Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese, Bengali officially recognized as India’s classical languages

Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting of India Ashwini Vaishnaw announced on Oct 3 the Union Cabinet approved the official recognition of five Indian languages—Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese, and Bengali—as classical languages.

"PM Modi has always focused on Indian languages... Today, 5 languages—Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese, and Bengali—have been approved as classical languages," said Vaishnaw.

"By now, we had Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Odia as the notified classical languages... The government is taking many steps to conserve and promote the classical languages and to preserve the rich heritage of these languages,” he added.

"The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved to confer the status of classical language to Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese, and Bengali languages,” reads the press release by the government.

“The classical languages serve as a custodian of Bharat’s profound and ancient cultural heritage, embodying the essence of each community’s historical and cultural milestone," it added.

"The primary states involved are Maharashtra (Marathi), Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh (Pali and Prakrit), West Bengal (Bengali), and Assam (Assamese). The broader cultural and academic impact will extend nationally and internationally," it continued.

This will almost double the number of classical languages from 6 to 11. Tamil was designated as the first classical language by the government on Oct 12, 2004, and Sanskrit followed suit in 2005. This marked the introduction of the "classical languages" category.

Kannada and Telugu were declared as additional languages in 2008, Malayalam in 2013, and Odia in 2014.

To be considered a classical language, it must have a literary heritage and ancient history of 1500–2000 years, along with important ancient writings that are still valued today.

The language must have an independent and distinguished literary legacy, not acquired from another language.

Furthermore, since the classical language and literature are still separate from their later evolutions, there might be a gap between them and their current equivalents or offshoots.

"The inclusion of languages as classical languages will create significant employment opportunities, particularly in academic and research fields,” said the cabinet in a statement.

“Additionally, the preservation, documentation, and digitization of ancient texts of these languages will generate jobs in archiving, translation, publishing, and digital media," it added.

PM Modi said, "Our government cherishes and celebrates India's rich history and culture. We have also been unwavering in our commitment to popularizing regional languages.”

“I am extremely glad the Cabinet has decided that Assamese, Bengali, Marathi, Pali, and Prakrit will be conferred the status of classical languages! Each of them are beautiful language, highlighting our vibrant diversity. Congratulations to everyone,” he added.

Himanta Biswa Sarma, the chief minister of Assam, praised PM Modi for making this decision.

"Thank you, Hon’ble Prime Minister, for this decision. Your love and affection for the Assamese language and culture is unparalleled, and the people of Assam will be forever indebted to you for recognizing our beautiful mother tongue as a classical language,” said Biswa.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis reacted to the introduction of Marathi and said, "I express my gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the entire Union Cabinet that they accepted our longstanding demand that Marathi language should be given the status of a classical language.”

“From today, our Marathi language will be known as an elite language. This is a day to be written in golden letters. Prime Minister Modi Ji, thank you very much. Even when I was the Chief Minister and even now, the Maharashtra Government, under the leadership of Chief Minister Shinde Ji, continuously followed up on this issue and made efforts and also gave a lot of evidence in this regard, and today all that evidence has been accepted and the Marathi language has now become a classical language,” he added.

He continued, “On behalf of the 12 crore people of Maharashtra and Marathi people living across the world, I express my wholehearted gratitude to Prime Minister Modi."

When a language is given the designation of a classical language, the government provides various incentives to encourage learning it. Among these are two worldwide prizes given out each year to academics who succeed in the classical Indian languages.

To promote and enhance research and education in these languages, a Center of Excellence for Studies in the Classical Language has been formed, and the University Grants Commission is further urged to establish Professional Chairs in Central Universities.