Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a
state in the
western peninsular region of
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
occupying a substantial portion of the
Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the
second-most populous state in India and the second-most populous country subdivision globally. It was formed on 1 May 1960 by splitting the bilingual
Bombay State
Bombay State was a large Indian state created at the time of India's Independence, with other regions being added to it in the succeeding years. Bombay Presidency (roughly equating to the present-day Indian state of Maharashtra, excluding ...
, which had existed since 1956, into majority
Marathi-speaking Maharashtra and
Gujarati-speaking Gujarat. Maharashtra is home to the
Marathi people
The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...
, the predominant ethno-linguistic group, who speak the
Marathi
Marathi may refer to:
*Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India
*Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people
*Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece
See also
*
* ...
language, the official language of the state. The state is divided into 6
divisions and 36
districts
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...
, with the state capital being
Mumbai, the
most populous urban area in India, and
Nagpur serving as the winter capital, which also hosts the
winter session of the
state legislature.
Godavari
The Godavari ( IAST: ''Godāvarī'' od̪aːʋəɾiː is India's second longest river after the Ganga river and drains into the third largest basin in India, covering about 10% of India's total geographical area. Its source is in Trimbakes ...
and
Krishna are the two major rivers in the state. Forests cover 16.47 per cent of the state's geographical area. Out of the total cultivable land in the state, about 60 per cent is used for grain crops in the Deccan region, rice in coastal Konkan, and other high rainfall areas.
Spread over , Maharashtra is the
third-largest state by area in India. It is bordered by the
Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of
Karnataka and
Goa to the south,
Telangana to the southeast and
Chhattisgarh to the east,
Gujarat and
Madhya Pradesh to the north, and the Indian
union territory of
Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu
Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu is a union territory in India. The territory was constituted through the merger of the former territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. Plans for the proposed merger were announced by th ...
to the northwest. The state has three international airports,
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (Mumbai),
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport (Nagpur), and
Pune Airport
Pune Airport is a customs airport located approximately northeast of the historic centre of Pune in the state of Maharashtra, India. The airport is a civil enclave operated by the Airports Authority of India at the western side of Lohaga ...
. The state is home to three railways headquarters viz.
Central Railway (
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus),
Konkan Railway
The Konkan Railway (abbreviated KR) is one of the 19 railway zones in India with its headquarters at CBD Belapur in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The first passenger train ran on Konkan railway tracks on 20 March 1993, between Udupi and ...
(
CBD Belapur
The Central Business District of Belapur (C.B.D Belapur) is a node of Navi Mumbai. The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation is headquartered in Belapur. The Reserve Bank of India maintains a branch office at CBD Belapur. This area is one of the ...
), and
Western Railway (Churchgate). The High Court of the state viz.
Bombay High Court is located in Mumbai. The state contributes 48 seats and 19 seats to the lower house
Lok Sabha and the upper house
Rajya Sabha, respectively. Maharashtra has been subject to
President's rule
In India, President's rule is the suspension of state government and imposition of direct Union government rule in a state. Under Article 356 of the Constitution of India, if a state government is unable to function according to Constitution ...
three times since its formation for a total of 156 days for different reasons. More than three-fourths of the population practice
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
, which is followed by
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or ''Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ma ...
and
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gr ...
. The state is home to four
UNESCO World Heritage Sites:
Ajanta,
Ellora and
Elephanta caves, and the
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus).
Maharashtra is one of the most industrialised states in India. The state's capital, Mumbai, is India's
financial
Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fin ...
and commercial capital.
[—]
— India's largest stock exchange
Bombay Stock Exchange
BSE Limited, also known as the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), is an Indian stock exchange. It is located on Dalal Street in Mumbai. Established in 1875 by cotton merchant Premchand Roychand, a Jain businessman, it is the oldest stock exchange i ...
, the oldest in Asia, is located in the city, as is
National Stock Exchange, which is second largest stock echange in India and one of world’s largest
derivatives exchanges. The state has played a significant role in the country's
social
Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not.
Etymology
The word "social" derives from ...
and
political life and is widely considered a leader in terms of
agricultural and
industrial production
Industrial production is a measure of output of the industrial sector of the economy. The industrial sector includes manufacturing, mining, and utilities. Although these sectors contribute only a small portion of gross domestic product (GDP), th ...
, trade and transport, and education.
[—]
—
— Maharashtra is among the most developed Indian states and continues to be the single largest contributor to the
national economy with a share of 14 per cent in all-India nominal
GDP.
[—]
—
—
— The
economy of Maharashtra
The economy of the state of Maharashtra is the largest in India. It is one of the most urbanised of Indian States.
Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra is considered the financial capital of India with the headquarters of almost all major bank ...
is the
largest in India, with a gross state domestic product (GSDP) of and GSDP per capita of .
The service sector dominates the state's economy, accounting for 69.3 per cent of the value of the output of the country. Although agriculture accounts for 12 per cent of the state GDP, it employs nearly half the population of the state. Maharashtra is the
fifteenth-highest ranking among Indian states in the
human development index
The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistic composite index of life expectancy, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income indicators, ...
.
The region that encompasses the state has a history going back many millennia. Prior to Indian independence, notable dynasties and entities that ruled the region include in a chronological order, the
Asmaka
Ashmaka ( Sanskrit: ) or Assaka (Pali: ) was a Mahajanapada in ancient India which existed between 700 BCE and 425 or 345 BCE according to the Buddhist texts '' Anguttara Nikaya'' and ''Puranas''. It was located around and between the Godava ...
s, the
Mauryas, the
Satavahanas, the
Western Satraps, the
Abhiras, the
Vakatakas, the
Chalukyas
The Chalukya dynasty () was a Classical Indian dynasty that ruled large parts of southern and central India between the 6th and the 12th centuries. During this period, they ruled as three related yet individual dynasties. The earliest dynasty ...
, the
Rashtrakutas
Rashtrakuta ( IAST: ') (r. 753-982 CE) was a royal Indian dynasty ruling large parts of the Indian subcontinent between the sixth and 10th centuries. The earliest known Rashtrakuta Indian inscriptions, inscription is a 7th-century copper plate ...
, the
Western Chalukyas, the
Seuna Yadavas, the
Khaljis, the
Tughlaqs, the
Bahamanis, the
Deccan sultanates
The Deccan sultanates were five Islamic late-medieval Indian kingdoms—on the Deccan Plateau between the Krishna River and the Vindhya Range—that were ruled by Muslim dynasties: namely Ahmadnagar, Berar, Bidar, Bijapur, and Golconda. The ...
, the
Mughals, the
Maratha Empire founded by
Shivaji, and the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
. Ruins, monuments, tombs, forts, and places of worship left by these rulers are dotted around the state. At the time of the
Indian independence movement
The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947.
The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged from Bengal. ...
in the early 20th century, along with British ruled areas of
Bombay presidency
The Bombay Presidency or Bombay Province, also called Bombay and Sind (1843–1936), was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India, with its capital in the city that came up over the seven islands of Bombay. The first mainl ...
, and
Central Provinces and Berar
The Central Provinces and Berar was a province of British India and later the Dominion of India which existed from 1903 to 1950. It was formed by the merger of the Central Provinces with the province of Berar, which was territory leased by the B ...
, the region included many British
Vassal states. Among these, the erstwhile
Hyderabad state
Hyderabad State () was a princely state located in the south-central Deccan region of India with its capital at the city of Hyderabad. It is now divided into the present-day state of Telangana, the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka, and ...
was the largest and extended over many modern Indian states. Other states grouped under
Deccan States Agency included
Kolhapur
Kolhapur () is a city on the banks of the Panchganga River in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarter of the Kolhapur district. In, around 2 C.E. Kolapur's name was 'Kuntal'.
Kolhapur is kno ...
,
Miraj
Miraj (Pronunciation: iɾəd͡z ) is a city in Sangli District and also in Maharashtra, India, that was founded in the early 10th century. It was an important jagir of the Adil Shahi court of Bijapur.
Shivaji Maharaj stayed in Miraj fo ...
,
Sangli
Sangli () is a city and the district headquarters of Sangli District in the state of Maharashtra, in western India. It is known as the Turmeric City of Maharashtra due to its production and trade of the spice. Sangli is situated on the bank ...
,
Aundh Aundh may refer to
* Aundh State, a princely state in British India
** Aundh Experiment, an early test of village-level self-government in British India
* Aundh, Satara, Satara District, Maharashtra, India
* Aundh, Pune, suburb of Pune, Maha ...
,
Bhor, and
Sawantwadi
Sawantwadi an aesthetic land of artists, is an integral part of the Konkan region which is in the mid-western coast of India.
The western coast of India since 1510 A.D. has assumed great importance in Indian history and history of internationa ...
.
Etymology
The modern
Marathi language evolved from the
Maharashtri Prakrit
Maharashtri or Maharashtri Prakrit ('), is a Prakrit language of ancient as well as medieval India and the ancestor of Marathi and Konkani.
Maharashtri Prakrit was commonly spoken until 875 CEV.Rajwade, ''Maharashtrache prachin rajyakarte'' ,
and the word ''
Marhatta
Dhangar is a herding caste of people found in the Indian states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. They are referred as Gavli in southern Maharashtra, Goa and northern Karnataka, Golla in Andhra Pradesh and Kar ...
'' (later used for the
Maratha
The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...
s) is found in the
Jain
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...
Maharashtrian literature. The term Maharashtra ( mr, महाराष्ट्र) along with Maharashtrian, Marathi, and Maratha may have derived from the same root. However, their exact etymology is uncertain.
The most widely accepted theory among the linguistic scholars is that the words Maratha and Maharashtra ultimately derived from a combination of ''Mahā'' ( mr, महा) and ''Rāshtrikā'' ( mr, राष्ट्रिका),
the name of a tribe or dynasty of chiefs ruling in the
Deccan
The large Deccan Plateau in southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bounded by th ...
region.
An alternate theory states that the term is derived from ''Mahā'' ("great") and ''
ratha
Ratha (Proto-Indo-Iranian: ''*Hrátʰas'', Sanskrit: रथ, '; Avestan: ''raθa'') is also known as the Indo-Iranian term for a spoked-wheel chariot or a cart of antiquity.
Harappan Civilisation
The Indus Valley Civilization sites of Daim ...
''/''rathi'' (
chariot
A chariot is a type of cart driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, dated to c. 2000&nbs ...
/charioteer), which refers to a skilful northern fighting force that migrated southward into the area.
An alternative theory states that the term derives from the word ''Mahā'' ("great") and ''Rāshtra'' ("nation/dominion"). However, this theory is somewhat controversial among modern scholars who believe it to be the sanskritised interpretation of later writers.
History

Numerous
Late Harappan
The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form 2600 BCE to 1900& ...
or
Chalcolithic sites belonging to the
Jorwe culture (ca. 1300–700 BCE) have been discovered throughout the state. The largest settlement discovered of the culture is at
Daimabad, which had a mud fortification during this period, as well as an elliptical temple with fire pits.
In the
Late Harappan
The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form 2600 BCE to 1900& ...
period there was a large migration of people from
Gujarat to northern Maharashtra.
Maharashtra was under the
Maurya Empire in the fourth and third centuries BCE.
Around 230 BCE, Maharashtra came under the rule of the
Satavahana dynasty who ruled it for the next 400 years.
[India Today: An Encyclopedia of Life in the Republic: p. 440] The greatest ruler of the Satavahana dynasty was
Gautamiputra Satakarni. The
Satavahana dynasty was followed by
Western Satraps,
Gupta Empire
The Gupta Empire was an ancient Indian empire which existed from the early 4th century CE to late 6th century CE. At its zenith, from approximately 319 to 467 CE, it covered much of the Indian subcontinent. This period is considered as the G ...
,
Gurjara-Pratihara
The Gurjara-Pratihara was a dynasty that ruled much of Northern India from the mid-8th to the 11th century. They ruled first at Ujjain and later at Kannauj.
The Gurjara-Pratiharas were instrumental in containing Arab armies moving east of the ...
,
Vakataka
The Vakataka dynasty () was an ancient Indian dynasty that originated from the Deccan in the mid-3rd century CE. Their state is believed to have extended from the southern edges of Malwa and Gujarat in the north to the Tungabhadra River in t ...
,
Kadambas,
Chalukya Empire
The Chalukya dynasty () was a Classical Indian dynasty that ruled large parts of southern and central India between the 6th and the 12th centuries. During this period, they ruled as three related yet individual dynasties. The earliest dynasty ...
,
Rashtrakuta Dynasty, and
Western Chalukya
The Western Chalukya Empire ruled most of the western Deccan, South India, between the 10th and 12th centuries. This Kannadiga dynasty is sometimes called the ''Kalyani Chalukya'' after its regal capital at Kalyani, today's Basavakalyan in t ...
and the
Yadava rule. The
Buddhist Ajanta Caves
The Ajanta Caves are approximately thirty rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments dating from the second century BCE to about 480 CE in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra state in India. The caves include paintings and rock-cut sculptures d ...
in present-day
Aurangabad display influences from the Satavahana and Vakataka styles. The caves were possibly excavated during this period.
