Classical languages of India
Union Minister for Culture recently announced that the Ministry had decided to grant the classical language status to Malayalam. Spoken by over 30 million people, Malayalam was the only major language in south India that had not been classified as the classical language. Belonging to the family of Dravidian languages, Malayalam has a rich heritage of perhaps more than 2,300 years.
Here is some background information:
Article 343 and Article 351 and Special Position of Sanskrit
Hindi, as we know had become a symbol of nationalist feelings during the freedom struggle of India and the leaders encouraged its use. We have been told that the Sanskrit had lost the position of official language of the Union by a casting vote. Article 343 gave Hindi the status of official language of the Union. For Sanskrit, there is a special status mentioned in article 351, whereby Sanskrit was given a position of the primary source language for many languages including Hindi.
Calls for Classical Languages
The first call for a classical language was given by Tamil academicians. They claimed that the Sangam anthologies should be considered as classical languages. It’s an ancient language and the old Tamil is the prototype of the Dravidian family of languages. The government took a note and then consulted the experts of the Sahitya Academi. Later a committee was established and some criteria were established to grant the status of Classical Languages.
Criteria for Classical Languages in India
The government of India currently follows the following criteria to determine the eligibility of language to be considered for classification as “classical language”:
- High antiquity of its early texts/ recorded history over a period of 1500-2000 years.
- A body of ancient literature/ texts, which is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers.
- The literary tradition be original and not borrowed from another speech community.
- 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.
Current Classical Languages
Tamil was the first Classical Language of India. The government declared Tamil (in 2004), Sanskrit (in 2005). These two languages are undoubtedly parental sources for many languages belonging to the Indo-European family and the Dravidian family of linguistic groups. Later the government declared Kannada and Telugu (in 2008) as classical languages of India.In 2013, Malayalam was also given status of classical language. In 2014, Odiya was also given the status of Classical language.
With this the following six languages are included in the list of Classical Languages:
- Tamil (since 2004)
- Sanskrit (since 2005)
- Telugu (since 2008)
- Kannada (Since 2008)
- Malayalam (since 2013)
- Odiya (since 2014)
The case of Malayalam
It has been alleged that the current criterion discriminates against Malayalam, which as a member of the Dravidian family of languages is equal on every count to its sister languages of Telugu and Kannada.
The land area between Tirupati and Kanyakumari was known in ancient days as Tamilakam, or Dakshina patha in Sanskrit. It inherited a common tradition and culture.
Tamil was the earliest derivative from the Proto-Dravidian language, followed by Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. All these came under the influence of Sanskrit, the least affected one being Tamil. The other three are equal in all respects and share common traits.
VISWANATH
January 16, 2014 at 10:17 pmactually i have no antipathy against malayalam!! but i want to get the facts right here!!…first of all “malayalam’s antiquity is 2300 years”..pls dont kid!!…..modern kerala is called as “chera Nadu” in tamil and one of the three princely tamil states as is shown by ashoka’s girnar inscription and sangam tamil poetry!!….in fact first of the five epics of tamil language silappadhikaram is authored by a keralite residing at kodungallur,kerala…..8th century chera king kulasekara alwar ,one of the 12 vaishnavite bhakti saints of tamil has authored beautiful works in only tamil and sanskrit!! ..and moreover still 17th century there is no mention of malayalam as a language in tamil works!!..the first tamil work was printed at kollam only!!…..there is irrefutable evidence that malayalam doesnot fit in the first criteria although it has modern excellent poetry!!….then the reason for govt to accord the status is of pure political pressure …..like in the case of italian marines shoot out at kerala coast ..ended in the arrest of marines!! think about this !!..more than 500 fishermen were killed by srilankan navy but still no action is coming !!…..political enlightenment in kerala is very high!!
Ashwin Nambiar
June 23, 2014 at 11:24 amYour entire argument lies in reference to and relies wholly on only Tamil literature and scriptures not having a mention of Malayalam, this itself is a fundamental flaw. The evidence provided proving the antiquity and proud heritage of Malayalam have been duly recognised and accepted (the proofs were widely reported in print media when classical language status was accorded to malayalam). Your arguments don’t prove anything substantial.
Ramakrishnan
December 29, 2014 at 8:34 pmVISWANATH is true. I’ve studied in kerala during my school time. They are very rude
Uma Maheshwar Rao Garapati
August 3, 2020 at 5:50 pmIt’s silly to call Tamil for the evidence of classical Malayalam. If you want to look for evidence of the age of Malayalam find Malayalam inscriptions and Tamil. If the language of Cheranadu was Tamil then as for the tamil sources and the same is known today as Malayalam would it not be suffice to say Today’s Malayalam and Modern Tamil had common source. By that Malayalam is as old as modern Tamil. It was only the change of names. For certain socio-political reasons the language of of some regions change the name and some don’t.
rimjhim
February 4, 2014 at 7:07 pmViswananth above is true. I have gone to Kerala and have seen very rude behaviour towards their Tamil brothers and sisters.
