Maharashtra - statistics & facts
Located in the central west part of India, Maharashtra is the second most populated state in the country, contributing the largest share to the country’s GDP. Maharashtrians speak Marathi, a language developed from the Maharashtri Prakrit. Marathi is one of the most spoken languages in the country, after Hindi, Bengali and Telugu. Although the etymology is uncertain, there is a consensus that Maharashtra comes from two words – Maha meaning great and Rathi meaning Rashtrika after the tribes that ruled the Deccan region. This peninsular state, with a 720-kilometer-long coast is lined by the Western Ghats and receives a considerable amount of rainfall through the year, the strongest during the monsoon months.