The Chalukya dynasty ruled from the sixth to the eighth centuries CE, and the two prominent rulers were
Pulakeshin II
Pulakeshin II (IAST: Pulakeśin, r. c. 610–642 CE) was the most famous ruler of the Chalukya dynasty of Vatapi (present-day Badami in Karnataka, India). During his reign, the Chalukya kingdom expanded to cover most of the Deccan region in pe ...
, who defeated the north Indian Emperor
Harsha
Harshavardhana (IAST Harṣa-vardhana; c. 590–647 CE) was a Pushyabhuti emperor who ruled northern India from 606 to 647 CE. He was the son of Prabhakaravardhana who had defeated the Alchon Huna invaders, and the younger brother of Rajyava ...
, and
Vikramaditya II, who defeated the
Arab invaders in the eighth century. The Rashtrakuta dynasty ruled Maharashtra from the eighth to the tenth century.
[Indian History, p. B-57] The Arab traveller
Sulaiman al Mahri described the ruler of the Rashtrakuta dynasty
Amoghavarsha
Amoghavarsha I (also known as Amoghavarsha Nrupathunga I) (r.814–878 CE) was the greatest emperor of the Rashtrakuta dynasty, and one of the most notable rulers of Ancient India. His reign of 64 years is one of the longest precisely dated mo ...
as "one of the four great kings of the world".
[A Comprehensive History of Ancient India (3 Vols. Set): p. 203] Shilahara dynasty began as vassals of the Rashtrakuta dynasty which ruled the Deccan plateau between the eighth and tenth centuries. From the early 11th century to the 12th century, the Deccan Plateau, which includes a significant part of Maharashtra, was dominated by the
Western Chalukya Empire
The Western Chalukya Empire ruled most of the western Deccan, South India, between the 10th and 12th centuries. This Kannadiga dynasty is sometimes called the ''Kalyani Chalukya'' after its regal capital at Kalyani, today's Basavakalyan in the ...
and the
Chola dynasty
The Chola dynasty was a Tamil thalassocratic empire of southern India and one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the history of the world. The earliest datable references to the Chola are from inscriptions dated to the 3rd century BCE ...
.
['' The Penguin History of Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300'' by ]Romila Thapar
Romila Thapar (born 30 November 1931) is an Indian historian. Her principal area of study is ancient India, a field in which she is pre-eminent. Quotr: "The pre-eminent interpreter of ancient Indian history today. ... " Thapar is a Professor ...
: pp. 365–366 Several battles were fought between the Western Chalukya Empire and the Chola dynasty in the Deccan Plateau during the reigns of
Raja Raja Chola I
Rajaraja I (947 CE – 1014 CE), born Arunmozhi Varman or Arulmozhi Varman and often described as Raja Raja the Great or Raja Raja Chozhan was a Chola emperor who reigned from 985 CE to 1014 CE. He was the most powerful Tamil king in South ...
,
Rajendra Chola I
Rajendra Chola I (; Middle Tamil: Rājēntira Cōḻaṉ; Classical Sanskrit: Rājēndradēva Cōla; Old Malay: ''Raja Suran''; c. 971 CE – 1044 CE), often referred to as Rajendra the Great, and also known as Gangaikonda Chola (Middle Tami ...
,
Jayasimha II,
Someshvara I
Someshvara I (; ) was a king of the Western Chalukyas. Also known as "Ahavamalla" or "Trilokamalla", Someshvara succeeded his father Jayasimha II to the throne.
His several military successes in Central India made him a formidable ruler of a ...
, and
Vikramaditya VI
Vikramaditya VI (r. 1076 – 1126 CE) became the Western Chalukya King after deposing his elder brother Someshvara II, a political move he made by gaining the support of Chalukya vassals during the Chola invasion of Chalukya territory.Sen ...
.
In the early 14th century, the
Yadava dynasty, which ruled most of present-day Maharashtra, was overthrown by the
Delhi Sultanate
The Delhi Sultanate was an Islamic empire based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for 320 years (1206–1526). ruler
Alauddin Khalji. Later,
Muhammad bin Tughluq
Muhammad bin Tughluq (1290 – 20 March 1351) was the eighteenth Sultan of Delhi. He reigned from February 1325 until his death in 1351. The sultan was the eldest son of Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq, founder of the Tughlaq dynasty. In 1321, the you ...
conquered parts of the Deccan, and temporarily shifted his capital from Delhi to
Daulatabad in Maharashtra. After the collapse of the Tughluqs in 1347, the local
Bahmani Sultanate of Gulbarga took over, governing the region for the next 150 years. After the break-up of the
Bahamani sultanate in 1518, Maharashtra split into five
Deccan Sultanates
The Deccan sultanates were five Islamic late-medieval Indian kingdoms—on the Deccan Plateau between the Krishna River and the Vindhya Range—that were ruled by Muslim dynasties: namely Ahmadnagar, Berar, Bidar, Bijapur, and Golconda. The ...
:
Nizamshah of
Ahmednagar
Ahmednagar (), is a city located in the Ahmednagar district in the state of Maharashtra, India, about 120 km northeast of Pune and 114 km from Aurangabad. Ahmednagar takes its name from Ahmad Nizam Shah I, who founded the town in 14 ...
,
Adilshah of
Bijapur
Bijapur, officially known as Vijayapura, is the district headquarters of Bijapur district of the Karnataka state of India. It is also the headquarters for Bijapur Taluk. Bijapur city is well known for its historical monuments of architectural ...
,
Qutubshah of
Golkonda,
Bidarshah of
Bidar
Bidar (/ biːd̪ər/) is a city in the north-eastern part of Karnataka state in India. It is the headquarters of Bidar district, which borders Maharashtra and Telangana. It is a rapidly urbanising city in the wider ''Bidar Metropolitan area ...
and
Imadshah of Elichpur. These kingdoms often fought with each other. United, they decisively defeated the
Vijayanagara Empire of the south in 1565.
The present area of
Mumbai was ruled by the
Sultanate of Gujarat before its capture by
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of t ...
in 1535 and the
Faruqi dynasty ruled the
Khandesh
Khandesh is a geographic region in Central India, which includes parts of the northwestern portion of Maharashtra as well as Burhanpur District of Madhya Pradesh.
The use of Khandeshi Language (a.k.a. the Ahirani Language) is prevalent in ...
region between 1382 and 1601 before finally getting annexed in the
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...
.
Malik Ambar, the regent of the
Nizamshahi dynasty of
Ahmednagar
Ahmednagar (), is a city located in the Ahmednagar district in the state of Maharashtra, India, about 120 km northeast of Pune and 114 km from Aurangabad. Ahmednagar takes its name from Ahmad Nizam Shah I, who founded the town in 14 ...
from 1607 to 1626, increased the strength and power of
Murtaza Nizam Shah II and raised a large army. Malik Ambar is said to have been a proponent of guerrilla warfare in the Deccan region. Malik Ambar assisted Mughal emperor
Shah Jahan in Delhi against his stepmother,
Nur Jahan, who wanted to enthrone her son-in-law.

In the early 17th century,
Shahaji Bhosale, an ambitious local general who had served the
Ahmadnagar Sultanate
The Ahmadnagar Sultanate was a late medieval Indian Muslim kingdom located in the northwestern Deccan, between the sultanates of Gujarat and Bijapur. Malik Ahmed, the Bahmani governor of Junnar after defeating the Bahmani army led by general Ja ...
, the Mughals and
Adil Shah of Bijapur at different periods throughout his career, attempted to establish his independent rule. His son
Shivaji succeeded in establishing the
Maratha Empire which was further expanded during the 18th century by the Bhat family ''
Peshwas'' based in
Pune. The Marathas under the Peshwas,
Bhonsale of
Nagpur,
Gaekwad of
Baroda
Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, from the state capita ...
,
Holkar
The Holkar (Pronunciation: o(ː)ɭkəɾ dynasty was a Maratha clan of Dhangar origin in India. The Holkars were generals under Peshwa Baji Rao I, and later became Maharajas of Indore in Central India as an independent member of the Mar ...
of
Indore,
Scindia
The Scindia dynasty (anglicized from Shinde) is a Hindu Maratha dynasty of maratha origin that ruled the erstwhile State of Gwalior. It had the Patil-ship of Kumberkerrab in Wai. It was founded by Ranoji Scindia, who started as a personal serva ...
of
Gwalior
Gwalior() is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; it lies in northern part of Madhya Pradesh and is one of the Counter-magnet cities. Located south of Delhi, the capital city of India, from Agra and from Bhopal, the s ...
and
Puar Puar may refer to:
* Pawar, Maratha rulers of Dhar State and Dewas State.
* Pu'ar, a character in ''Dragon Ball''
People with the name
* Hemendra Singh Rao Pawar, present titular Maharaja of Dhar State
* Tukojirao III (Tukoji Rao III Puar of Dewa ...
s of
Dewas
Dewas is a city in the Malwa region of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The municipality was formerly the seat of two 15-Gun Salute state princely states during the British Raj, Dewas Junior state and Dewas Senior state, ruled by the ...
and
Dhar
Dhar is a city located in Dhar district of the Malwa region in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. The city is the administrative headquarters of the Dhar district. Before Indian independence from Great Britain, it was the capital of the Dh ...
defeated the Mughals and conquered large territories in the northern and central parts of the Indian subcontinent. At its peak, the Maratha empire covered much of the subcontinent, encompassing a territory of over 2.8 million km
2. The Marathas are credited to a large extent for ending the Mughal rule in India. After their defeat at the hand of
Ahmad Shah Abdali
Ahmad Shāh Durrānī ( ps, احمد شاه دراني; prs, احمد شاه درانی), also known as Ahmad Shāh Abdālī (), was the founder of the Durrani Empire and is regarded as the founder of the modern Afghanistan. In July 1747, Ahma ...
's Afghan forces in the
Third Battle of Panipat in 1761, the Maratha suffered a setback. However, they soon reclaimed the lost territories and ruled central and north India including New Delhi until the end of the eighteenth century. The
Third Anglo-Maratha War
The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–1819) was the final and decisive conflict between the English East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India. The war left the Company in control of most of India. It began with an invasion of Maratha te ...
(1817–1818) led to the end of the Maratha Empire and the
East India Company took over the empire.
The Marathas also developed a potent ''
Navy'' circa in the 1660s, which at its peak, dominated the territorial waters of the western coast of India from
Mumbai to
Savantwadi. It resisted the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
,
Portuguese,
Dutch, and
Siddi naval ships and kept a check on their naval ambitions. The
Maratha Navy dominated till around the 1730s, was in a state of decline by the 1770s and ceased to exist by 1818.
The British
East India Company gained
Mumbai in the early 17th century, and became one of their major trading ports. The Company slowly expanded areas under its rule during the 18th century.

The
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
governed western Maharashtra as part of the
Bombay Presidency
The Bombay Presidency or Bombay Province, also called Bombay and Sind (1843–1936), was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India, with its capital in the city that came up over the seven islands of Bombay. The first mainl ...
, which spanned an area from
Karachi in Pakistan to northern Deccan. A number of the
Maratha
The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...
states persisted as
princely states, retaining autonomy in return for acknowledging British
suzerainty. The largest princely states in the territory were
Nagpur,
Satara and
Kolhapur
Kolhapur () is a city on the banks of the Panchganga River in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarter of the Kolhapur district. In, around 2 C.E. Kolapur's name was 'Kuntal'.
Kolhapur is kno ...
; Satara was annexed to the Bombay Presidency in 1848, and Nagpur was annexed in 1853 to become
Nagpur Province, later part of the
Central Provinces
The Central Provinces was a province of British India. It comprised British conquests from the Mughals and Marathas in central India, and covered parts of present-day Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra states. Its capital was Nagpur ...
.
Berar, which had been part of the
Nizam
The Nizams were the rulers of Hyderabad from the 18th through the 20th century. Nizam of Hyderabad (Niẓām ul-Mulk, also known as Asaf Jah) was the title of the monarch of the Hyderabad State ( divided between the state of Telangana, Ma ...
of
Hyderabad's kingdom, was occupied by the British in 1853 and annexed to the Central Provinces in 1903.
However, a large region called
Marathwada
Marathwada () is a proposed state and geographical region of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It was formed during the Nizam's rule and was part of the then Hyderabad State. The region coincides with the Aurangabad division of Maharashtra. ...
remained part of the Nizam's Hyderabad State throughout the British period. The British ruled Maharashtra region from 1818 to 1947 and influenced every aspect of life for the people of the region. They brought several changes to the legal system, built modern means of transport including roads and Railways, took various steps to provide mass education, including that for previously marginalised classes and women, established universities based on western system and imparting education in science, technology, and western medicine, standardised the Marathi language,
and introduced mass media by utilising modern printing technologies.
The
1857 war of independence had many Marathi leaders, though the battles mainly took place in northern India. The modern struggle for independence started taking shape in the late 1800s with leaders such as
Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Bal Gangadhar Tilak (; born Keshav Gangadhar Tilak (pronunciation: eʃəʋ ɡəŋɡaːd̪ʱəɾ ʈiɭək; 23 July 1856 – 1 August 1920), endeared as Lokmanya ( IAST: ''Lokmānya''), was an Indian nationalist, teacher, and an independence ...
