In a wider sense it may be extended to include all who inhabit Maharashtra and speak Mahratti as their mother-tongue.
In 1901 the total number of speakers of Mahratti in all India exceeded 18 millions.
The chief languages of the presidency are Sindhi in Sind, Cutchi in Cutch, Gujarati and Hindustani in Gujarat, Mahratti in Thana and the central division, Gujarati and Mahratti in Khandesh, and Mahratti and Kanarese in the southern division.
Tilak conducted law classes till 1890, by which time he had become the sole proprietor as well as the editor of the two weekly papers, the Mahratta (in English) and the Kesari (" Lion " in Mahratti) which he and his friends had founded in 1880.