The Indian Classical languages, or the Śhāstrīya Bhāṣā(Odia) or the Dhrupadī Bhāṣā (Assamese, Bengali) or the Abhijāta Bhāṣā (Marathi) or the Cemmoḻi (Tamil), is an umbrella term for the languages of India having high antiquity, and valuable, original and distinct literary heritage.[1] The Government of India declared in 2004 that languages that met certain strict criteria could be accorded the status of a classical language of India.[2] It was instituted by the Ministry of Culture along with the Linguistic Experts' Committee. The committee was constituted by the Government of India to consider demands for the categorisation of languages as classical languages. In 2004, Tamil became the first language to be recognised as a classical language of India. As of 2024, 11 languages have been recognised as classical languages of India.
Criteria
In the year 2004, the tentative criteria for the age of antiquity of "classical language" was assumed to be at least 1000 years of existence.[2]
The Central Government has revised the criteria 3 times.
Criteria in 2004
The following criteria were set during the time Tamil was given the classical language status by the government of India:[3]
High Antiquity of its early texts/ recorded history over a thousand years.
A body of ancient literature/ texts, which is considered a valuable heritage by generation of speakers.
The literary tradition must be original and not borrowed from another speech community.[3]
Criteria in 2005
The following criteria were set during the time Sanskrit was given the classical language status by the government of India
High antiquity of its early texts/recorded history over a period of 1500–2000 years.
body of ancient literature/texts, which is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers.
The literary tradition be original and not borrowed from another speech community.
The classical language and literature being distinct from modern, there may also be a discontinuity between the classical language and its later forms or its offshoots.[3]
After classical language status was granted to Tamil in 2004, there were similar demands for other languages.[4] Subsequently Telugu (2008), Kannada (2008), Malayalam (2013) and Odia (2014) were given the status.[3]
Upon dropping the criteria for "original literary tradition", the Linguistic Expert Committee justified their decision by stating the following:[5]
“We discussed it in detail and understood that it was a very difficult thing to prove or disprove as all ancient languages borrowed from each other, but recreated the texts in their own way. On the contrary, archaeological, historical and numismatic evidence are tangible things”
As per Government of India's Resolution No. 2-16/2004-US (Akademies) dated 1 November 2004, the benefits that will accrue to a language declared as a "Classical Language" are:[6]
Two major international awards for scholars of eminence in Classical Indian Languages are awarded annually.
A Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Languages is set up.
The University Grants Commission will be requested to create, to start with at least in the Central Universities, a certain number of Professional Chairs for Classical Languages for scholars of eminence in Classical Indian Languages.[6]
Job employment opportunities
The recognition of these classical languages will give job employment opportunities, especially in academic and research areas. Moreover, the preservation, documentation, and digitization of ancient texts of these languages will provide employment opportunities to people in archiving, translation, publishing, and digital media.[3]
This section is about the languages which are described as "classical" by scholars but still not officially recognised as "classical" by the Government of India. These languages may either have administrative "official language" or "scheduled language" statuses, but these should not be confused with the official "classical language" status.
Maithili is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language with a literary tradition that traces its roots back to the 7th and 8th centuries. The earliest known example of Maithili can be found in the Mandar Hill Sen inscription from the 7th century, which provides evidence of its ancient lineage.[35] Additionally, the Charyapada, a collection of Buddhist mystical songs from the 8th century, also reflects the early development of Maithili.[36] The language is predominantly spoken in the Mithila region, encompassing parts of present-day Bihar, Jharkhand and Nepal. Maithili's rich literary heritage includes epic poetry, philosophical texts, and devotional songs, such as the works of the 14th-century poet Vidyapati. Though it has a distinct script, Tirhuta, Devanagari is commonly used today. Despite its profound historical and cultural significance, Maithili has yet to be recognised as a "classical language" by the Government of India, leading to ongoing demands for such recognition.[37][38]
Government funding
Languages
Money granted (in million pounds) in 2011–2012[39]
Money granted (in million pounds) in 2012-2013[39]
Kannada
0.072
0.25
Telugu
0.072
0.25
Tamil
1.55
0.745
Sanskrit
19.38
21.22
Politics
Besides the literary achievements, the status of classical language is granted, sometimes influenced by the political parties of the states or union territories of the respective languages where these are spoken or are based in, or the national parties, advocating for the certain languages to be accorded the demanded status.[40]
A lawyer from the Madras High Court legally challenged against the official classical status of Malayalam and Odia, in 2015.[48] There was a long legal proceeding for almost one year. Later, the Madras High Court disposed the case against the mentioned languages' status of being officially "classical" in 2016.[49][50][51]
^Records of Tamil reveal three distinct historical stages: Old Tamil (c. 300 BCE to 700 CE), Middle Tamil (700 to 1600 CE) and Modern Tamil (1600 CE to the present).
^ ab"Notification"(PDF). 25 November 2005. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
^"Sanskrit language | History, Script & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. 2024-10-22. Retrieved 2024-11-21. Classical Sanskrit was elegantly described in one of the finest grammars ever produced, the Aṣṭādhyāyī ("Eight Chapters") composed by Pāṇini (c. 6th–5th century BCE).
^Ayyappappanikkar (2025-02-09). Medieval Indian Literature: Surveys and selections. Sahitya Akademi. ISBN978-81-260-0365-5. To find out the written specimens of the Assamese literature, we are to go back to the period of the songs and aphorisms composed by the Buddhist Siddhacharyas between the 8th and the 12th centuries A.D.
^"Bengali language | History, Writing System & Dialects | Britannica". www.britannica.com. 2024-08-31. Retrieved 2024-10-03. The Bengali linguists Suniti Kumar Chatterji and Sukumar Sen suggested that Bengali had its origin in the 10th century ce, deriving from Magahi Prakrit (a spoken language) through Magahi Apabhramsha (its written counterpart). The Bengali scholar Muhammad Shahidullah and his followers offered a competing theory, suggesting that the language began in the 7th century CE and developed from spoken and written Gauda (also, respectively, a Prakrit and an Apabhramsha).
^Mitra, Atri (8 October 2024). "Behind Bengali's classical language tag, a Kolkata institute's 2,000-page research document". The Indian Express. Kolkata. Retrieved 20 October 2024. …a Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary compiled by Li-Yen bears testimony to the fact that at least 51 Bangla words made their way into that dictionary…The Chinese-Sanskrit dictionary, compiled in the 8th Century CE, included or rather was compelled to include words of a third language, i.e., Bangla.
^"Classical Language status granted to Marathi". pib.gov.in. 2024-10-04. Retrieved 2024-10-04. The Marathi language's first known inscription dates back to around 2200 years ago, found in the Naneghata inscription, where the term "Maharathino" was used. This inscription, written in the Brahmi script, proves that the language must have existed at least a few centuries before.
^"Marathi literature". www.britannica.com. 2024-08-31. Retrieved 2024-10-03. Marathi literature is the oldest of the Indo-Aryan literatures, dating to about 1000 ce.
