Five languages got classical status after ‘original literary tradition’ norm was dropped

The Linguistic Expert Committee discussed and understood that it was ‘very difficult to prove or disprove (original literary tradition) as all ancient languages borrowed from each other’, said a committee member

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.

“We discussed it in detail and understood that it was a very difficult thing to prove or disprove as all ancient languages borrowed from each other, but recreated the texts in their own way. On the contrary, archaeological, historical and numismatic evidence are tangible things,” a senior member of the Linguistic Expert Committee told The Hindu.

The Linguistics Expert Committee comprises representatives of the Union Ministries of Home, Culture and four to five linguistic experts at any given time. It is chaired by the president of the Sahitya Akademi.

The criteria were first formulated in 2004 when Tamil was declared a classical language and were revised in November 2005 when Sanskrit was included in the list.

According to the 2005 criteria which were followed till recently, to be designated as classical, a language must have high antiquity of its early texts and recorded history over a period of 1,500-2,000 years, a body of ancient literature or texts, which is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers, the literary tradition must be original and not borrowed from another speech community and 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.

However, with demands for classical status to many languages pending, many of them with tangible political implications, the Linguistics Experts Committee in a meeting on July 25 unanimously revised the criteria. It is under these revised norms that the Union Cabinet on Thursday approved classical language status to Marathi, Bengali, Assamese, Pali and Prakrit. A gazette notification to this effect was issued on October 4.

Before this, India had six classical languages - Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Sanskrit and Odia.

Published - October 06, 2024 07:55 pm IST