On 3 October 2024, the Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved conferring the status of classical language to Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese, and Bengali. Classical languages are recognized as custodians of India’s ancient cultural heritage, representing the historical and cultural achievements of their respective communities.
The classical language category was created on October 12, 2004, with Tamil being the first to receive this status. The criteria for classical status include the language’s high antiquity, a recorded history of over a thousand years, and a significant body of original ancient literature. This recognition is expected to create employment opportunities in academia, research, archiving, translation, and digital media through the preservation and digitisation of ancient texts.
