[[File:Maratha Soldier.jpg|thumb|Engraving of a Maratha Soldier by [[James Forbes (artist)|James Forbes]], 1813.]]
'''मराठा''' मध्य भारतको मराठी बोल्ने किसान उदगमका योद्धा जाति हो । मराठाहरूले [[मराठा साम्राज्य]] राजा [[छत्रपति शिवाजी]]को समयमा (सन् १६७४) मा गरे[[मराठा साम्राज्य]] स्थापना गरेका थिए । तिनको पतन सन् १८१८ मा भयोभएको थियो । [[मुगल साम्राज्य]]को शासनले गाँजिएको बेला हिन्दूहरूको प्रतिनिधि गर्ने मराठा एक शक्तिशाली समुह थियो ।<ref>W. J. Johnson (ed.), "Marāṭhā", ''A Dictionary of Hinduism'' (Oxford, 2009): "The name of a dominant caste in western India (Maharashtra), which was united into an independent Marāṭhā kingdom (or empire) by Śivajī in 1674. His successors, who eventually splintered into a confederacy, resisted first the Mughals and then the British. After a prolonged series of wars, they were finally defeated in 1818."</ref><ref>"The name of the ‘caste-cluster of agriculturalists-turned-warriors’ inhabiting the north-west Dakhan, Mahārās̲h̲tra ‘the great country’, a term which is extended to all Marāt́hī speakers": {{EI2|author=P. Hardy|title=Marāt́hās|volume=6}}</ref><ref name="britannica">{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Maratha |title=Maratha (people) |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica |accessdate=28 August 2018}}: "a major people of India, famed in history as yeoman warriors and champions of Hinduism".</ref>
मराठा शब्दले तीन अर्थ जनाउने गर्दछ । पहिलो मराठी भाषा बोल्ने क्षेत्रमा एउटा मराठा जातिका मानिसहरू वा सो को समुह वा कुन्वी जातिका मानिसहरू तथा मराठी भाषा बोल्ने क्षेत्र बाहिर मराठी भाषा बोलिने पूरा क्षेत्रको जनसंख्यामा जनाउने गर्दछ ।
