The usual postpositions are:--_Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Map" to "Mars" Volume 17, Slice 6

Instrumental: _ne_, plural _ni_, by. Dative: _la_, plural also _na_,

to or for. Ablative: _hun_, _un_, from. Genitive: _tsa_, of. Locative:

_~t_, in. We thus get the following complete modern declension of

_ghar_, a house (neut.):--

Sing. Plur.

Nom. ghar ghare

Acc. ghar ghare

Instr. gharane gharani

Dat. gharas, gharala gharas, gharala, gharana

Abl. gharahun, gharun gharahun

Gen. gharatsa gharatsa

Loc. gharat gharat

The accusative is usually the same as the nominative, but when

definiteness is required the dative is employed instead. The

termination _ne_, with its plural _ni_, is, as explained in the

article GUJARATI, really the oblique form, by origin a locative, of

the _na_ or _no_, employed in Gujarati to form the genitive. The

suffix _na_ of the dative plural is derived from the same word. Here

it is probably a corruption of the Apabhramsa _nau_ or _naho_. The

postposition la is probably a corruption of the Sanskrit _labhe_,

Apabhramsa _lahi_, for the benefit (of). As regards the ablative, we

have in old Marathi poetry a form corresponding to _gharahu-niya_,

which explains the derivation. _Gharahu_ is a by-form of the Prakrit

synthetic ablative _gharau_, to which _niya_, another oblique form of

_na_, is added to define the meaning. The locative termination _~t_ is

a contraction of the Pr. _anto_, Skr. antar, within.

The genitive _gharatsa_ is really an adjective meaning "belonging to

the house," and agrees in gender, number and case with the noun which

is possessed. Thus:

_malyatsa ghoda_, the gardener's horse. _malyace ghode_, the

gardener's horses.

_malyaci ghodi_, the gardener's mare. _malyacya ghodya_, the

gardener's mares.

_malyace ghode_, the gardener's horse (neut.). _malyaci ghodi_, the

gardener's horses (neut.).

The suffix _tsa_, _ci_, _ce_, is derived from the Sanskrit suffix

_tyakas_, Pr. _cao_, which is used in much the same sense. In Sanskrit

it may be added either to the locative or to the unmodified base of

the word to which it is attached, thus, _ghotake-tyakas_ or

_ghotaka-tyakas_. Similarly in Marathi, while it is usually added to

the general oblique base, it may also be added to the unmodified noun,

in which case it has a more distinctly adjectival force. The use of

_tsa_ has been influenced by the fact that the Sanskrit word _krtyas_,

Pr. _kiccao_, also takes the same form in Marathi. As explained in the

article HINDOSTANI, synonyms of this word are used in other Indo-Aryan

languages to form suffixes of the genitive.[7]

Strong adjectives, including genitives, can be declined like

substantives, and agree with the qualified noun in gender, number and

case. When the substantive is in an oblique case, the adjective is put

into the general oblique form without any defining postposition, which

is added to the substantive alone. Weak adjectives are not inflected

in modern prose, but are inflected in poetry. As in other Indo-Aryan

languages, comparison is effected by putting the noun with which

comparison is made in the ablative case.

The pronouns closely follow the Prakrit originals. The origin of all

these is discussed in the article HINDOSTANI, and the account need not

be repeated here. As usual in these languages, there is no pronoun of

the third person, its place being supplied by the demonstratives. The

following are the principal pronominal forms:--

_mi_, I, instr. _mi_, _mya_, dat. _mala_, obl. _madz_; _amhi_, we,

instr. _amhi_, obl. _amha_; _madzha_, my, of me; _amtsa_, our, of us.

_tu_, thou, instr. _tu_, _twa_, dat. _tula_, obl. _tudz_; _tumhi_,

you, instr. _tumhi_, obl. _tumha_; _tudzha_, thy, of thee; _tumtsa_,

your, of you.

_apan_, self, obl. _ap^ana_, gen. _ap^ala_. This is also employed as

an honorific pronoun of the second person, and, in addition, to mean

"we including you."

_ha_, this, fem., _hi_, neut. _he_; _to_, he, that, fem. _ti_, neut.

_te_; _dzo_, who, fem., _ji_, neut. _je_.