, Justice
Mahadev Govind Ranade,
Gopal Krishna Gokhale
Gopal Krishna Gokhale ( ɡoːpaːl ˈkrɪʂɳə ˈɡoːkʰleː9 May 1866 – 19 February 1915) was an Indian 'moderate' political leader and a social reformer during the Indian independence movement. Gokhale was a senior leader of the India ...
,
Pherozeshah Mehta and
Dadabhai Naoroji
Dadabhai Naoroji (4 September 1825 – 30 June 1917) also known as the "Grand Old Man of India" and "Unofficial Ambassador of India", was an Indian political leader, merchant, scholar and writer who served as 2nd, 9th, and 22nd President of t ...
evaluating the company rule and its consequences.
Jyotirao Phule
Jyotirao Govindrao Phule, also known as Mahatma Jyotiba Phule (11 April 1827 – 28 November 1890) was an Indian social activist, thinker, anti-caste social reformer and writer from Maharashtra. His work extended to many fields, including era ...
was the pioneer of social reform in the Maharashtra region in the second half of the 19th century. His social work was continued by
Shahu, Raja of Kolhapur and later by
B. R. Ambedkar
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who headed the committee drafting the Constitution of India from the Constituent Assembly debates, served a ...
. After the partial
autonomy
In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's o ...
given to the states by the
Government of India Act 1935
The Government of India Act, 1935 was an Act adapted from the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It originally received royal assent in August 1935. It was the longest Act of (British) Parliament ever enacted until the Greater London Authorit ...
,
B. G. Kher became the first Chief Minister of the Congress party-led Government of tri-lingual Bombay Presidency. The ultimatum to the British during the
Quit India Movement
The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Kranti Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8th August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule in ...
was given in Mumbai and culminated in the transfer of power and independence in 1947.
After Indian independence, princely states and Jagirs of the
Deccan States Agency were merged into
Bombay State
Bombay State was a large Indian state created at the time of India's Independence, with other regions being added to it in the succeeding years. Bombay Presidency (roughly equating to the present-day Indian state of Maharashtra, excluding ...
, which was created from the former Bombay Presidency in 1950. In 1956, the
States Reorganisation Act
The States Reorganisation act, 1956 was a major reform of the boundaries of India's states and territories, organising them along linguistic lines.
Although additional changes to India's state boundaries have been made since 1956, the States ...
reorganised the Indian states along linguistic lines, and Bombay Presidency State was enlarged by the addition of the predominantly
Marathi
Marathi may refer to:
*Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India
*Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people
*Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece
See also
*
* ...
-speaking regions of
Marathwada
Marathwada () is a proposed state and geographical region of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It was formed during the Nizam's rule and was part of the then Hyderabad State. The region coincides with the Aurangabad division of Maharashtra. ...
(
Aurangabad Division) from erstwhile
Hyderabad state
Hyderabad State () was a princely state located in the south-central Deccan region of India with its capital at the city of Hyderabad. It is now divided into the present-day state of Telangana, the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka, and ...
and
Vidarbha region from the
Central Provinces and Berar
The Central Provinces and Berar was a province of British India and later the Dominion of India which existed from 1903 to 1950. It was formed by the merger of the Central Provinces with the province of Berar, which was territory leased by the B ...
. The southernmost part of Bombay State was ceded to
Mysore
Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude o ...
. In the 1950s, Marathi people strongly protested against bilingual
Bombay state
Bombay State was a large Indian state created at the time of India's Independence, with other regions being added to it in the succeeding years. Bombay Presidency (roughly equating to the present-day Indian state of Maharashtra, excluding ...
under the banner of
Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti. The notable leaders of the samiti included
Keshavrao Jedhe,
S.M. Joshi,
Shripad Amrit Dange,
Pralhad Keshav Atre and
Gopalrao Khedkar. The key demand of the samiti called for a Marathi speaking state with Mumbai as its capital. In the Gujarati speaking areas of the state, a similar
Mahagujarat Movement demanded a separate
Gujarat state comprising majority Gujarati areas. After many years of protests, which saw 106 deaths amongst the protestors, and electoral success of the samiti in 1957 elections, the central government led by Prime minister
Nehru yielded to public pressure and split Bombay State into two new states of Maharashtra and Gujarat on 1 May 1960.
The state continues to have a dispute with
Karnataka regarding the region of
Belgaum
Belgaum (ISO: ''Bēḷagāma''; also Belgaon and officially known as Belagavi) is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka located in its northern part along the Western Ghats. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous Belagavi ...
and
Karwar
Karwar is a seaside city, ''taluka'', and administrative headquarters of Uttara Kannada district lying at the mouth of the Kali river on the Kanara coast of Karnataka state, India.
Karwar is a popular tourist destination and with a city urb ...
. The Government of Maharashtra was unhappy with the border demarcation of 1957 and filed a petition to the Ministry of Home affairs of India. Maharashtra claimed 814 villages, and 3 urban settlements of Belagon, Karwar and
Nippani
Nipani is a third largest city, taluk in the Belgaum district in the state of Karnataka, India. It is an important agricultural and commercial trade centre in the district. Nipani and its surrounding villages are known for growing high-quali ...
, all part of then Bombay Presidency before freedom of the country. A petition by Maharashtra in the Supreme Court of India, staking a claim over Belagon, is currently pending.
Geography
Maharashtra with a total area of , is the
third-largest state by area in terms of land area and constitutes 9.36 per cent of India's total geographical area. The State lies between 15°35' N to 22°02' N latitude and 72°36' E to 80°54' E longitude. It occupies the
western and central part of the country and has a coastline stretching 840 kilometres along the
Arabian Sea.
The dominant physical feature of the state is its plateau character, which is separated from the Konkan coastline by the mountain range of the Western Ghats, which runs parallel to the coast from north to south.The
Western Ghats, also known as the Sahyadri Range, has an average elevation of 1,200 metres (4,000 ft); its slopes gently descending towards the east and southeast.
The
Western Ghats (or the Sahyadri Mountain range) provide a physical barrier to the state on the west, while the
Satpura Hills
The Satpura Range is a range of hills in central India. The range rises in eastern Gujarat running east through the border of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and ends in Chhattisgarh. The range parallels the Vindhya Range to the north, and these ...
along the north and Bhamragad-Chiroli-Gaikhuri ranges on the east serve as its natural borders.
This state's expansion from North to South is 700 km and East to West is 800 km. To the west of these hills lie the
Konkan
The Konkan ( kok, कोंकण) or Kokan () is a stretch of land by the western coast of India, running from Damaon in the north to Karwar in the south; with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Deccan plateau in the east. The hinterland ...
coastal plains, 50–80 kilometres in width. To the east of the Ghats lies the flat
Deccan Plateau. The main rivers of the state are the
Krishna, and its tributary,
Bhima
In Hindu epic Mahabharata, Bhima ( sa, भीम, ) is the second among the five Pandavas. The ''Mahabharata'' relates many events that portray the might of Bhima. Bhima was born when Vayu, the wind god, granted a son to Kunti and Pandu. Aft ...
, the
Godavari
The Godavari ( IAST: ''Godāvarī'' od̪aːʋəɾiː is India's second longest river after the Ganga river and drains into the third largest basin in India, covering about 10% of India's total geographical area. Its source is in Trimbakes ...
, and its main tributaries,
Manjara, and
Wardha
Wardha is a city and a municipal council in Wardha district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Wardha district. Wardha gets its name from the Wardha River which flows at the north, west and south boun ...
-
Wainganga and the
Tapi, and its tributary
Purna
:
Purna is a town with a municipal council in Parbhani district in the Indian state of Maharashtra.
Geography
Purna is located at . It has an average elevation of .
Purna is situated in the Maharashtra state of India.
Demographics
India c ...
.
Maharashtra is divided into five geographic regions. Konkan is the western coastal region, between the Western Ghats and the sea.
Khandesh
Khandesh is a geographic region in Central India, which includes parts of the northwestern portion of Maharashtra as well as Burhanpur District of Madhya Pradesh.
The use of Khandeshi Language (a.k.a. the Ahirani Language) is prevalent in ...
is the north region lying in the valley of the Tapti,
Purna
:
Purna is a town with a municipal council in Parbhani district in the Indian state of Maharashtra.
Geography
Purna is located at . It has an average elevation of .
Purna is situated in the Maharashtra state of India.
Demographics
India c ...
river.
Nashik,
Malegaon
Malegaon is a city and a municipal corporation in Nashik District in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is situated on the bank of Mosam River.
History
Malegaon (previously Maligaon G.N. Wright, 1837. See entry for MULLIGAUM, p216.) at th ...
Jalgaon
Jalgaon () is a city in Maharashtra, India. The city is located in North Maharashtra, and serves as the administrative headquarters of its namesake district, the Jalgaon district. Jalgaon is colloquially known as the “''Banana City of Indi ...
,
Dhule and
Bhusawal are the major cities of this region.
Desh is in the center of the state.
Marathwada
Marathwada () is a proposed state and geographical region of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It was formed during the Nizam's rule and was part of the then Hyderabad State. The region coincides with the Aurangabad division of Maharashtra. ...
, which was a part of the princely
state of Hyderabad until 1956, is located in the southeastern part of the state.
Aurangabad and
Nanded are the main cities of the region.
Vidarbha is the easternmost region of the state, formerly part of the Central Provinces and Berar.
The state has limited area under irrigation, low natural fertility of soils, and large areas prone to recurrent drought. Due to this the agricultural productivity of Maharashtra is generally low as compared to the national averages of various crops. Maharashtra has been divided in to nine agro-climatic zones on the basis of annual rainfall soil types, vegetation and cropaing pattern.
Climate

Maharashtra experiences a
tropical monsoon climate with hot, rainy, and cold weather seasons and dry summers.
The month of March marks the beginning of the summer and the temperature rises steadily until June. In the central plains, summer temperatures rise to between and .May is usually the warmest and January the coldest month of the year. The winter season lasts until February with lower temperatures occurring in December and January. On the Deccan plateau that lies on eastern side of the Sahyadri mountains, the climate is drier, however, dew and hail often occur, depending on seasonal weather.
The rainfall patterns in the state vary by the topography of different regions.The state can be divided into four meteorological regions, namely coastal Konkan, Western Maharashtra, Marathwada, and Vidarbha. The
southwest monsoon usually arrives in the last week of June and lasts till mid-September. Pre-monsoon showers begin towards the middle of June and post-monsoon rains occasionally occur in October. The highest average monthly rainfall is during July and August. In the winter season, there may be a little rainfall associated with western winds over the region. The Konkan coastal area, west of the Sahyadri Mountains receives very heavy monsoon rains with an annual average of more than 3,000 mm. However, just 150 km to the east, in the rain shadow of the mountain range, only 500–700 mm/year will fall, and long dry spells leading to drought are a common occurrence. Maharashtra has many of the 99 Indian districts identified by the Indian Central water commission as prone to drought.
The average annual rainfall in the state is 1,181 mm and 75 per cent of it is received during the southwest monsoon from June–to September. However, under the influence of the Bay of Bengal, eastern Vidarbha receives good rainfall in July, August, and September.
Thane,
Raigad,
Ratnagiri
Ratnagiri (IAST:Ratnāgirī ; ət̪n̪aːɡiɾiː is a port city on the Arabian Sea coast in Ratnagiri District in the southwestern part of Maharashtra, India. The district is a part of Konkan division of Maharashtra. The city is known ...
, and
Sindhudurg districts receive heavy rains of an average of and the hill stations of
Matheran and
Mahabaleshwar
Mahabaleshwar () is a small town and a municipal council in Satara district, Maharashtra, India. It is a place of pilgrimage for Hindus because Krishna river has its origin here. The British colonial rulers developed the town as a hill station ...
over . Contrariwise, the rain shadow districts of
Nashik,
Pune,
Ahmednagar
Ahmednagar (), is a city located in the Ahmednagar district in the state of Maharashtra, India, about 120 km northeast of Pune and 114 km from Aurangabad. Ahmednagar takes its name from Ahmad Nizam Shah I, who founded the town in 14 ...
,
Dhule,
Jalgaon
Jalgaon () is a city in Maharashtra, India. The city is located in North Maharashtra, and serves as the administrative headquarters of its namesake district, the Jalgaon district. Jalgaon is colloquially known as the “''Banana City of Indi ...
,
Satara,
Sangli
Sangli () is a city and the district headquarters of Sangli District in the state of Maharashtra, in western India. It is known as the Turmeric City of Maharashtra due to its production and trade of the spice. Sangli is situated on the bank ...
,
Solapur, and parts of
Kolhapur
Kolhapur () is a city on the banks of the Panchganga River in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarter of the Kolhapur district. In, around 2 C.E. Kolapur's name was 'Kuntal'.
Kolhapur is kno ...
receive less than annually. In winter, a cool dry spell occurs, with clear skies, gentle air breeze, and pleasant weather that prevails from October to February, although the eastern Vidarbha region receives rainfall from the North-East Monsoon.
Flora and fauna

The state has three crucial biogeographic zones, namely
Western Ghats,
Deccan Plateau, and the
West coast. The Ghats nurture endemic species, Deccan Plateau provides for vast mountain ranges and grasslands while the coast is home to littoral and swamp forests. Flora of Maharashtra is heterogeneous in composition. In 2012 the recorded thick forest area in the state was which was about 20.13 per cent of the state's geographical area.
