Editing Marathi language (section)

=== Yadava period ===
{{More citations needed|date=January 2024}}
After 1187 CE, the use of Marathi grew substantially in the inscriptions of the [[Seuna (Yadava) dynasty|Yadava]] kings, who earlier used Kannada and Sanskrit in their inscriptions.{{sfn|Christian Lee Novetzke|2016|pp=53-54}} Marathi became the dominant language of epigraphy during the last half century of the dynasty's rule (14th century), and may have been a result of the Yadavas' attempts to connect with their Marathi-speaking subjects and to distinguish themselves from the Kannada-speaking [[Hoysala]]s.{{sfn|Christian Lee Novetzke|2016|p=53}}<ref name="Talbot2001">{{cite book|author=Cynthia Talbot|title=Precolonial India in Practice: Society, Region, and Identity in Medieval Andhra|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfAKljlCJq0C&pg=PR9|date=20 September 2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-803123-9|pages=211–213}}</ref>

Further growth and usage of the language occurred due to two religious sects – the [[Mahanubhava]] and [[Varkari]] ''[[panthan]]''s – who adopted Marathi as the medium for preaching their doctrines of devotion. Marathi was used in court life by the time of the [[Seuna (Yadava) dynasty|Yadava]] kings. During the reign of the last three Yadava kings, a great deal of literature in verse and prose, on astrology, [[medicine]], [[Puranas]], [[Vedanta]], kings and courtiers was created. ''Nalopakhyana'', ''Rukminiswayamvara'' and Shripati's ''Jyotisharatnamala'' (1039) are a few examples.

The oldest book in prose form in Marathi, ''Vivēkasindhu'' ({{lang|mr|विवेकसिंधु}}), was written by [[Mukundaraj]]a, a [[Nath]] yogi and arch-poet of Marathi. Mukundaraja bases his exposition of the basic tenets of the [[Hindu philosophy]] and the yoga marga on the utterances or teachings of [[Shankaracharya]]. Mukundaraja's other work, ''Paramamrta,'' is considered the first systematic attempt to explain the Vedanta in the Marathi language.

Notable examples of Marathi prose are "{{IAST|Līḷācarītra}}" ({{lang|mr|लीळाचरित्र}}), events and anecdotes from the miracle-filled life of [[Chakradhar Swami]] of the Mahanubhava sect compiled by his close disciple, Mahimbhatta, in 1238. The ''[[Leela Charitra|Līḷācarītra]]'' is considered to be the first [[biography]] written in the Marathi language. Mahimbhatta's second important literary work is the ''Shri Govindaprabhucharitra'' or ''Ruddhipurcharitra'', a biography of Shri Chakradhar Swami's guru, Shri Govind Prabhu. This was probably written in 1288. The Mahanubhava [[sect]] made Marathi a vehicle for the propagation of religion and culture. [[Mahanubhava]] literature generally comprises works that describe the [[incarnations]] of gods, the history of the sect, commentaries on the ''[[Bhagavad Gita]]'', poetical works narrating the stories of the life of [[Krishna]] and grammatical and [[etymology|etymological]] works that are deemed useful to explain the philosophy of the sect.