_kon_, who? _kay_, what? obl. _kasa_; _koni_, any one; _kahi_,

anything.

In all these the plural is employed honorifically instead of the

singular.

_Conjugation._--In Prakrit (q.v.) the complicated system of Sanskrit

conjugation had already disappeared, and all verbs fell into two

classes, the first, or _a_-, conjugation, and the second, or _e_-,

conjugation, in which the _e_ represents the _aya_ of the Sanskrit

tenth conjugation and of causal and denominative verbs. Marathi

follows Prakrit in this respect and has two conjugations. The first,

corresponding to the Prakrit _a_-class, as a rule consists of

intransitive verbs, and the second, corresponding to the _e_- or

causal class, of transitive verbs, but there are numerous exceptions.

Verbs whose roots end in vowels or in _h_ belong partly to one and

partly to the other conjugation. These conjugations differ only in the

present and past participles and in the tenses formed from them. Here,

in the first conjugation an _a_, and in the second conjugation an _i_,

is inserted between the base and the termination.

The only original Prakrit tenses which have survived in Marathi are

the present and the imperative. The present has lost its original

meaning and is now a habitual past. It is also the base of the Marathi

future. These three tenses, the habitual past, the imperative and the

future, are conjugated as follows. They should be compared with the

corresponding forms in the article PRAKRIT. The verb selected is the

root _uth_, rise, of the first conjugation.

+--------+------------------+-----------------+---------------------+

| +--------+---------+-------+---------+----------+----------+

+--------+--------+---------+-------+---------+----------+----------+

+--------+--------+---------+-------+---------+----------+----------+

As in Rajasthani, Bihari and the Indo-Aryan language of Nepal (see

PAHARI), the future is formed by adding _l_, or in the first person

singular _n_, to the old present. In the second person singular the

_l_ has been added to a form derived from the Pr. _utthasi_, which is

also the origin of the old present _uthes_. Some scholars, however,

see in _uthasi_ a derivation of the Prakrit future _utthihisi_, thou

shalt arise, and a confusion of the Prakrit present and future is

quite possible.

The remaining tenses are modern forms derived from the participles.

The verbal nouns, participles and infinitives are as follows:--

+------------------+---------------+------------------+------------------+

| +---------------+------------------+------------------+

+------------------+---------------+------------------+------------------+

The only form that requires notice is that of the conjunctive

participle. It is derived from the Apabhrarmsa form _utthiu_, to which

the dative suffix _n_ (old Marathi _ni_, _niya_) has been added.

Various tenses are formed by adding personal suffixes to the present,

past or future passive participle. When the subject of the verb is in

the nominative the tense so formed agrees with it in gender, number

and person. We may note four such tenses: a present, _uth^ato_, I

rise; a past, _uth^alo_, I rose; past conditional, _uth^ato_, had I

risen; and a subjunctive, _uthawa_, I should rise. In the present, the

terminations are relics of the verb substantive, and in the other

tenses of the personal pronouns. In these latter, as there is no

pronoun of the third person, the third persons have no termination,

but are simply the unmodified participle. We thus get the present and

the past conjugated as follows, with a masculine subject:--

+---+----------------------+---------------------+

| | Present, I rise. | Past, I rose. |

| +-----------+----------+-----------+---------+

| +-----------+----------+-----------+---------+

+---+-----------+----------+-----------+---------+

The feminine and neuter forms differ from the above: thus, _uth^ates_,

thou (fem.) risest; _uth^alis_, thou (fem.) didst rise; and so on for

the other persons and for the neuter.

It will be observed that, in the case of transitive verbs, while the

present participle is active, the past and future passive participles

are passive in meaning. The same is the case with the future passive

participle of the intransitive verb. In tenses, therefore, formed from

these participles the sentence must be construed passively. The

subject must be put into the instrumental case, and the participle

inflected to agree with the object. If the object is not expressed,

or, as is sometimes the case, is expressed in the guise of a kind of

ethic dative, the participle is construed impersonally, and is

employed in the neuter form. Thus (present tense) _mul^aga_ (nom.

masc.) _pothi vacito_, the boy reads a book, but (past tense)

_mul^agyane_ (instrumental _pothi_ (nom. fem.) _vacili_ (fem.) the boy

read a book, literally, by-the-boy a-book was-read; or _mul^agyane

pothila_ (dative) _vacile_ (neuter), the boy read the book, literally,

by-the-boy, with-reference-to-the-book, it-(impersonal)-was-read.

