Classical languages of Bharat

2 min read
  • Article 343, the official language of India should be Hindi in the Devanagari script.
  • As per the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, we have 22 languages.
  • In 2004 it was decided by the Indian Government to proclaim Indian Languages meeting certain requirements as “Classical Language”.

📌 Classical Languages

  1. In 2004, Tamil as the Classical Language of India.
  2. In 2005, right after Tamil, Sanskrit as a Classical Language of India.

These two languages are undeniably parental sources for several languages belonging to the Indo-European family and the Dravidian family of language groups.

  1. Telugu in 2008.
  2. Kannada in 2008
  3. Malayalam in 2013
  4. in 2014, Odia
  5. In January 2024, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar announced that the Centre has decided to include Farsi (Persian) as one of the nine classical languages in India under the New Education Policy.

📌 2024

  1. Maharashtra (Marathi),
    1. Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh (Pali and Prakrit),
  3. West Bengal (Bengali), and
  4. Assam (Assamese)
    IMG_20241004_144927_745

📌 Idea of classicism

  • The idea of Classicism had its origin in Europe.
  • According to information provided by the Ministry of Culture in the Rajya Sabha in February 2014.
  • The Government tracks the following criteria to define the eligibility of language to be considered for classification as “classical language”:

📌 Criteria for being a classical language

  • Extraordinary antiquity of its early transcripts or verified history over a period of 1500-2000 years.
  • A body of ancient literature or texts, which is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers.
  • The literary tradition should be original and unique, and certainly not hired from another language community.
  • The classical language and literature being diverse from modern, there may also be a discontinuity among the classical language and its later forms or its sprouts. Byjus

📌 Benefit

  • Govt fund for opening Central Institutes for the given language,
  • more college courses & associated professor jobs.
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