There are three main Public Forestry Institutions (PFIs) in the Maharashtra state: the
Maharashtra Forest Department (MFD), the Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM) and the Directorate of Social Forestry (SFD).
The Maharashtra State Biodiversity Board, constituted by the Government of Maharashtra in January 2012 under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, is the nodal body for the conservation of biodiversity within and outside forest areas in the State.
Maharashtra is ranked second among the
Indian states
India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions.
History
Pre-indepe ...
in terms of the recorded forest area. Recorded Forest Area (RFA) in the state is of which is reserved forests, is protected forest and is unclassed forests. Based on the interpretation of IRS
Resourcesat-2 LISS III satellite data of the period Oct 2017 to Jan 2018, the State has under Very Dense Forest(VDF), under Moderately Dense Forest (MDF) and under Open Forest (OF). According to the
Champion and Seth classification, Maharashtra has five types of forests:
*Southern Tropical Semi-Evergreen forests - These are found in the western ghats at a height of 400–1000 meters.
Anjani
Anjani Thomas (born July 10, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist, best known for her work with singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, as well as Carl Anderson, Frank Gambale, and Stanley Clarke. She became a solo artist in 2000.
Life ...
,
Hirda,
Kinjal, and
Mango are predominant tree species found here.
*Southern Tropical Moist Deciduous forests-These are a mix of Moist
Teak bearing forests (
Melghat
Melghat was among the first nine tiger reserves of India to be notified in 1973 under Project Tiger. It is located at in the northern part of Amravati District of Maharashtra. Melghat Wildlife Sanctuary was declared as in 1985. The Tapti R ...
) and Moist Mixed deciduous forests (Vidarbha and Thane district). Commercially important Teak,
Shishum, and
bamboo are found here. In addition to evergreen Teak, some of the other tree species found in this type of forest include
Jambul
''Syzygium cumini'', commonly known as Malabar plum, Java plum, black plum, jamun, jaman, jambul, or jambolan, is an evergreen tropical tree in the flowering plant family Myrtaceae, and favored for its fruit, timber, and ornamental value. It is ...
,
Ain, and
Shisam.
[.]
*Southern Tropical Dry Deciduous forests-these occupy a major part of the state. Southern Tropical Thorn forests are found in the low rainfall regions of
Marathwada
Marathwada () is a proposed state and geographical region of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It was formed during the Nizam's rule and was part of the then Hyderabad State. The region coincides with the Aurangabad division of Maharashtra. ...
,
Vidarbha,
Khandesh
Khandesh is a geographic region in Central India, which includes parts of the northwestern portion of Maharashtra as well as Burhanpur District of Madhya Pradesh.
The use of Khandeshi Language (a.k.a. the Ahirani Language) is prevalent in ...
, and Western Maharashtra. At present, these forests are heavily degraded.
Babul,
Bor, and
Palas are some of the tree species found here.
*
Littoral
The littoral zone or nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal area ...
and
Swamp forests are mainly found in the Creeks of
Sindhudurg and Thane districts of the coastal Konkan region. The state harbours significant mangrove, coastal and marine biodiversity, with of the area under mangrove cover as per the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) of the Forest survey India in the coastal districts of the state.
The most common animal species present in the state are monkeys, wild pigs,
tiger,
leopard
The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus ''Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, an ...
,
gaur
The gaur (''Bos gaurus''; ), also known as the Indian bison, is a bovine native to South Asia and Southeast Asia, and has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986. The global population was estimated at a maximum of 21,000 ...
,
sloth bear
The sloth bear (''Melursus ursinus'') is a myrmecophagous bear species native to the Indian subcontinent. It feeds on fruits, ants and termites. It is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, mainly because of habitat loss and degradatio ...
,
sambar,
four-horned antelope,
chital,
barking deer
Barking may refer to:
Places
* Barking, London, a town in East London, England
** London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, a local government district covering the town of Barking
** Municipal Borough of Barking, a historical local government di ...
,
mouse deer
Chevrotains, or mouse-deer, are small even-toed ungulates that make up the family Tragulidae, the only extant members of the infraorder Tragulina. The 10 extant species are placed in three genera, but several species also are known only ...
,
small Indian civet,
golden jackal
The golden jackal (''Canis aureus''), also called common jackal, is a wolf-like canid that is native to Southeast Europe, Southwest Asia, South Asia, and regions of Southeast Asia. The golden jackal's coat varies in color from a pale creamy y ...
,
jungle cat
The jungle cat (''Felis chaus''), also called reed cat, swamp cat and jungle lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to the Middle East, the Caucasus, South and Southeast Asia and southern China. It inhabits foremost wetlands like swamps, littoral ...
, and
hare.
Other animals found in this state include reptiles such as
lizards, scorpions and snake species such as
cobras and
kraits, etc.
The state provides legal protection to its
tiger population through six dedicated
tiger reserves under the precincts of the
National Tiger Conservation Authority
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) was established in December 2005, following a recommendation of the Tiger Task Force, constituted by the Prime Minister of India for reorganised management of Project Tiger and the many Tiger ...
.
The state's 720 kilometres of sea coastline of the
Arabian sea marks presence of various types of fish and marine animals.
Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) found 1527 marine animal species, including
Molluscs
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is estim ...
with 581 species, many
Crustacean
Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group c ...
species including Crabs, Shrimps, and Lobsters, 287 fish species, and 141 species types of
Aanelids (sea worms).
Regions, divisions and districts

Maharashtra has following geographical regions:
#
North Maharashtra
#
Konkan
The Konkan ( kok, कोंकण) or Kokan () is a stretch of land by the western coast of India, running from Damaon in the north to Karwar in the south; with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Deccan plateau in the east. The hinterland ...
#
Marathwada
Marathwada () is a proposed state and geographical region of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It was formed during the Nizam's rule and was part of the then Hyderabad State. The region coincides with the Aurangabad division of Maharashtra. ...
#
Vidarbha
It consists of six administrative divisions :
#
Amravati
Amravati (pronunciation ( help·info)) is the second largest city in the Vidarbha region and ninth largest city in Maharashtra, India. It is administrative headquarters of Amravati district and Amravati division which includes Akola, Buldh ...
#
Aurangabad
#
Konkan
The Konkan ( kok, कोंकण) or Kokan () is a stretch of land by the western coast of India, running from Damaon in the north to Karwar in the south; with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Deccan plateau in the east. The hinterland ...
#
Nagpur
#
Nashik
#
Pune
The state's six divisions are further divided into 36
districts
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...
, 109 sub-divisions, and 358
talukas.
Maharashtra's top five districts by population, as ranked by the 2011 Census, are listed in the following table.
Each district is governed by a
district collector
A District Collector-cum-District Magistrate (also known as Deputy Commissioner in some states) is an All India Service officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) cadre who is responsible for ''land revenue collection'', ''canal reven ...
or district magistrate, appointed either by the
Indian Administrative Service
The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian ...
or the Maharashtra Civil Service.
Districts are subdivided into ''sub-divisions'' (
Taluka) governed by sub-divisional magistrates, and again into ''blocks''.
A block consists of panchayats (village councils) and town municipalities.
Talukas are intermediate level panchayat between the
Zilla Parishad (district councils) at the district level and
gram panchayat (village councils) at the lower level.
Out of the total population of Maharashtra, 45.22 per cent of people live in urban regions. The total figure of the population living in urban areas is 50.8 million. There are 27
Municipal Corporations in Maharashtra.
Demographics
According to the provisional results of the 2011 national census, Maharashtra was at that time the richest state in India and the
second-most populous state in India with a population of 112,374,333. Contributing to 9.28 per cent of India's population, males and females are 58,243,056 and 54,131,277, respectively.
The total population growth in 2011 was 15.99 per cent while in the previous decade it was 22.57 per cent.
Since independence, the decadal growth rate of population has remained higher (except in the year 1971) than the national average. However, in the year 2011, it was found to be lower than the national average.
The 2011 census for the state found 55 per cent of the population to be rural with 45 per cent being urban-based.
Although, India hasn't conducted a caste-wise census since Independence, based on the British era census of 1931, it is estimated that the
Maratha
The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...
and the
Maratha-kunbi numerically form the largest caste cluster with around 32 per cent of the population. Maharashtra has a large
Other Backward Class
The Other Backward Class is a collective term used by the Government of India to classify castes which are educationally or socially backward. It is one of several official classifications of the population of India, along with General castes, S ...
population constituting 41 per cent of the population. The scheduled tribes include ''
Adivasis'' such as
Thakar,
Warli,
Konkana and
Halba.
The 2011 census found
scheduled castes
The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...
and
scheduled tribes to account for 11.8 per cent and 8.9 per cent of the population, respectively. The state also includes a substantial number of
migrants from other states of India.
Uttar Pradesh,
Gujarat, and
Karnataka account for the largest percentage of migrants to the Mumbai metropolitan area.
The 2011 census reported the human sex ratio is 929 females per 1000 males, which were below the national average of 943. The density of Maharashtra was 365 inhabitants per km
2 which was lower than the national average of 382 per km
2. Since 1921, the populations of Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg shrank by −4.96 per cent and −2.30 per cent, respectively, while the population of Thane grew by 35.9 per cent, followed by Pune at 30.3 per cent. The literacy rate is 83.2 per cent, higher than the national rate at 74.04 per cent.
Of this, male literacy stood at 89.82 per cent and female literacy 75.48 per cent.
Religion
According to the 2011 census,
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
was the principal religion in the state at 79.8 per cent of the total population.
Muslims constituted 11.5 per cent of the total population. Maharastra has highest number of followers of
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gr ...
who account for 5.8 per cent of Maharashtra's total population, with 6,531,200 followers, which is 77.36 per cent of all
Buddhists in India.
Sikhs,
Christians, and
Jains
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...
constituted 0.2 per cent, 1.0 per cent, 1.2 per cent of the population respectively.
Maharashtra, and particularly the city of Mumbai, is home to two tiny religious communities. This includes 5000
Jews, mainly belonging to the
Bene Israel, and
Baghdadi Jewish communities.
Parsi is the other community who follow
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic o ...
. The 2011 census recorded around 44,000 parsis in Maharashtra.
Language
Marathi
Marathi may refer to:
*Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India
*Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people
*Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece
See also
*
* ...
is the official language although different regions have their own dialects.
Most people speak regional languages classified as dialects of Marathi in the census.
Powari,
Lodhi, and
Varhadi
Varhadi is a dialect of Marathi spoken in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra and by Marathi people of adjoining parts of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana in India.
Vocabulary and grammar
Although all the dialects of Marathi are m ...
are spoken in the Vidarbha region, Dangi is spoken near the Maharashtra-Gujarat border,
Bhil languages
The Bhil languages are a group of Indo-Aryan languages spoken by around 10.4 million Bhils in western and central India as of 2011. They constitute the primary languages of the southern Aravalli Range in Rajasthan and the western Satpura Ra ...
are spoken throughout the northwest part of the state,
Khandeshi (locally known as Ahirani) is spoken in Khandesh region. Other notable languages spoken in the state include
Gondi,
Korku,
Konkani, and
Malvani.
Marathi
Marathi may refer to:
*Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India
*Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people
*Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece
See also
*
* ...
is spoken by majority of the people in all districts of Maharastra except
Nandurbar district where
Bhili is spoken by 45.5% of its population. The highest percentage of
Khandeshi speakers are
Dhule district
Dhule district (Marathi pronunciation: ̪ʰuɭeː is a district of Maharashtra, India. The city of Dhule is the administrative headquarters of the district. It is part of North Maharashtra.
The Dhule district previously comprised tracts of ...
(29%) and the highest percentage of
Gondi speakers are in
Gadchiroli district (24%).
[2011 Census of India, Population By Mother Tongue](_blank)
/ref>
The Hindi language is spoken mainly in the Mumbai City district
Mumbai City district is a district of Maharashtra in Konkan Division. As a city district, it has no headquarters or subdivisions. It, along with the Mumbai Suburban District, makes up the metropolis of Mumbai. This area is called the "Island Cit ...
(26%), Mumbai Suburban district
Mumbai Suburban district (Marathi: ''Mumbai Upanagar Jilhā'') is the second most populous district of Maharashtra in the Konkan Division. With its administrative headquarters in Bandra, the district consists of three subdivisions or tehsils (to ...
(25.4%) and Thane district
Thane district (Pronunciation: ʰaːɳe previously named Taana or Thana) is a district in the Konkan Division of Maharashtra, India. At the 2011 Census it was the most populated district in the country, with 11,060,148 inhabitants; however, ...
(18.6%). Gujrati is spoken mainly in Mumbai City district
Mumbai City district is a district of Maharashtra in Konkan Division. As a city district, it has no headquarters or subdivisions. It, along with the Mumbai Suburban District, makes up the metropolis of Mumbai. This area is called the "Island Cit ...
(20.53%) and Mumbai Suburban district
Mumbai Suburban district (Marathi: ''Mumbai Upanagar Jilhā'') is the second most populous district of Maharashtra in the Konkan Division. With its administrative headquarters in Bandra, the district consists of three subdivisions or tehsils (to ...
(18.5%).
Urdu and its dialect, the Dakhni are spoken mainly by the Muslim population of the state. Muslims in Maharashtra as well as other regions of the Deccan consider Dakhni to be their first language nevertheless a majority of them consider themselves as multi-lingual.
