🗣️ [History/Culture] Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali added as classical languages.
- 2004: Govt decided to create a new category of languages as “classical languages”
- Tamil (2004), Sanskrit (2005), Telugu and Kannada (2008), and Malayalam and Odia (2013-14)
- 2024: more languages added- Maharashtra (Marathi), Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh (Pali and Prakrit), West Bengal (Bengali), and Assam (Assamese)
- Criteria? (1) history over a period of 1000 years (2) ancient literature/texts, (3) literary tradition be original and not borrowed from another speech community;
- Benefit? Govt fund for opening Central Institutes for the given language, more college courses & associated professor jobs.
#pre2025