Classical Language Status

Why in news?

• The West Bengal government will appeal to the Centre for granting 'classical language' status to Bengali.

About Classical Language Status:

• At present, there are six Indian languages that have been classified as ‘classical’
• Tamil was the first language to be declared classical in 2004, followed by Sanskrit in 2005, Kannada and Telugu in 2008, Malayalam in 2013 and Odia in 2014.
• The Ministry of Culture has defined a set of guidelines to declare a language as classical.
• A language is declared classical if it fulfills the following criteria as provided by the culture ministry in the Rajya Sabha in 2014:
  • (i) High antiquity of its early texts/recorded history over a period of 1500-2000 years;
  • (ii) A body of ancient literature/texts, which is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers;
  • (iii) The literary tradition be original and not borrowed from another speech community;
  • (iv)The classical language and literature being distinct from modern, there may also be a discontinuity between the classical language and its later forms or its offshoots.

How do classical languages benefit?

• The Ministry of Education establishes two major annual international awards for scholars of eminence in classical Indian languages.
• A Centre of Excellence for studies in Classical Languages is set up once a language is declared as classical.
• The University Grants Commission is requested to create, to start with at least in the Central Universities, a certain number of Professional Chairs for the Classical Languages so declared.
• University Grant Commission (UGC) also awards research projects for promoting these languages.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Which of the following languages in India has Classical Language Status?

1. Tamil

2. Odia

3. Sanskrit

4. Hindi

5. Urdu

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1,2 and 3 only

(b) 3 and 4 only

(c) 1,2 and 5 only

(d) 1,2,3,4 and 5

Answer