Governance and administration
The state is governed through a parliamentary system of representative democracy, a feature the state shares with other Indian states. Maharashtra is one of the seven states in India where the state legislature is bicameral, comprising of the Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly) and the Vidhan Parishad (Legislative Council). The legislature, the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, consists of elected members and special office bearers such as the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, who are elected by the members. The Legislative Assembly consists of 288 members who are elected for five-year terms unless the Assembly is dissolved before to the completion of the term. The Legislative Council is a permanent body of 78 members with one-third (33 members) retiring every two years. The state has 48 seats in the Lok Sabha, or the lower chamber of the Indian Parliament, and 19 seats in the Rajya Sabha, or the upper chamber of the Indian Parliament.
The government of Maharashtra
The Government of Maharashtra is the state governing authority for the state of Maharashtra, India. It is a democratically elected government with 288 MLAs elected to the Vidhan Sabha for a five-year term.
Maharashtra has a Maharashtra Le ...
is a democratically elected body in India with the Governor as its constitutional head who is appointed by the President of India
The president of India (IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murmu ...
for a five-year term. The leader of the party or coalition with a majority in the Legislative Assembly is appointed as the Chief Minister
A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...
by the Governor, and the Council of Ministers are appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister. The governor remains a ceremonial head of the state, while the Chief Minister and his council are responsible for day-to-day government functions. The council of ministers consists of Cabinet Ministers and Ministers of State (MoS). The Secretariat headed by the Chief Secretary assists the council of ministers. The Chief Secretary is also the administrative head of the government. Each government department is headed by a Minister, who is assisted by an Additional Chief Secretary or a Principal Secretary, who is usually an officer of the Indian Administrative Service
The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian ...
, the Additional Chief Secretary/Principal Secretary serves as the administrative head of the department they are assigned to. Each department also has officers of the rank of Secretary, Special Secretary, Joint Secretary, etc. assisting the Minister and the Additional Chief Secretary/Principal Secretary.
For purpose of administration, the state is divided into 6 divisions and 36 districts
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...
. Divisional Commissioner, an IAS officer is the head of administration at the divisional level. The administration in each district is headed by a District Magistrate, who is an IAS officer and is assisted by several officers belonging to state services. Urban areas in the state are governed by Municipal Corporations, Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats, and seven Cantonment Boards. The Maharashtra Police is headed by an IPS officer of the rank of Director general of police
Director general of police (DGP) is a rank in the Indian Police Service, held by the highest ranking police officer in a State or a Union Territory of India, typically heading the state or the UT police force. The DGP is appointed by the cabi ...
. A Superintendent of Police, an IPS officer assisted by the officers of the Maharashtra Police Service, is entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining law and order and related issues in each district. The Divisional Forest Officer, an officer belonging to the Indian Forest Service
The Indian Forest Service (IFS) is one of the three All India Services of the Government of India. The other two All India Services being the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service. It was constituted in the year 1966 und ...
, manages the forests, environment, and wildlife of the district, assisted by the officers of Maharashtra Forest Service and Maharashtra Forest Subordinate Service.
The judiciary in the state consists of the Maharashtra High Court ( The High Court of Bombay), district and session courts in each district and lower courts and judges at the taluka level. The High Court has regional branches at Nagpur and Aurangabad in Maharashtra and Panaji
Panaji (; also known as Panjim) is the capital of the Indian state of Goa and the headquarters of North Goa district. Previously, it was the territorial capital of the former Portuguese India. It lies on the banks of the Mandovi river estuary ...
which is the capital of Goa. The state cabinet on 13 May 2015 passed a resolution favouring the setting up of one more bench of the Bombay high court in Kolhapur
Kolhapur () is a city on the banks of the Panchganga River in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarter of the Kolhapur district. In, around 2 C.E. Kolapur's name was 'Kuntal'.
Kolhapur is kno ...
, covering the region.
The President of India appoints the chief justice of the High Court of the Maharashtra judiciary on the advice of the chief justice of the Supreme Court of India as well as the Governor of Maharashtra. Other judges are appointed by the chief justice of the high court of the judiciary on the advice of the Chief Justice. Subordinate Judicial Service is another vital part of the judiciary of Maharashtra. The subordinate judiciary or the district courts are categorised into two divisions: the Maharashtra civil judicial services and higher judicial service. While the Maharashtra civil judicial services comprises the Civil Judges (Junior Division)/Judicial Magistrates and civil judges (Senior Division)/Chief Judicial Magistrate, the higher judicial service comprises civil and sessions judges. The Subordinate judicial service of the judiciary is controlled by the District Judge.
Politics
The politics of the state in the first decades after its formation in 1960 was dominated by the Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...
party or its offshoots such as the Nationalist Congress Party. At present, it has been dominated by four political parties, the Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...
, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Nationalist Congress Party, and the Shivsena.
Just like in other states in India, dynastic politics is fairly common also among political parties in Maharashtra. The dynastic phenomenon is seen from the national level down to the district level and even village level. The three-tier structure of Panchayati Raj created in the state in the 1960s also helped to create and consolidate this phenomenon in rural areas. Apart from controlling the government, political families also control cooperative institutions, mainly cooperative sugar factories and district cooperative banks in the state. The Bharatiya Janata Party also features several senior leaders who are dynasts. In Maharashtra, the NCP has a particularly high level of dynasticism.
In the early years, the politics of Maharashtra was dominated by Congress party figures such as Yashwantrao Chavan, Vasantdada Patil, Vasantrao Naik, and Shankarrao Chavan. Sharad Pawar
Sharad Govindrao Pawar (Marathi pronunciation: əɾəd̪ pəʋaːɾ born 12 December 1940) is an Indian politician. He has served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on four occasions. He has held the posts of Minister of Defence and Minis ...
, who started his political career in the Congress party, has been a towering personality in state and national politics for over forty years. During his career, he has split the Congress twice with significant consequences for the state politics. The Congress party enjoyed a near unchallenged dominance of the political landscape until 1995 when the Shiv Sena
Shiv Sena ( IAST: ''Śiva Sēnā'') () was a right-wing to far-right Marathi regionalist and Hindu ultranationalist political party in India founded in 1966 by cartoonist Bal Thackeray. Originally emerging from nativist movements in Bo ...
and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured an overwhelming majority in the state to form a coalition government. After his second parting from the Congress party in 1999, Sharad Pawar
Sharad Govindrao Pawar (Marathi pronunciation: əɾəd̪ pəʋaːɾ born 12 December 1940) is an Indian politician. He has served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on four occasions. He has held the posts of Minister of Defence and Minis ...
founded the NCP but then formed a coalition with the Congress to keep out the BJP-Shiv Sena combine out of the Maharashtra state government for fifteen years until September 2014. Prithviraj Chavan
Prithviraj Chavan () (born 17 March 1946) is an Indian politician who was the 17th Chief Minister of Maharashtra, a state in Western India. Chavan is a graduate of the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani and University of Cali ...
of the Congress party was the last Chief Minister
A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...
of Maharashtra under the Congress / NCP alliance. For the 2014 assembly polls, the two alliances between NCP and Congress and that between BJP and Shiv Sena respectively broke down over seat allocations. In the election, the largest number of seats went to the Bharatiya Janata Party, with 122 seats. The BJP initially formed a minority government under Devendra Fadnavis
Devendra Gangadharrao Fadnavis (Marathi pronunciation: ेवेंद्र फडणवीस born 22 July 1970) is an Indian politician serving as the 9th and current Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra since 30 June 2022. He served as ...
. The Shiv Sena entered the Government after two months and provided a comfortable majority for the alliance in the Maharashtra Vidhansabha for the duration of the assembly. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance secured 41 seats out of 48 from the state. Later in 2019, the BJP and Shiv Sena alliance fought the assembly elections together but the alliance broke down after the election over the post of the chief minister. Uddhav Thackeray
Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (Marathi pronunciation: d̪ʱːəʋ ʈʰaːkɾeː born 27 July 1960) is an Indian politician who served as the 19th Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 2019 to 2022. He was also the president of Shiv Sena prior to ...
of Shiv Sena then formed an alternative governing coalition under his leadership with his erstwhile opponents from NCP, INC, and several independent members of the legislative assembly. Thackeray served as the 19th Chief minister of Maharashtra of the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition until June 2022.
Thackeray led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition began to unravel in late June 2022 when Eknath Shinde
Eknath Sambhaji Shinde (pronunciation: knaːt̪ʰ ʃin̪d̪e born 9 February 1964) is an Indian politician and president of Shivsena serving as the 20th and Current Chief Minister of Maharashtra. He was earlier the Cabinet Minister of Urban ...
, a senior Shiv Sena
Shiv Sena ( IAST: ''Śiva Sēnā'') () was a right-wing to far-right Marathi regionalist and Hindu ultranationalist political party in India founded in 1966 by cartoonist Bal Thackeray. Originally emerging from nativist movements in Bo ...
leader, and the majority of MLAs from Shiv Sena rebelled and joined hands with the BJP. Since the majority of Shivsena legislative party sided with Shinde, attempts by Thackeray to disqualify the dissenting members using the anti-defection law were unsuccessful. Given this situatiuon, Uddhav Thackeray
Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (Marathi pronunciation: d̪ʱːəʋ ʈʰaːkɾeː born 27 July 1960) is an Indian politician who served as the 19th Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 2019 to 2022. He was also the president of Shiv Sena prior to ...
decided to resign from the post as chief minister well as a MLC member ahead of no-confidence motion on 29 June 2022. Shinde subsequently formed a new coalition with the BJP, and was sworn in as the Chief Minister on 30 June 2022. BJP leader, Devendra Fadnavis
Devendra Gangadharrao Fadnavis (Marathi pronunciation: ेवेंद्र फडणवीस born 22 July 1970) is an Indian politician serving as the 9th and current Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra since 30 June 2022. He served as ...
was given the post of Deputy Chief Minister
A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terr ...
in the new government.
Although long known for its smooth state functioning, Maharashtra has witnessed a recent tussle between the Maharashtra government and the centre-appointed Governor, which has kicked up a series of controversies.
Economy
The economy of Maharashtra is driven by manufacturing, international trade, Mass Media (television, motion pictures, video games, recorded music), aerospace, technology, petroleum, fashion, apparel, and tourism. Maharashtra is the most industrialised state and has maintained the leading position in the industrial sector in India. The State is a pioneer in small scale industries. Mumbai, the capital of the state and the financial capital
Financial capital (also simply known as capital or equity in finance, accounting and economics) is any economic resource measured in terms of money used by entrepreneurs and businesses to buy what they need to make their products or to provide ...
of India, houses the headquarters of most of the major corporate and financial institutions. India's main stock exchanges and capital market and commodity exchanges are located in Mumbai. The state continues to attract industrial investments from domestic as well as foreign institutions. Maharashtra has the largest proportion of taxpayers in India and its share markets transact almost 70 per cent of the country's stocks.
The Service sector
The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...
dominates the economy of Maharashtra, accounting for 61.4 per cent of the value addition and 69.3 per cent of the value of output in the state. The state's per-capita income in 2014 was 40 per cent higher than the all-India average in the same year. The gross state domestic product (GSDP) at current prices for 2021-22 is estimated at $420 billion and contributes about 14.2 per cent of the GDP. The agriculture and allied activities sector contributes 13.2 per cent to the state's income. In 2012, Maharashtra reported a revenue surplus of 1524.9 million (US$24 million), with total revenue of 1,367,117 million (US$22 billion) and spending of 1,365,592.1 million (US$22 billion). Maharashtra is the largest FDI destination of India. The FDI inflows in the State since April 2000 to September 2021 was ₹9,59,746 crore, which was 28.2 per cent of total FDI inflows at All-India level. With a total of 11,308 startups, Maharashtra has the highest number of recognised startups.
Maharashtra contributes 25 per cent of the country's industrial output and is the most indebted state in the country. Industrial activity in state is concentrated in Seven districts: Mumbai City, Mumbai Suburban, Thane, Aurangabad, Pune, Nagpur, and Nashik. Mumbai has the largest share in GSDP (19.5 per cent), both Thane and Pune districts contribute about same in the Industry sector, Pune district contributes more in the agriculture and allied activities sector, whereas Thane district contributes more in the Services sector. Nashik district shares highest in the agricultural and allied activities sector, but is far behind in the Industry and Services sectors as compared to Thane and Pune districts. Industries in Maharashtra include chemical and chemical products (17.6 per cent), food and food products (16.1 per cent), refined petroleum products (12.9 per cent), machinery and equipment (8 per cent), textiles (6.9 per cent), basic metals (5.8 per cent), motor vehicles (4.7 per cent) and furniture (4.3 per cent). Maharashtra is the manufacturing hub for some of the largest public sector industries in India, including Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Tata Petrodyne and Oil India Ltd.
Maharashtra is the leading Indian state for many Creative industries including advertising, architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings o ...
, art
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wh ...
, crafts
A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale pr ...
, design
A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design' ...
, fashion, film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
, music, performing arts, publishing
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
, R&D, software
Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work.
At the lowest programming level, executable code consist ...
, toy
A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and pe ...
s and games, TV and radio, and video games.
