my blogposts in mother tongue with a translator enabled.. baby steps but is an area I would focus on in coming days… No mother tongue is small or big, it is something which we relate ourselves too.. Thanks for sharing!
It’s never late to start anything new. Best of luck for the efforts!!
I remember having few translated Marathi plays in English for my Indian Literature class. They were pretty interesting. I think one was ‘Aadhe Adhure
‘ and ‘The Other Woman’
There are few translations out there. But they are very few.
Absolutely as you have written…not just Marathi but all our regional languages need a boost. We always look up to English for reading but regional literature has such rich stories to tell. Your point of view comes across aptly in this post!
Thanks for the compliments, hope you will enjoy the upcoming series too
Wonderful initiative and much needed in today’s times. I try my best to give the exposure of different languages to my kids and am glad that at a very young age he can fluently speak 5 different languages, Marathi being one! I understand Marathi and am sure I’ll enjoy reading your posts too. Keep them coming.
Definitely. I will try my best to pick the best ones. Hope you will enjoy. Thanks for encouragement
I am from Maharashtra.I loved reading P. Deshpande s work . Truly Marathi language is beautiful.Thanks for these great insights on the language.
They wau P.L. picks different dialects of Marathi has no comparison
Marathi is a beautiful language ..I started with mala marathi yet nahi in my 1st year MBBS ..ending up learning a lot by the time I completed MD
Now you must be enjoying the intricacies of the language! It’s truly beautiful
This is going to be an interesting series for sure and will look forward to reading all your posts. I agree with you. Many Regional languages are underrated and need promotion and exposure that they need at the national level. I am an Odia which is recognized as the Sixth Classical language in India but nothing is ever promoted nor recognized. Even Odia Community staying within India & outside do very little. I agree with you, we ourselves have to be champions of our cause. All the Best!
I have a very limited idea about Odia heritage and culture. Please do share something Odia if you have. I would love to read
Thank you so much Adi for your interest. Writing something on a Classical language is not easy . But yes, I have been inspired by you and would love to bring forth something valuable after proper research.
Looking forward to your works
Thanks a lot. More power to you for doing the great work.
The literatures in Induan languages are right and beautiful. Looking forward to see your work regarding Marathi literature
Hope I will do the justice to the herculean task
Couldn’t agree more! Indian languages are just not given their due.I am a sardarni living in Andhra. I can read and speak the language not because I am a linguist but just because any regional language is beautiful..the etymology goes way back. I would love to learn Marathi
This is an excellent topic and I am looking forward to read more. Regional languages are rarely promoted, even in art and literature. More so, kids today prefer to learn a foreign language than their own mother tongue. I particularly find it disturbing when “best regional books” promoted are the translations of pop culture bestsellers.
I think encouraging children to learn and read in mother tongue depends on kind of family background and how family look towards their own language. Kids can easily get attached to two languages in early stage.
I really enjoy conversing in Marathi with the people around me. During school days, we had some beautiful poems in our Marathi textbook. I had wonderful Marathi teachers who put life in the stories and poems when they taught. Looking forward to see your work.
You definitely are lucky to get wonderful teachers. When you get good language teacher, you get attached to one. I will try my best to do justice to the series.
Great initiative from your side and feels good to see how passionate you are for your mother tongue. I think it’s our responsibility to take all the regional languages to one step ahead. Looking forward to read more.
I will try to do justice to the great legacy of my language.
Rejoicing, preserving and promoting a language is extremely important. Marathi has been particularly very close to me owing to the fact that I have spent about a decade in the State now. I absolutely loved this post as much as I appreciate the splendid work you are doing!
Thanks for compliments!!
I believe, all regional languages are beautiful. I come from western UP, however my mother tongue is Punjabi. So, for me it was always a mix of two different genres. I love what you are doing to revive the love of local language. Learning marathi with daughter now.
It is not just Marathi but nearly all the regional languages that have been shadowed since the focus on English is far more. I applaud you for creating awareness, celebrating and preserving the Marathi language. I look forward to reading more of your work.
Marathi isn’t my mother tongue but I’ve been born and brought up in Maharashtra and am in love with the language. I remember making my friends talk to me only in Marathi so I could get the dialect right. I’m looking forward to your series since Marathi has some of the most prominent artists in theatre, music and even movies.
Thanks for compliments, hope I will do the justice to the language and heritage
It’s a great idea to know in-depth about our languages. The new education policy NEP 2020 also focuses on teaching in regional languages. Brought up in hyderabad I learnt telugu and I am glad that soon would be learning a new one.
Regional literature is going through a bad phase since book in English are more profitable. I am looking forward to your posts and discovering hidden gems.
Regional languages and literature dont get their due credit. You are doing a splendid job. I understand marathi very well… looking forward to your posts.
From last 13 years in Mumbai feels really proud of this language and glad to know more about this language!!
True, every language has it’s own importance and uniqueness and one cannot replace another and we have to understand this help flourish with unity as a nation.
My series has no intention to compete with any language. I am just willing to put forward the legacy I received
I suppose we can’t blame everyone of being ignorant when we Indians lack the facts too. I wasn’t even aware that marathi is the 10th most spoken language. On top of that even i don’t understand marathi. 😁😉 With your series i might learn something
That’s amazing that you’re speaking about regional languages. I feel that regional languages need that exposure.
Well this indeed is something I am going to enjoy. I agree that Marathi literature is not something that is readily promoted. In Marathi authors, the one I remember is Kavita Mahajan.
I am a Marathi mulgi and I am so glad you wrote about this. I grew up in a school where we were fined for speaking in regional languages. Many of my friends are ashamed to speak in their mother tongue and their kids don’t even know their language. Its sad…On the other hand, I use Marathi effortlessly while speaking and writing – it leaves many people surprised. When they act surprised, I ask myself, “Isn’t it common sense? Isn’t love for one’s mother tongue a natural phenomenon?” Turns out that it isn’t.
Thank god for writers like you who relentlessly pursue the love for their mother tongue. Kudos!
Thanks for such kind words . They boost my moral every day. I will try to do justice to the great legacy of our language
Nice post. Nice to read someone’s passion about their mother tongue.
Wonderful Initiative!
Am from Maharashtra living in Delhi, so it was so nice reading Marathi poem.
Great to know much more about the language. I feel I am blessed to stay in India and learn about different cultures and their uniqueness.
Nakkich kautukachi goshta ahe. Looking forward to reading this series on Marathi
Don’t comments on any language just trust and love your mother tongue