Ritualistic dance by Marathi Troupe

Maharashtra, is a state in the western region of India. It is the second most populous state after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India. Maharashtra is the wealthiest state in India, contributing 15% of the country's industrial output and 13.3% of its GDP (2006--2007 figures).

Maharashtra is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, Gujarat and the Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli to the northwest, Madhya Pradesh to the north and northeast, Chhattisgarh to the east, Karnataka to the south, Andhra Pradesh to the southeast and Goa to the southwest. The state covers an area of 307,731 km2 (118,816 sq mi) or 9.84% of the total geographical area of India. Mumbai, the capital city of the state, is India's largest city and the financial capital of the nation. Nagpur is the second (Winter) capital of the state. Marathi is the state's official language.

Maharashtra is the world's second most populous first-level administrative country sub-division. Were it a nation in its own right, Maharashtra would be the world's tenth most populous country ahead of Mexico.

In the 17th century, the Marathas rose under the leadership of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj against the Mughals, who ruled a large part of India. By 1760, Maratha power had reached its zenith with a territory of over 250 million acres (1 million km²) or one-third of the Indian sub-continent. After the Third Anglo-Maratha War, the empire ended and most of Maharashtra became part of Bombay State under a British Raj. After Indian independence, Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti demanded unification of all Marathi-speaking regions under one state. At that time, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar was of the opinion that linguistic reorganization of states should be done on a "One state -- One language" principle and not on a "One language -- One state" principle. He submitted a memorandum to the reorganization commission stating that a "single government can not administer such a huge state as United Maharashtra".[6] The first state reorganization committee created the current Maharashtra state on 1 May 1960 (known as Maharashtra Day). The Marathi-speaking areas of Bombay State, Deccan states and Vidarbha (which was part of Central Provinces and Berar) united, under the agreement known as Nagpur Pact, to form the current state.

Source: Wikipedia

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