Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali have now joined the list of classic languages in India. The Central Government has recognized these Indian languages as classic languages. Apart from these languages, there were already 6 more Indian languages in this list. These languages are Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Oriya.
That means now there are a total of 11 Indian languages in the list of classical languages. Let us now know in this article what is a classical language and who recommends including Indian languages in the list of classical languages.
What is classical language?
Classic language i.e. classical languages are those languages which provide historical and cultural form to every community which has preserved the ancient cultural heritage of India. There are some criteria for including a language in the list of classical languages. For example, the records of that language should be 1500 to 2000 years old. Apart from this, there should be ancient literature of the language and there should be a collection of texts in that language.
who recommends
The Linguistics Expert Committee of the Union Ministry of Culture recommends the inclusion of any Indian language in the list of classical languages. Let us tell you, in this committee, along with representatives of the Union Home Ministry and Culture Ministry, four to five language experts are also included. This committee is chaired by the President of Sahitya Akademi.
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What is the benefit of becoming a classical language
When an Indian language is recognized as a classical language, then the ancient literary heritage like texts, poems, plays etc. is digitized and preserved. Its advantage is that future generations can understand and appreciate that heritage. Apart from this, national awards are started for classical languages and chairs for these languages are created in universities. Apart from this, help is also received from the Central Government for the promotion of classical languages.
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