Classical Languages of India

A classical language is an Indian language with very old texts and a rich ancient literature. The Government of India gives this label. It honours the language’s history and helps protect it (PIB).

• India created this category for the first time in 2004.
• Tamil became the first classical language on 12 October 2004.
• The Ministry of Home Affairs notified the first two, Tamil and Sanskrit.
• After that, the Ministry of Culture took over all later recognitions (PIB explainer).

Who checks a claim?

• A state usually sends a proposal for its language.
• A Linguistic Experts Committee (LEC) then studies the proposal. Linguistics is the study of language.
• The Ministry of Culture set up this committee on 1 November 2004.
• The LEC works under the Sahitya Akademi, India’s national academy of letters.
• In 2024, the Sahitya Akademi became the nodal agency, or lead body, for the LEC (PIB).

The tests have changed three times: in 2004, 2005 and 2024. Each time, the bar moved. Here is the short version.

2004: the first rules

• Early texts or recorded history had to be over 1,000 years old.
• The language needed ancient literature that its speakers value as heritage.
• Its literary tradition had to be original, not borrowed from another community.

2005: a higher bar

• The rules changed in November 2005, when Sanskrit was declared classical.
• The age bar rose to 1,500–2,000 years.
• A new line allowed a break between the old language and its later forms.

2024: the current rules

• The LEC revised the tests at its meeting of 25 July 2024.
• The 1,500–2,000 year age bar stayed.
• It added knowledge texts, especially prose, besides poetry.
• It also counts epigraphic and inscriptional evidence, meaning old writing on stone or metal.
• The old test of an “original, not borrowed” tradition was dropped (PIB explainer).

Six languages got the status between 2004 and 2014. Four of them are Dravidian, the language family of South India. Sanskrit and Odia are Indo-Aryan.

• Telugu and Kannada were recognised on the same day, 31 October 2008.
• Odia was the sixth. It is the only one of the six from eastern India.
• The dates above are notification dates from the Ministry of Culture (PIB).

Odia’s path to the status has its own story. Read How Odia Got Classical Language Status.

On 3 October 2024, the Union Cabinet approved five more: Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali. That took the total to 11 (PIB).

• Maharashtra had asked for Marathi’s status back in 2013.
• Bihar, Assam and West Bengal sent proposals for the other four.
• All five are Indo-Aryan languages. So the 11 now include 4 Dravidian and 7 Indo-Aryan.

Marathi

• The Gathasaptasati is counted as the earliest Marathi work. It is a poetry collection linked to Satavahana King Hala.
• It was written in Maharashtri Prakrit, an early form behind Marathi.
• The Naneghat inscription is cited as early evidence for the language (PIB backgrounder).

Pali

• The Buddhist canon, the Tipitaka, is written in Pali.
• Tipitaka means “three baskets”: the Vinaya, Sutta and Abhidhamma Pitakas.

Prakrit

• Prakrit is a group of old spoken languages of ancient India.
• The inscriptions of Ashoka and Kharavela are mainly in Prakrit.
• For more, read Prakrit Languages.

Assamese and Bengali

• Both grew from Magadhi Apabhramsa, a late form of eastern Prakrit.
• The Charyapada songs of Buddhist monks are the earliest samples of old Bengali.
• The same songs also show early forms of Assamese.

The label is not just an honour. It brings money, awards and institutions for study. The Ministry of Education runs most of this support (PIB explainer).

• National Awards for scholars of classical languages.
• University chairs, or senior teaching posts, for these languages.
• Centres that research, translate and digitise old texts.
• New jobs in research, archiving, translation and publishing.

Which bodies already exist?

• Tamil: the Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT) in Chennai. It began on 19 May 2008 (CICT).
• CICT is an autonomous body. The Ministry of Education funds it fully.
• Sanskrit: three Central Universities set up by an Act of Parliament in 2020.
• They are Central Sanskrit University and Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri National Sanskrit University in Delhi, and National Sanskrit University, Tirupati.
• Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Odia: Centres of Excellence under the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysuru.

On 3 October 2026, the Ministry of Education approved five Centres of Excellence. There is one for each language added in 2024 (PIB).

What will they do?

• Research: give scholars a home for advanced study.
• Preservation and digitisation: save old texts and put them online.
• Dissemination: spread knowledge of these languages to more people.
• Regional ecosystems: build higher study across five states (Indian Express).

Watch the trap here. The Pali centre is in Odisha, and the Prakrit centre is in Gujarat. Neither is in Bihar.