Maharashtra has an above-average knowledge industry in India with the Pune Metropolitan area being the leading IT hub in the state. Approximately 25 per cent of the top 500 companies in the IT sector are based in Maharashtra. The state accounts for 28 per cent of the software exports of India.
Maharashtra and particularly Mumbai is a prominent location for the Indian entertainment industry, with many films, television series, books, and other media being set there. Mumbai is the largest centre for film and television production and a third of all Indian films are produced in the state. Multimillion-dollar Bollywood productions, with the most expensive costing up to , are filmed there. Marathi film
Marathi cinema is an Cinema of India, Indian film industry of Marathi Language, Marathi-language motion pictures. It is based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Based in old Mumbai, it is the oldest film industry of Indian cinema. The first Marathi lang ...
s used to be previously made primarily in Kolhapur
Kolhapur () is a city on the banks of the Panchganga River in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarter of the Kolhapur district. In, around 2 C.E. Kolapur's name was 'Kuntal'.
Kolhapur is kno ...
, but now are produced in Mumbai.
The state houses important financial institutions such as the Reserve Bank of India
The Reserve Bank of India, chiefly known as RBI, is India's central bank and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. It is responsible for ...
, the Bombay Stock Exchange, the National Stock Exchange of India
National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE) is the leading stock exchange under the ownership of various group of domestic and global financial institutions, public and privately owned entities and individuals. It is located in Mumbai, Mah ...
, the SEBI
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is the regulatory body for securities and commodity market in India under the ownership of Ministry of Finance within the Government of India. It was established on 12 April 1988 as an executi ...
and the corporate headquarters of numerous Indian companies and multinational corporations. It is also home to some of India's premier scientific and nuclear institutes like BARC, NPCL, IREL, TIFR, AERB, AECI, and the Department of Atomic Energy.
With more than half the population being rural, agriculture and allied industries play an important role in the states's economy and source of income for the rural population. The agriculture and allied activities sector contributes 12.9 per cent to the state's income. Staples such as rice and millet
Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most species generally referred to as millets belong to the tribe Paniceae, but some millets also ...
are the main monsoon crops. Important cash crops include sugarcane, cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy Staple (textiles), staple fiber that grows in a wikt:boll, boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose ...
, oilseeds, tobacco, fruit, vegetables, and spices such as turmeric. Animal husbandry is an important agriculture-related activity. The State's share in the livestock and poultry population in India is about 7 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively. Maharashtra was a pioneer in the development of Agricultural Cooperative
An agricultural cooperative, also known as a farmers' co-op, is a cooperative in which farmers pool their resources in certain areas of activity.
A broad typology of agricultural cooperatives distinguishes between agricultural service cooperativ ...
Societies after independence. It was an integral part of the then Governing Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ad ...
party's vision of ‘rural development with local initiative’. A ‘special’ status was accorded to the sugar cooperatives and the government assumed the role of a mentor by acting as a stakeholder, guarantor, and regulator, Apart from sugar, Cooperatives play a crucial role in dairy, cotton, and fertiliser industries.
The banking sector comprises scheduled and non-scheduled banks. Scheduled banks are of two types, commercial and cooperative. Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) in India are classified into five types: State Bank of India
State Bank of India (SBI) is an Indian multinational public sector bank and financial services statutory body headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. SBI is the 49th largest bank in the world by total assets and ranked 221st in the ''Fortun ...
and its associates, nationalised banks, private sector banks, Regional Rural Banks, and others (foreign banks). In 2012, there were 9,053 banking offices in the state, of which about 26 per cent were in rural and 54 per cent were in urban areas. Maharashtra has a microfinance
Microfinance is a category of financial services targeting individuals and small businesses who lack access to conventional banking and related services. Microfinance includes microcredit, the provision of small loans to poor clients; savings ...
system, which refers to small-scale financial services extended to the poor in both rural and urban areas. It covers a variety of financial instruments, such as lending, savings, life insurance, and crop insurance. Three largest urban cooperative banks in India are all based in Maharashtra.
Transport
The state has a large, multi-modal transportation system with the largest road network in India. In 2011, the total length of surface road in Maharashtra was 267,452 km; national highways comprised 4,176 km, and state highways 3,700 km. The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation
The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation abbreviated as (MSRTC, or simply ST), is the state run bus service of Maharashtra, India which serves routes to towns and cities within Maharashtra as well as to its adjoining states. It has a fle ...
(MSRTC) provides economical and reliable passenger road transport service in the public sector. These buses, popularly called ST (State Transport), are the preferred mode of transport for much of the populace. Hired forms of transport include metered taxis and auto-rickshaws, which often ply specific routes in cities. Other district roads and village roads provide villages, accessibility to meet their social needs as well as the means to transport agricultural produce from villages to nearby markets. Major district roads provide a secondary function of linking between main roads and rural roads. Approximately 98 per cent of villages are connected either via the highways or modern roads in Maharashtra. Average speed on state highways varies between 50 and 60 km/h (31–37 mi/h) due to the heavy presence of vehicles; in villages and towns, speeds are as low as 25–30 km/h (15–18 mi/h).
The first passenger train in India ran from Mumbai to Thane on 16 April 1853.
Rail transportation is run by the Central Railway, Western Railway, South Central Railway, and South East Central Railway zones of the Indian Railways with the first two zones being headquartered in Mumbai, at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and Churchgate respectively. Konkan Railway
The Konkan Railway (abbreviated KR) is one of the 19 railway zones in India with its headquarters at CBD Belapur in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The first passenger train ran on Konkan railway tracks on 20 March 1993, between Udupi and ...
is headquartered in Navi Mumbai. The Mumbai Rajdhani Express
12951/12952 Mumbai Central - New Delhi - Mumbai Central Tejas Rajdhani is a semi-high-speed Fully AC Train belonging to Indian Railways that runs between (MMCT) and (NDLS) in India. It is the fastest Rajdhani service in all of India, with a ...
, the fastest Rajdhani train, connects the Indian capital of New Delhi to Mumbai. Thane and CSMT are the busiest railway stations in India, the latter serving as a terminal for both long-distance trains and commuter trains of the Mumbai Suburban Railway.
The two principal seaports, Mumbai Port
Mumbai Port Trust (also known as the Bombay Port Trust) is a port which lies midway on the West coast of India, on the natural deep-water harbour of Mumbai (Bombay) in Maharashtra.The harbour spread over is protected by the mainland of Konkan ...
and Jawaharlal Nehru Port, which is also in the Mumbai region, are under the control and supervision of the government of India. There are around 48 minor ports in Maharashtra. Most of these handle passenger traffic and have a limited capacity. None of the major rivers in Maharashtra are navigable and so river transport does not exist in the state.
Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport is an international airport serving Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). It is the second busiest airport in the country in terms of total and international passenger traffic af ...
(formerly Bombay International Airport), is the state's largest airport. The two other international airports are Pune International Airport
Pune Airport is a customs airport located approximately northeast of the historic centre of Pune in the state of Maharashtra, India. The airport is a civil enclave operated by the Airports Authority of India at the western side of Lohaga ...
and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport at Nagpur. Aurangabad Airport
Aurangabad Airport , is a public airport located in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, Maharashtra, India. It is located about 5.5 km east of the city centre, and 11 km from Aurangabad Railway Station, along the Aurangabad-Nagpur State High ...
, Kolhapur Airport, Jalgaon Airport, and Nanded Airport are domestic airports in the state. Most of the State's airfields are operated by the Airports Authority of India
The Airports Authority of India, or AAI, is a public sector enterprise under the ownership of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. It is responsible for creating, upgrading, maintaining, and managing civil aviation infrastruc ...
(AAI) while Reliance Airport Developers (RADPL), currently operates five non-metro airports at Latur
Latur(लातूर) is a city in Indian state of Maharashtra, and is one of the largest cities of the Marathwada region. It is the administrative headquarters of Latur district and Latur Taluka. The city is a tourist hub surrounded by man ...
, Nanded, Baramati
Baramati ( aːɾamət̪iː is a city, a tehsil and a municipal council in Pune district in the state of Maharashtra, India. The city is about 100 KM (62 miles) southeast of the city of Pune and about 250 KM from Mumbai.
Baramati is locate ...
, Osmanabad and Yavatmal
Yavatmal ( is a city and municipal council in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Yavatmal District. Yavatmal is around 90 km away from divisional headquarters Amravati while it is away from the st ...
on a 95-year lease. The Maharashtra Airport Development Company
Maharashtra Airport Development Company Limited abbreviated as (MADC), is a Special Purpose Company constituted in 2002 by the Government of Maharashtra (GoM) to plan, construct, operate and maintain airports in the State. The government has en ...
(MADC) was set up in 2002 to take up development of airports in the state that are not under the AAI or the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC). MADC is playing the lead role in the planning and implementation of the Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur
The Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN) is an airport project for Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport, Nagpur. It is the biggest economical development project currently underway in India in terms of inve ...
(MIHAN) project. Additional smaller airports include Akola, Amravati
Amravati (pronunciation ( help·info)) is the second largest city in the Vidarbha region and ninth largest city in Maharashtra, India. It is administrative headquarters of Amravati district and Amravati division which includes Akola, Buldh ...
, Chandrapur
Chandrapur (earlier known as ''Chanda'', the official name until 1964) is a city and a municipal corporation in Chandrapur district, Maharashtra state, India. It is the district headquarters of Chandrapur district. Chandrapur is a fort cit ...
, Ratnagiri
Ratnagiri (IAST:Ratnāgirī ; ət̪n̪aːɡiɾiː is a port city on the Arabian Sea coast in Ratnagiri District in the southwestern part of Maharashtra, India. The district is a part of Konkan division of Maharashtra. The city is known ...
, and Solapur. Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (Maha Metro), headquartered in Nagpur is a Joint Venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to access ...
establishment of Government of India & Government of Maharashtra
The Government of Maharashtra is the state governing authority for the state of Maharashtra, India. It is a democratically elected government with 288 MLAs elected to the Vidhan Sabha for a five-year term.
Maharashtra has a Maharashtra Le ...
headquartered in Nagpur, India. Maha Metro is responsible for the implementation of all Maharashtra state metro projects, except the Mumbai Metropolitan Region
Mumbai Metropolitan Region (abbreviated to MMR and previously also as Greater Bombay Metropolitan Area), is a metropolitan area consisting of Mumbai (Bombay) and its satellite towns in the northern Konkan division, of the Maharashtra state in ...
. Mumbai Metro
The Mumbai Metro is a rapid transit (MRT) system serving the city of Mumbai and the wider Mumbai Metropolitan Region in Maharashtra, India. Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority is responsible authority for maintaining the metro syste ...
is operational since 8 June 2014.
Education
The state has been known for its pioneering role in the development of the modern education system in India. Most of the private colleges including religious and special-purpose institutions were set up in the last thirty years after the State Government of Vasantdada Patil liberalised the Education Sector in 1982. Under the 10+2+3 plan, after completing secondary school, students typically enroll for two years in a junior college, also known as pre-university, or in schools with a higher secondary facility affiliated with the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education or any central board. Students choose from one of three streams, namely liberal arts, commerce, or science. Upon completing the required coursework, students may enroll in general or professional degree programs. Schools in the state are either managed by the government or by private trusts, including religious institutions. The medium of instruction in most of the schools is mainly Marathi, English, or Hindi, though Urdu is also used. The secondary schools are affiliated with the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), the Central Board of Secondary Education, Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE), the National Institute of Open Schooling, National Institute of Open School (NIOS), and the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education.
Maharashtra has 24 universities with a turnout of 160,000 Graduates every year. Established during the rule of East India Company rule, East India company in 1857 as Bombay University, The University of Mumbai, is the largest university in the world in terms of the number of graduates. It has 141 affiliated colleges. According to a report published by The Times Education magazine, 5 to 7 Maharashtra colleges and universities are ranked among the top 20 in India. Maharashtra is also home to notable autonomous institutes as Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, College of Engineering Pune (CoEP), Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University, Institute of Chemical Technology, Homi Bhabha National Institute, Walchand College of Engineering, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT) and Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI), Sardar Patel College of Engineering (SPCE). Most of these autonomous institutes are ranked the highest in India and have very competitive entry requirements. The University of Pune (now Savitribai Phule Pune University), the National Defence Academy (India), National Defence Academy, Film and Television Institute of India, Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, Armed Forces Medical College, and National Chemical Laboratory were established in Pune soon after the Indian independence in 1947. Mumbai has an Indian Institutes of Technology, IIT, has National Institute of Industrial Engineering and Nagpur has Indian Institutes of Management, IIM and AIIMS. Other notable institutes in the state are: Maharashtra National Law University, Nagpur (MNLUN), Maharashtra National Law University, Mumbai (MNLUM), Maharashtra National Law University, Aurangabad (MNLUA), Government Law College, Mumbai (GLC), ILS Law College, and Symbiosis Law School (SLS)
Agricultural universities include Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Agricultural University, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, and Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Regional universities viz. Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, North Maharashtra University, Shivaji University, Solapur University, Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University, and Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University are established to cover the educational needs at the district levels of the state. Deemed university, deemed universities are established in Maharashtra, including Symbiosis International University, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, and Tilak Maharashtra University.
