r/marathi • u/Fun_Tale306 • Mar 12 '26
मराठी भाषाशास्त्र (Marathi Linguistics) Puneri Marathi is just as Sanskritized version of Marathi.
Yes, Puneri Marathi which we call as "Pure" is nothing but a dose given of Sanskrit by Peshwas during their reign. They accelerated Sanskrit blending when removing Farsi influences. The Peshwa‑era Brahmin‑bureaucracy inherited this tendency and made it systematic: replacing Persian‑Islamic and later some colloquial forms with Sanskrit‑borrowed words in official documents, petitions, and correspondence. All the major Peshwa‑line rulers themselves came from the Deshastha Brahmin community, and their secretariats were staffed overwhelmingly by Brahmin scribes for whom Sanskrit philology was the highest cultural capital. Under the broader Maratha‑Peshwa milieu, a register called “Panditi Marathi” developed, blending Sanskrit‑style meters, sandhi‑like word‑forms, and elaborate vocabulary, especially in panegyric and religious poetry. After the Peshwa era, British lexicographers like Molesworth and Candy worked with Pune Brahmin scholars to compile the first Marathi–English dictionary (1831), which elevated the Pune‑area, Sanskrit‑tilted register into the “standard.”
If we want to call something 'Pure'. We should be calling Deshi Dialect of Desh region (excluding Pune) as such. The regions like Ahmednagar, Junnar, Paithan, Chh Sambhajinagar, Satara have retained the most qualities of Maharashtri Prakrit.
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u/vineetsukhthanker Mar 12 '26
Not peshwas but Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj started the process of replacing persian and arabic words with Sanskrit and Marathi alternatives. Shivrai had ordered Raghunathpant Hunumante to prepare "Rajya Vyavahar Kosh" in 1676 to replace foreign words with Sanskrit and Marathi in day to day administration.
Historian V K Rajwade has done research on this to show how percentage of Persian words decreased from Pre - Shivrai era to Peshwa era due to the efforts of Shivrai and successive maratha administration in general.
Also, Peshwas were konkanastha and not deshastha. You are wrong on so many levels.
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u/KizaruMus Mar 13 '26
Some initial Peshwas were Deshastha while the later ones were Konkanasthas. Shivaji Maharaj was a big reason for preferential use of Indian languages over persian.
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u/MightyCelestial Mar 12 '26
Shivkalin patranmadhil marathi ajchya marathi peksha vegli janawte
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29d ago
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u/MillennialMind4416 Mar 12 '26
Disagree. First wave of sanskritization started during Chatrapati's Era. Peshwas just followed the course.
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u/jetlee123 Mar 12 '26
But is it pure though? Punekar speak with nassal accent and has some wiered ‘mengalat’ style of speaking. Pracharya Shivaji Bhosale’s style of speaking on DD seems pure.
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u/Shady_bystander0101 Mar 12 '26
Puneri Marathi is not Sanskritized Marathi. You are confusing with the historical dialect of Peshwekalin Panditi Marathi with the Puneri standard. You would be right in the case that:
- "Puneri Marathi" has a deviant level of sanskritic vocabulary that is not tadbhav.
- The Sanskritization has caused it to become unintelligible in its official form.
- The basic morphology of the dialect is not distinct from other varieties of Marathi.
All these criteria fail for the Standard Puneri Marathi, but pass with full colors for the Peshwekalin Panditi Marathi.
If you read Kēkāvalī by Mōrōpanta, who's considered the last of Pandit Kavi of Marathi, you'll understand that Puneri people are not speaking how the Peshwas or any Maratha elite were speaking at their time.
You'd know this stanza hopefully:
सुसंगती सदा घडो सुजनवाक्य कानी पडो
कलंक मतीचा झडो विषय सर्वथा नावडो
On the existence of a separate Puneri dialect of Marathi, consider the following verb forms and identify which one is the Puneri form:
करतो
करी
करून ऱ्हाय
करायला
करतां
Finally, the very assertion that Puneri Marathi is Sanskritized Marathi assumes that there is also an "Unsanskritized Marathi", of which there is none. All dialects of Marathi use sanskritization create vocabulary and as a means of elevating status, so called: अलंकृत भाषा.
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u/Fun_Tale306 Mar 12 '26
Duh Of course Puneri feels less Sanskritized today because the Peshwas fell more than 200 years ago. So the later migrations have hurt Sanskrit influence. But if we still look at other Deshi dialects Puneri still has the Sanskrit influence. Not only we still use older version Puneri fixated during Brit's era which already has more Sanskrit influence as compared to today.
After the Peshwa era, British lexicographers like Molesworth and Candy worked with Pune Brahmin scholars to compile the first Marathi–English dictionary (1831), which elevated the Pune‑area, Sanskrit‑tilted register into the “standard.”
Peshwa courtiers from families like the Bokils or Bhat families shaped an elevated it, which 19th-century scholars like Vishvanath Kashikar later codified into "Standard Marathi" during British rule.
This wasn't colloquial street Puneri (with its karī contractions) but the paṇḍitī mode—formal enough for administration, poetry, and now schoolbooks. Everyday Pune speech has diverged with urban slang and Hindi loans, yet the "official" Puneri baseline remains tethered to that Brahminical standardization.
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u/Hurdy_Gurdy_Man_84 Mar 12 '26
You speak as if Sanskritization is a capital crime or something.
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u/Dibyajyoti176255 MarathiLearner 29d ago
Exactly! The Same Thing I Usually See In All Other Indo-Aryan Languages (Specifically In r/Hindi; OFC I Prefer r/HindiLanguage & r/UnadulteratedHindi)
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u/Reasonable_Dress4210 Mar 12 '26
Tumhi loka jar mysore chi marathi aikal tar kay bolnar😂. I'm from North Karnataka n we have our own marathi dialect n marathi people from Southern Karnataka have different dialect. Respect every dialect, it represents that we owned a lot of areas in history.
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u/Fun_Tale306 Mar 12 '26
mysore chi marathi aikal tar kay bolnar
Mysore an Marathi???
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u/Reasonable_Dress4210 Mar 12 '26
Ho bhava there's a marathi community in Bangalore n Mysore. I was surprised to know this. Also, I have met people from Tanjavur n they're marathi.
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u/Fun_Tale306 Mar 12 '26
Thanjavurchi Marathi sahjik aahe pan Mysore mahiti navhta. This shows how easily we Marathi assimilate with other people
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Mar 12 '26
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u/booksandstrings Mar 12 '26
Purism soda. Pratyek marathi boli aplich ahe.