Similarly in the subjunctive formed from the future passive

participle, _mul^agyane pothi vacawi_, the boy should read a book

(by-the-boy a-book is-to-be-read) or _mul^agyane pothila vacawe_, the

boy should read the book [by-the-boy with-reference-to-the-book, it

(impersonal)-is-to-be-read]. As an example of the subjunctive of an

intransitive verb, we have _twa uthawe_, by-thee it-is-to-be-risen,

thou shouldst rise. As in intransitive verbs the passive sense is not

so strong, in their case the tense may also be used actively, as in

_tu uthawas_, thou shouldst rise, _lit._, thou (art) to-be-risen. It

will be noted that when a participle is used passively it takes no

personal suffix.

We have seen that the present tense is formed by compounding the

present participle with the verb substantive. Further tenses are

similarly made by suffixing, without compounding, various tenses of

the verb substantive to the various participles. Thus _mi uthat ahe_,

I am rising; _mi uthat hoto_, I was rising; _mya uthave hote_

(impersonal construction), I should have risen. In the case of tenses

formed from the past participle, the auxiliary is appended, not to the

participle, but to the past tense, as in _mi uth^alo ahe_, I have

risen; _mya marila ahe_ (personal passive construction) or _mya

marile_ ahe (impersonal passive construction), I have killed.

Similarly _mi uth^alo hoto_ (active construction), I had risen. The

usual forms of the present and past of the verb substantive are:--

+---+---------------------+---------------------+

| | Present, I am. | Past, I was (masc). |

| +-----------+---------+-----------+---------+

| +-----------+---------+-----------+---------+

| 1 | ahe | ahe | hoto | hoto |

+---+-----------+---------+-----------+---------+

The past changes for gender, but the present is immutable in this

respect. _Ahe_ is usually considered to be a descendant of the

Sanskrit _asmi_, I am,[8] while _hoto_ is derived from the Pr.

_homtao_, the present participle of what corresponds to the Skr. root

_bhu_, become.

A potential passive and a causal are formed by adding _av_ to the root

of a simple verb. The former follows the first, or intransitive, and

the latter the second or transitive conjugation. The potential passive

of a neuter verb is necessarily construed impersonally. The causal

verb denotes indirect agency; thus, _kar^ane_, to do, _karav^ane_, to

cause a person to do; _tyacya-kadun mya te karavile_, I caused him to

do that, literally, by-means-of-him by-me that was-caused-to-be-done.

The potential, being passive, has the subject in the dative (cf. Latin

_mihi est ludendum_) or in the instrumental of the genitive, as in

_mala_ (dative), or _majhyane_ (instr. of _madzha_, of me),

_uth^avate_, I can rise, literally, for-me, or by-my-(action),

rising-can-be-done. So, _Ramala_, or _Ramacyane_, _pothi vac^avali_,

Ram could read a book (by R. a book could be read).

Several verbs are irregular. These must be learnt from the grammars.

Here we may mention _hone_, to become, past participle _dzhala_;

_yene_, to come, past participle _ala_; and _dzane_, to go, past

participle _gela_. There are also numerous compound verbs. One of

these, making a passive, is formed by conjugating the verb _dzane_, to

go, with the past participle of the principal verb. Thus, _marila

dzato_, he is being killed, literally, he goes killed.