Vocational training in different trades such as construction, plumbing, welding, automobile mechanics is offered by post-secondary school industrial training institute, Industrial Training Institute (ITIs). Local community colleges also exist with generally more open admission policies, shorter academic programs, and lower tuition. Scottish missionary John Wilson (missionary), John Wilson, Indian nationalists such as Vasudev Balwant Phadke and Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Bal Gangadhar Tilak (; born Keshav Gangadhar Tilak (pronunciation: eʃəʋ ɡəŋɡaːd̪ʱəɾ ʈiɭək; 23 July 1856 – 1 August 1920), endeared as Lokmanya ( IAST: ''Lokmānya''), was an Indian nationalist, teacher, and an independence ...
, social reformers such as Jyotirao Phule
Jyotirao Govindrao Phule, also known as Mahatma Jyotiba Phule (11 April 1827 – 28 November 1890) was an Indian social activist, thinker, anti-caste social reformer and writer from Maharashtra. His work extended to many fields, including era ...
, Dhondo Keshav Karve and Bhaurao Patil played a leading role in the setting up of modern schools and colleges during the British colonial era. The forerunner of Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute was established in 1821. The Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey Women's University, the oldest women's liberal arts college in South Asia, started its journey in 1916. College of Engineering Pune, established in 1854, is the third oldest college in Asia. Government Polytechnic Nagpur, established in 1914, is one of the oldest polytechnics in India.
Infrastructure
Healthcare
Health indicators of Maharashtra show that they have attained relatively high growth against a background of high per capita income (PCI). In 2011, the health care system in Maharashtra consisted of 363 rural government hospitals, 23 district hospitals (with 7,561 beds), 4 general hospitals (with 714 beds) mostly under the Maharashtra Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and 380 private medical establishments; these establishments provide the state with more than 30,000 hospital beds. It is the first state in India to have nine women's hospitals serving 1,365 beds. The state also has a significant number of medical practitioners who hold the Bachelor of Ayurveda, Medicine and Surgery qualifications. These practitioners primarily use the traditional Indian therapy of Ayurveda, nevertheless, modern western medicine is used as well.
In Maharashtra as well as in the rest of India, Primary Health Centre (PHC) is part of the government-funded public health system and is the most basic unit of the healthcare system. They are essentially single-physician clinics usually with facilities for minor surgeries, too. Maharashtra has a life expectancy at birth of 67.2 years in 2011, ranking it List of Indian states by life expectancy at birth, third among 29 States and territories of India, Indian states. The total fertility rate of the state is 1.9. The Infant mortality rate is 28 and the Maternal death, maternal mortality ratio is 104 (2012–2013), which are lower than the national averages. Public health system in India, Public health services are governed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), through various departments. The Ministry is divided into two departments: the Public Health Department, which includes family welfare and medical relief, and the Department of Medical Education and Drugs.
Health insurance includes any program that helps pay for medical expenses, through privately purchased insurance, social insurance, or a Social welfare provision, social welfare program funded by the government. In a more technical sense, the term is used to describe any form of insurance that protects against the costs of medical services. This usage includes private insurance and social insurance programs such as National Health Mission, which pools resources and spreads the financial risk associated with major medical expenses across the entire population to protect everyone, as well as social welfare programs such as National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and the Health Insurance Program, which assist people who cannot afford health coverage.
Energy
Although its population makes Maharashtra one of the country's largest energy users, conservation mandates, mild weather in the largest population centers, and strong environmental movements have kept its per capita energy use to one of the smallest of any Indian state. The high electricity demand of the state constitutes 13 per cent of the total installed electricity generation capacity in India, which is mainly from fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas. Mahavitaran is responsible for the distribution of electricity throughout the state by buying power from Mahanirmiti, captive power plants, other state electricity boards, and private sector power generation companies.
As of 2012, Maharashtra was the largest power generating state in India, with an installed electricity generation capacity of 26,838 MW. The state forms a major constituent of the western grid of India, which now comes under the North, East, West and North Eastern (NEWNE) grids of India. Maharashtra Power Generation Company (MAHAGENCO) operates Thermal power station, thermal power plants. In addition to the state government-owned power generation plants, there are privately owned power generation plants that transmit power through the Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company, which is responsible for the transmission of electricity in the state.
Environmental protection and sustainability
Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) is established and responsible for implementing various environmental legislations in the state principally including the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, Water (Cess) Act, 1977 and some of the provisions under Environmental (Protection) Act, 1986 and the rules framed there under it including, Biomedical Waste (M&H) Rules, 1998, Hazardous Waste (M&H) Rules, 2000, and Municipal Solid Waste Rules, 2000. MPCB is functioning under the administrative control of the Environment Department of the Government of Maharashtra
The Government of Maharashtra is the state governing authority for the state of Maharashtra, India. It is a democratically elected government with 288 MLAs elected to the Vidhan Sabha for a five-year term.
Maharashtra has a Maharashtra Le ...
. The Maharashtra Plastic and Thermocol Products ban became effective as law on 23 June 2018, subjecting plastic users to fines and potential imprisonment for repeat offenders.
Culture
Cuisine
Maharashtrian cuisine includes a variety of dishes ranging from mild to very spicy ones. Wheat, rice, ''jowar'', ''bajri'', vegetables, lentils and fruit form staple food of the Maharashtrian diet. Some of the popular traditional dishes include ''puran poli'', ''ukdiche modak'', ''Thalipeeth.'' Street food items like ''Batata wada,'' ''Misal Pav'', ''Pav Bhaji'' and'' Vada pav'' are very popular among the locals and are usually sold on stalls and in small hotels. Meals (mainly lunch and dinner) are served on a plate called thali. Each food item served on the ''thali'' is arranged in a specific way. All non-vegetarian and vegetarian dishes are eaten with boiled rice, chapatis or with bhakris, made of jowar, bajra or rice flours. A typical vegetarian thali is made of chapati or bhakri (Indian flat bread), dal, rice (varan bhaat), amti, ''bhaji or usal'', chutney, ''koshimbir'' (salad) and buttermilk or ''Sol kadhi''. A ''bhaji'' is a vegetable dish made of a particular vegetable or combination of vegetables. ''Aamti'' is variant of the curry, typically consisting of a lentil (''tur'') stock, flavoured with goda masala and sometimes with tamarind or amshul, and jaggery (''gul''). ''Varan'' is nothing but plain dal, a common Indian lentil stew. More or less, most of the dishes use coconut, onion, garlic, ginger, red chili powder, green chilies, and mustard though some section of the population traditionally avoid onion and garlics.
Maharashtrian cuisine varies with the regions. Malvani Konkani, Malvani (Konkani), Kolhapuri, and Varhadhi cuisins are examples of well known regional cuisines. Kolhapur is famous for Tambda Pandhra rassa, a dish made of either chicken or mutton. Rice and seafood are the staple foods of the coastal Konkani people. Among seafood, the most popular is a fish variety called the Bombay duck (also known as bombil in Marathi).
Attire
Traditionally, Marathi women commonly wore the sari, often distinctly designed according to local cultural customs. Most middle-aged and young women in urban Maharashtra dress in western outfits such as skirts and trousers or shalwar kameez with the traditionally ''Kasta sari#Nauvari, nauvari'' or nine-yard Kasta sari, lugade, disappearing from the markets due to a lack of demand. Older women wear the five-yard sari. In urban areas, the five-yard sari, especially the Paithani, is worn by younger women for special occasions such as marriages and religious ceremonies. Among men, western dressing has greater acceptance. Men also wear traditional costumes such as the dhoti, and Pheta (turban), pheta on cultural occasions. The Gandhi cap is the popular headgear among older men in rural Maharashtra. Women wear traditional jewellery derived from Maratha and Peshwa dynasties. Kolhapuri saaj, a special type of necklace, is also worn by Marathi women. In urban areas, western attire is dominant amongst women and men.
Music
Maharashtra and Maharashtrian artists have been influential in preserving and developing Hindustani classical music for more than a century. Notable practitioners of Kirana gharana, Kirana or Gwalior gharana, Gwalior style called Maharashtra their home. The Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Festival in Pune started by Bhimsen Joshi in the 1950s is considered the most prestigious Hindustani music festival in India, if not one of the largest.
Cities like Kolhapur and Pune have been playing a major role in the preservation of music like Bhavageet and Natya Sangeet, which are inherited from Indian classical music. The biggest form of Indian popular music is songs from films produced in Mumbai. Film music, in 2009 made up 72 per cent of the music sales in India. Most the influential music composers and singers have called Mumbai their home.
In recent decades, the music scene in Maharashtra, and particularly in Mumbai has seen a growth of newer music forms such as rap. The city also holds festivals in western music genres such as Mahindra Blues Festival, blues. In 2006, the Symphony Orchestra of India was founded, housed at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (India), NCPA in Mumbai. It is today the only professional symphony orchestra in India and presents two concert seasons per year, with world-renowned conductors and soloists.
Maharashtra has a long and rich tradition of folk music. Some of the most common forms of folk music in practice are Bhajan, Bharud, Kirtan, Gondhal, and Koli Geet.
Dance
Marathi dance forms draw from folk traditions. Lavani is popular form of dance in the state. The Bhajan, Kirtan and Abhangas of the Warkari sect (Vaishanav Devotees) have a long history and are part of their daily rituals. Koli dance (as called 'Koligeete') is among the most popular dances of Maharashtra. As the name suggests, it is related to the fisher folk of Maharashtra, who are called Koli people, Kolis. Popular for their unique identity and liveliness, their dances represent their occupation. This type of dance is represented by both men and women. While dancing, they are divided into groups of two. These fishermen display the movements of waves and casting of the nets during their koli dance performances.,
Theatre
Modern Theatre in Maharashtra can trace its origins to the British colonial era in the middle of the 19th century. It is modelled mainly after the western tradition but also includes forms like Sangeet Natak (musical drama). In recent decades, Marathi Tamasha has been also been incorporated in some experimental plays.
The repertoire of Marathi theatre ranges from humorous social plays, farces, historical plays, and musical, to experimental plays and serious drama. Marathi Playwrights such as Vijay Tendulkar, P. L. Deshpande, Mahesh Elkunchwar, Ratnakar Matkari, and Satish Alekar have influenced theatre throughout India. Besides Marathi theatre, Maharashtra and particularly, Mumbai, has had a long tradition of theatre in other languages such as Gujarati, Hindi, and English.
The National Centre for the Performing Arts (India), National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCP) is a multi-venue, multi-purpose cultural center in Mumbai which hosts events in music, dance, theatre, film, literature, and photography from India as well other places. It also presents new and innovative work in the performing arts field.
Literature
Maharashtra's regional literature is about the lives and circumstances of Marathi people
The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...
in specific parts of the state. The Marathi language, which boasts a rich literary heritage, is written in the Devanagari script. The earliest instance of Marathi literature is Dnyaneshwari, a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita by 13th-century Bhakti Saint Dnyaneshwar and devotional poems called abhangs by his contemporaries such as Namdev, and Gora Kumbhar. Devotional literature from the Early modern period includes compositions in praise of the God Pandurang by Bhakti saints such as Tukaram, Eknath, and Rama by Samarth Ramdas, Ramdas respectively.
19th century Marathi literature includes mainly Polemic works of social and political activists such as Balshastri Jambhekar, Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Bal Gangadhar Tilak (; born Keshav Gangadhar Tilak (pronunciation: eʃəʋ ɡəŋɡaːd̪ʱəɾ ʈiɭək; 23 July 1856 – 1 August 1920), endeared as Lokmanya ( IAST: ''Lokmānya''), was an Indian nationalist, teacher, and an independence ...
, Gopal Hari Deshmukh, Mahadev Govind Ranade, Jyotirao Phule
Jyotirao Govindrao Phule, also known as Mahatma Jyotiba Phule (11 April 1827 – 28 November 1890) was an Indian social activist, thinker, anti-caste social reformer and writer from Maharashtra. His work extended to many fields, including era ...
, and Vishnushastri Chiplunkar.
Keshavsuta was a pioneer in modern Marathi poetry. The Hindutva proponent, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was a prolific writer. His work in English and Marathi consists of many essays, two novels, poetry, and plays.
Four Marathi writers have been honoured with the Jnanpith Award, India's highest literary award. They include novelists, Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar, and Bhalchandra Nemade, Kusumagraj, Vishnu Vaman Shirwadkar(Kusumagraj) and Vinda Karandikar. The last two were known for their poetry as well.
Other notable writers from the early and mid 20th century include playwright Ram Ganesh Gadkari, novelist Hari Narayan Apte, poet, and novelist B. S. Mardhekar, Sane Guruji, Vyankatesh Digambar Madgulkar, Prahlad Keshav Atre, Chintamani Tryambak Khanolkar, and Laxmanshastri Joshi. Vishwas Patil, Ranjit Desai, and Shivaji Sawant are known for novels based on Maratha history. Pu La Deshpande gained popularity in the period after independence for depicting the urban middle class society. His work includes humour, travelogues, plays, and biographies. Narayan Surve, Shanta Shelke, Durga Bhagwat, Suresh Bhat, and Narendra Jadhav are some of the more recent authors
Dalit literature originally emerged in the Marathi language as a literary response to the everyday oppressions of caste in mid-twentieth-century independent India, critiquing caste practices by experimenting with various literary forms.
