Five languages got classical tag after key provision dropped

• The Union Cabinet’s decision to accord classical language status to five new languages, including Marathi and Bengali, came after a key provision, which mandated that a language must have original literary tradition, was dropped

Highlights:

• The Union Cabinet recently granted classical language status to five new languages: Marathi, Bengali, Assamese, Pali, and Prakrit. This move came after a significant revision of the existing criteria for designating languages as classical.

Key Change in Criteria:

• Previously, a language needed to meet the following conditions to qualify as classical:
• Antiquity: Texts and recorded history should span 1,500 to 2,000 years.
• Ancient Literature: The language must possess a body of ancient literature that is regarded as a valuable heritage.
• Originality: Literary traditions should be original and not borrowed from another speech community.
• Distinctiveness: Classical literature must be distinct from its modern form, with possible discontinuity between the classical and contemporary versions.
• However, the criterion of "original literary tradition" was considered challenging to prove or disprove, as many ancient languages borrowed from one another while recreating texts uniquely. Due to this difficulty, this requirement was dropped.

New Emphasis on Tangible Evidence:

• Instead of focusing on the originality of literary traditions, the revised criteria emphasize tangible evidence such as:
  • Archaeological findings
  • Historical records
  • Numismatic (coinage) evidence
• A senior member of the Linguistics Expert Committee, which played a pivotal role in this decision, highlighted that tangible proof was easier to assess than subjective judgments about literary originality.

Role of the Linguistics Expert Committee:

• The Linguistics Expert Committee, which includes representatives from the Ministries of Home, Culture, and linguistic scholars, is responsible for reviewing languages for classical status. The committee is chaired by the president of the Sahitya Akademi and meets regularly to assess and revise the criteria.

Previous and Revised Criteria:

• The criteria for classical language status were originally formulated in 2004 when Tamil was declared a classical language. In 2005, these guidelines were revised to include Sanskrit. Since then, the same set of standards has been applied until the recent changes made in July 2024.
• The revised criteria allowed for the expansion of the classical language list, and on October 4, 2024, a gazette notification confirmed the inclusion of Marathi, Bengali, Assamese, Pali, and Prakrit as classical languages.

India’s Classical Languages:

• Before this expansion, India had six classical languages:
• Tamil
• Telugu
• Malayalam
• Kannada
• Sanskrit
• Odia
• With the addition of the new five languages, the number of classical languages in India has now risen to 11.

Prelims Takeaways:

• The Sahitya Akademi