_Literature._--As elsewhere in India, the modern vernacular literature

of the Maratha country arose under the influence of the religious

reformation inaugurated by Ramanuja early in the 12th century. He and

his followers taught devotion to a personal deity instead of the

pantheism hitherto prevalent. The earliest writer of whom we have any

record is Namdev (13th century), whose hymns in honour of Vithoba, a

personal form of Vishnu, have travelled far beyond the home of their

writer, and are even found in the Sikh _Àdi Granth_. Dnyanoba, a

younger contemporary, wrote a paraphrase of the Sanskrit _Bhagavad

Gita_, which is still much admired. Passing over several intermediate

writers we come to the period of the warrior Sivaji, the opponent of

Aurangzeb. He was a disciple of Ramdas (1608-1681), who exercised

great influence over him, and whose _Dasbodh_, a work on religious

duty, is a classic. Contemporary with Ramdas and Sivaji was Tukaram

(1608-1649), a Sudra by caste, and yet the greatest writer in the

language. He began life as a petty shopkeeper, and being unsuccessful

both in his business and in his family relations, he abandoned the

world and became a wandering ascetic. His _Abhangs_ or "unbroken"

hymns, probably so called from their indefinite length and loose,

flowing metre, are famous in the country of his birth. They are

fervent, but though abounding in excellent morality, do not rise to

any great height as poetry. Other Marathi poets who may be mentioned

are Sridhar (1678-1728), the most copious of all, who translated the

_Bhagavata Purana_, and the learned Mayura or Moropant (1729-1794),

whose works smell too much of the lamp to satisfy European standards

of criticism. Mahipati (1715-1790) was an imitator of Tukaram, but his

chief importance rests on the fact that he collected the popular

traditions about national saints, and was thus the author of the _Acta

sanctorum_ of the Marathas. Lavanis, or erotic lyrics, by various

writers, are popular, but are often more passionate than decent.

Another branch of Marathi literature is composed of _Pawadas_ or

war-ballads, mostly by nameless poets, which are sung everywhere

throughout the country. There is a small prose literature, consisting

of narratives of historical events (the so-called _Bakhars_), moral

maxims and popular tales.

In the 19th century the facilities of the printing press are

responsible for a great mass of published matter. Most of the best

works have been written in English by learned natives, upon whom the

methods of European scholarship have exercised more influence than

elsewhere in India, and have given rise to a happy combination of

western science with Oriental lore. No vernacular authors of

outstanding merit have appeared during the last century.

Konkani once had a literature of its own, which is said to have been

destroyed by the Inquisition at Goa. Temples and manuscripts were

burnt wholesale. Under Roman Catholic auspices a new literature arose,

the earliest writer being an Englishman, Thomas Stephens (Thomaz

Estevão), who came to Goa in 1579, wrote the first Konkani grammar,

and died there in 1619. Amongst other works, he was the author of a

Konkani paraphrase of the New Testament in metrical form, which has

been several times reprinted and is still a favourite work with the

native Christians. Since his time there has grown up a considerable

body of Christian literature from the pens of Portuguese missionaries

and native converts.

AUTHORITIES.--Marathi is fortunate in possessing the best dictionary

of any modern Indian language, J. T. Molesworth's (2nd ed., Bombay,

1857). Navalkar's (3rd ed., Bombay, 1894) is the best grammar. The

earliest students of Marathi were the Portuguese, who were familiar

only with the language as spoken on the coast, i.e. with the standard

dialect of the northern Konkan and with Konkani. They have since

devoted themselves to these two forms of speech. For the former,

reference may be made to the _Grammatica da lingua Concani no dialecto

do norte_, by J. F. da Cunha Rivara (Goa, 1858). For Konkani proper,

see A. F. X. Maffei's _Grammar_ (Mangalore, 1882) and _Dictionaries_

(ibid., 1883). These are in English. Monsenhor S. R. Dalgado is the

author of a _Konkan-Portuguese Dictionary_ (Bombay, 1893).

For further information regarding Marathi in general, see the list of

authorities under INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGES. For accounts of Marathi

literature, see the preface to Molesworth's _Dictionary_; also J.

Murray Mitchell's "The Chief Marathi Poets" in _Transactions of the

Congress of Orientalists, London, 1892_, i. 282 sqq., and ch. viii. of

M. G. Ranade's _Rise of the Maratha Power_ (Bombay, 1900). For Konkani

literature, see J. Gerson da Cunha's "Materials for the History of

Oriental Studies among the Portuguese," in the _Proceedings of the

Fourth International Congress of Orientalists_, ii. 179 sqq.

(Florence, 1881). A full account of Marathi, given in great detail,

will be found in vol. vii. of the _Linguistic Survey of India_

(Calcutta, 1905). (G. A. Gr.)

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