In 1958, the term "Dalit literature" was used for the first conference of ''Maharashtra Dalit Sahitya Sangha'' (Maharashtra Dalit Literature Society) in Mumbai.
Maharashtra, and particularly the cities in the state such as Mumbai and Pune are diverse with different languages being spoken. Mumbai is called home by writers in English such as Rohinton Mistry, Shobha De, and Salman Rushdie. Their novels are set with Mumbai as the backdrop. Many eminent List of Sahitya Akademi Award winners for Urdu, Urdu poets such as Kaifi Azmi, Jan Nissar Akhtar, Gulzar, and Javed Akhtar have been residents of Mumbai.
Cinema
First Indian feature length film, Raja Harishchandra, was made in Maharashtra by Dadasaheb Phalke in 1913. Dadasaheb Phalke is widely considered the father of Cinema of India, Indian cinema. The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is India's highest award in cinema, given annually by the Government of India for lifetime contribution to Indian cinema.
The Marathi film
Marathi cinema is an Cinema of India, Indian film industry of Marathi Language, Marathi-language motion pictures. It is based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Based in old Mumbai, it is the oldest film industry of Indian cinema. The first Marathi lang ...
industry, initially located in Kolhapur, has spread throughout Mumbai. Well known for its art films, the early Marathi film industry included acclaimed directors such as Dadasaheb Phalke, V. Shantaram, Raja Thakur, Bhalji Pendharkar, Pralhad Keshav Atre, Baburao Painter, and Dada Kondke. Some of the directors who made acclaimed films in Marathi are Jabbar Patel, Mahesh Manjrekar, Amol Palekar, and Sanjay Surkar.
Durga Khote was one of the first women from respectable families to enter the film industry, thus breaking a social taboo. . Lalita Pawar, Sulabha Deshpande, Sulabha Deshpande, and Usha Kiran featured in Hindi and Marathi movies. In 70s and 80s, Smita Patil, Ranjana Deshmukh, Reema Lagoo featured in both Art and Mainstream movies in Hindi and Marathi. Rohini Hattangadi starred in a number of acclaimed movies, and is the only Indian is the only Indian actress to win the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance as Kasturba Gandhi in ''Gandhi (film), Gandhi'' (1982). Bhanu Athaiya was the first Indian to win an Oscar in Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Best Costume Design category for ''Gandhi (film), Gandhi'' (1982). In 90s and 2000s, Urmila Matondkar and Madhuri Dixit starred in critically acclaimed and high grossing films in Hindi and Marathi.
In earliest days of Marathi cinema, Suryakant Mandhare was a leading star. In later years, Shriram Lagoo, Nilu Phule, Vikram Gokhale, Dilip Prabhavalkar played character roles in Theatre, and Hindi and Marathi films. Ramesh Deo and Mohan Joshi played leading men in Mainstream Marathi movies. In 70s and 80s, Sachin Pilgaonkar (actor), Sachin Pilgaonkar, Ashok Saraf, and Laxmikant Berde created a "comedy film wave" in Marathi Cinema.
Maharashtra is a prominent location for the Indian entertainment industry, with enormous films, television series, books, and other media production companies being set there. Mumbai has numerous film production studios and facilities to produce films. Mainstream Hindi films are popular in Maharashtra, especially in urban areas. Mumbai is the largest center for film and television production and a third of all Indian films are produced in the state. Multimillion-dollar Bollywood productions, with the most expensive costing up to , are filmed there.
Media
The state is home to more than 200 newspapers and 350 consumer magazines. The publishing industry employs more than 250,000 people. As of December 2016, Sakal, published in Pune and other major cities, is the largest circulated Marathi Newspaper in Maharashtra. Other major Marathi newspapers include ''Maharashtra Times'', ''Loksatta'', ''Nava Kaal'', ''Pudhari'', and ''Lokmat''. ''Saptahik Sakal'', ''Grihashobhika'', ''Lokrajya'', ''Lokprabha'', and ''Chitralekha'' are some of the important Marathi magazines. English language newspapers are confined to urban areas. Some popular among these are ''Daily News & Analysis'', ''The Times of India'', ''Hindustan Times'', ''The Indian Express'', ''Mumbai Mirror'', ''Asian Age'', ''MiD-DAY'' and ''The Free Press Journal''. Some prominent financial dailies like ''The Economic Times'', ''Mint (newspaper), Mint'', ''Business Standard'', and ''The Financial Express (India), The Financial Express'' are widely circulated. Many newspapers in other Indian languages such as Nava Bharat in Hindi, Udayavani in Kannada, Mumbai Samachar in Gujarati, and The Inquilab in Urdu have Mumbai editions.
The television industry in Maharashtra has been contributing significantly in the state's economy. Doordarshan, a state-owned television broadcaster runs a channel named DD Sahyadri. Numerous Television in India, Indian and international television channels can be watched in Maharashtra through one of the pay-tv, Pay TV companies or the local cable television provider. The four major Indian broadcast networks are all headquartered in Maharashtra: The Times Group, The Times, STAR India, CNN-IBN and Zee Entertainment Enterprises, ZEEL. Multi system operator, Multi-system operators provide a range of Marathi, Bengali, Nepali, Hindi, English, and international channels via Cable television, cable. There are number of entertainment channels that exlusively streams content in Marathi including Zee Marathi, Zee Yuva, Colors Marathi, Star Pravah, Sony Marathi, and Fakt Marathi.
All India Radio airs its content through multiple channels including ''Air Marathi'', ''FM Gold'', and ''FM Rainbow''. Air India's commercially successful air channel ''Vividh Bharti'' is headquartered in Mumbai. Private radio stations like ''Big 92.7 FM'', ''Radio Mirchi'', ''Red FM 93.5, Red FM,'' ''Vasundhara Vahini'', ''Radio Dhamaal 24'', and ''My FM'' air in all major cities. Bharti Airtel, Airtel, BSNL, Jio, and Vodafone Idea, VI networks provide cellular services and have covered most of the Maharashtra. Broadband internet is available in most of the towns, villages, and cities, provided by the state-run MTNL and BSNL and by other private companies.
Sports
Cricket is the most popular spectator sport in Maharashtra. It is played as an exercise and recreational activity. Maharashtra is represented by three teams in Domestic Cricket namely Maharashtra cricket team, Maharashtra, Mumbai cricket team, Mumbai and Vidarbha cricket team. They are governed by Maharashtra Cricket Association, Maharashtra cricket association, Mumbai Cricket Association, and Vidarbha Cricket Association, respectively. Governing Body of Cricket in India, BCCI, has its headquarters in Mumbai. The state also has Indian Premier League franchise Mumbai Indians based in Mumbai which plays its home matches at Wankhede Stadium. Brabourne Stadium, Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, New VCA Stadium, Nagpur are international cricket stadiums, which are the venues for international cricket.
At 2022 National Games of India, 2022 National games, Maharashtra won highest number of medals among the states and was second in medals tally behind Services Sports Control Board, Services. Maharashtra won 39 gold medals.
Kabbadi, Kho kho, Pehlwani, Kushti, and Mallakhamba are some of the traditional games that are played in the state. Pehlwani, Kusti and bullock cart races are popular in rural areas of South-west Maharashtra, are organised by villagers during the annual Jatra (Maharashtra), fairs. Amateur wrestling tournaments Hind Kesari, Maharashtra Kesari are held annually. Badminton, Vollyball, Tennis are played as a recreational activity in urban areas. The beaches of Konkan coast, mountains of Western Ghats, and the lakes formed by numerous dams in the state facilitate adventure sports such as paragliding, rock climbing, trekking, mountaineering, water sports, and scuba diving and are popular among visitors.
India's only world class Tennis championship Maharashtra Open tennis championship are annually organised in Pune. It is part of ATP 250. Mumbai and Pune hold derby (horse race), derby races at the Mahalaxmi Racecourse and Pune Race Course respectively. The Maharashtra football team represents the state in the Santosh Trophy, football tournament.
Many national-level football clubare based in this state, s such as Mumbai Tigers F.C., Kenkre F.C., Bengal Mumbai FC, and Air India FC. TTwoiclubs from the state participate n Ae Elite Football League of India, of India. Mumbai Gladiators and Pune Marathas (American football), Pune Marathas are teams based in Mumbai and Pune respectively. Puneri Paltan, U Mumba, Pro Kabaddi League, Pro Kabbadi, league teams are based in Pune and Mumbai respectively.
Tourism
Maharashtra has a number of places that attracts tourists.The most popular or well known are Mumbai city, Ajanta, Ellora and the Nature reserves in the state.
Mumbai, being the biggest and the most cosmopolitan city in India, attracts tourists from all over the world for its many attractions including colonial architecture, beaches, Bollywood, movie industry, shopping, and an active nightlife. The city attracts three million foreign and forty million domestic tourists annually. The state wants to increase the numbers by allowing retailers and entertainment venues to be open 24-hours a day, seven days a week.
Pune, which claims to be called the cultural capital of Maharashtra, along with MTDC organizes many cultural events during Pune festival which coincides with the Hindu Ganesh Chaturthi, Ganeshotsav festival.
The British developed many hill stations during the colonial era. These hill stations were popular among British government officials, especially in summer as a relief from the heat. Now, these places attract tourists in huge numbers. The important hill stations in Western Maharashtra are Mahabaleshwar
Mahabaleshwar () is a small town and a municipal council in Satara district, Maharashtra, India. It is a place of pilgrimage for Hindus because Krishna river has its origin here. The British colonial rulers developed the town as a hill station ...
, Lonavala, and Matheran. In the Vidarbha region, Chikhaldara is the only hill station. The mountainous districts of Western Maharashtra are dotted with the ruins of hundreds of mountain forts from the Deccan Sultanate and the Maratha empire eras respectively. These forts and the surrounding hills are popular among people interested in trekking, hiking, and heritage tourism related to Chhatrapati Shivaji.The latter includes forts of Shivneri Fort, Shivaneri, Rajgad Fort, Rajgad, Sinhagad, Raigad Fort, Raigad, and Pratapgad Fort, Pratapgad.
A number of temples such as Trimbakeshwar Shiva Temple, Trimbakeshwar, Tulja Bhavani Temple, Bhavani of Tuljapur, Shani Shingnapur, Jyotiba Temple, Ashtavinayaka Ganesha, Ganapati temples, Vithoba, Lord Pandurang temple at Pandharpur attract a huge number of Hindu devotees every year. Khandoba temple at Jejuri in the Pune district attract pilgrims from all over the Maharashtra where worshipers shower each other with Bhandar,. Sai Baba of Shirdi, Saibaba temple at Shirdi is visited by an average of 25,000 pilgrims a day and during religious festivals, this number can reach up to 300,000. The places associated with the Varkari, Warkari sect such as Pandharpur, Dehu, and Alandi remain popular throughout the year, and attract huge number of people from all over the state during religious observations. Situated in Nanded, Sikh Gurudwara of Hazur Sahib Nanded, Hazur Sahib, also known as Takht Sachkhand Sri Hazur Abchalnagar Sahib, is one of the Panj Takht, five takhts in Sikhism. Aurangabad has many ancient and medieval sites including the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Ajanta and Ellora caves, the Daulatabad Fort, and the Bibi Ka Maqbara.
The Vidarbha region of Maharashtra has numerous nature reserve parks. These include Melghat Tiger Reserve in Amravati district, Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in Chandrapur district, Umred Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary in Nagpur district, the Nagzira wildlife sanctuary, and Navegaon National Park (bird sanctuary) of Gondia District.
According to a survey by the government of Maharashtra, in 2009-10, domestic tourists accounted for 98% of the total number of visitors to Maharashtra and the remaining were foreign. Visitors from the US, UK, Germany, and UAE each form a significant percentage of the foreign tourists. The state government has established the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) for the systematic development and promotion of tourism in the state. MTDC owns and maintains resorts at all key tourist centers.
File:Mumbai Downtown.jpg, Night-time skyline of Downtown Mumbai at Nariman Point
File:Dagdushet Halwai Ganpati 2005.jpg, Ganeshotsav festival in Pune
File:Khandoba temple Pune.jpg, Khandoba Temple, Jejuri, Khandoba mandir of Lord Khandoba in Jejuri
File:Venna Lake, Mahabaleshwar.jpg, Venna Lake at Mahabaleshwar
Mahabaleshwar () is a small town and a municipal council in Satara district, Maharashtra, India. It is a place of pilgrimage for Hindus because Krishna river has its origin here. The British colonial rulers developed the town as a hill station ...
File:TigresswithCubs.jpg, Indian Tigers at Tadoba Andhari Tiger Project, Tadoba Tiger reserve
File:Pandharpur Vithoba temple.jpg, Pandharpur, a Hindu pilgrimage centre in the state
See also
*List of Maratha dynasties and states
*List of people from Maharashtra
*List of districts of Maharashtra
*:Lists of villages in Maharashtra, List of villages of Maharashtra
*List of synagogues in Maharashtra
*List of cities in Maharashtra
*Make in Maharashtra
*Religion in Maharashtra
Footnotes
References
External links
Government
Official Site of the Government of Maharashtra
Official Tourism Site of Maharashtra, India
General information
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{{Authority control
Maharashtra,
1960 establishments in India
States and territories established in 1960
States and union territories of India