Rajesh Selvarajakrishnan
October 16, 2019 at 9:41 amHey… I am from Kerela and I have been there multiple times. No one there is rude to our “Tamilian brothers”. And honestly, I don’t know where you went, but Malayali people are so polite and nice. And you should not only discriminate Kerela but you should open your eyes. Many people are rude not just in India but all over the world. So don’t judge.
abhinav jain
February 28, 2014 at 7:42 amNow odiya is also a classical language….
uttam
March 8, 2014 at 10:17 amYa, now odiya is also a classical language but it is not updated in the article…
Sumit
June 24, 2014 at 2:07 pmWhat about Maithili Guys, which is base of many language like, Hindi, Marathi, Gujrati, Bengali Assamese etc.
As British ruler hamper this language did not get yet recognition it deserves. And it is somehow ancient like Sanskrit and Tamil. And no doubt considered as a sweetest language compare to all.
because caste base politics it is projected as language of Brahmin and dialect Bhojpuri as language of Yadav and lower caste. This is major era and as well Lalu era responsible for its downfall.
Tanmay
October 14, 2014 at 2:29 pmDear Sumit,
Yes I agree Marathi and Maithili should tagged with classical language. in case of Maithili there is no continues literal link due to various political cause. the script of Maithili is used by Assami and Bengali Language but its know as Bengali or Assami script. Kamrup prakriti is acceptable as they have ancient history but Bengali view is not acceptable. in real the script is Maithili. people should work on it. I agree Due to British Raj the recognition move to Bengal and the glory of Maithili shifted to her branched language… root is Maithili so it should be Classical language.
Dr Gajanan
June 18, 2019 at 6:33 amMarathi has roots in Maithili? Are you joking?
Srinivasa
July 20, 2014 at 11:30 amVery soon, every language will become a classical language due to either actual or political reasons..
Ramakrishnan
December 29, 2014 at 8:37 pmIn that case they have to break seeing the script concept
pramod
October 31, 2014 at 11:06 pmClassical language status of tamil is due to political pressure . It already losts its dravidian culture just it forget its parents………..
Ramakrishnan
December 29, 2014 at 8:44 pmWell, tamil language doesn’t derived from any language including sanscrit
SUdalaimani
February 24, 2015 at 5:27 pmTHAMIZH => TAMIL=> THE PRIMARY CLASSICAL LANGUAGE OF THE WORLD
Vinoth
January 24, 2018 at 7:49 pmTamil is first language of the world man. So you didnt know please shut your mouth.punda
Kulbhushan
November 7, 2014 at 7:08 pmOnly English and Hindi should be used as Indian/Classical/National/Cultural/.. blah blah… useless categorization is leading to unnecessary wastage of time money and resources… Lets think out of the box guys and help Mother India cover cultural,linguistic & religious gap between each children of her…
sabyasachi panda
November 20, 2014 at 12:11 pmodia bhasa bharat ka ek sastriya bhasa hai jo buhut pehle hona tha ayur yaha arya bharatiya bhasa ka pehla (classical language) sastriya bhasa hai ……jai hind
sabyasachi panda
November 20, 2014 at 6:12 pmOria (odia)officially spelled odia is an indian language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family.It is the predominant language of the Indian state of Odisha, where native speakers comprise 95% of the population and it is spoken in parts of West bengal,Jharkhand,Chhattisgarh,Telangana and Andhra pradesh Odia is one of the many official languages’ in India. It is the official languages of Odisha and the second official language of Jharkhand and West bengal. Odia is the sixth Indian language to be designated a Classical language in India on the basic of having a long liteary history and not having borrowed extensively from other languages. Ancient Form of Odia language in 2nd Century BC Rock edict King Ashok::The script in the ediets of Ashok in 2nd century BC at Dhauli and jaugada and the inscriptions of Kharavela in Hati Gumpha of Khandagiri give us the first glimpse of possible origin of Odia language. From the point of view of language, the inscriptions of Hati Gumpha are near modern Odia and essentially different from the language of Ashokan edicts. A point has also been made as to whether Pali was the prevalent language in Odisha during this period. The Hati Gumpha inscription , which are in Pali,are perhaps the only evidence of stone inscriptions in Pali. This may be the reason why the German linguist prof. Hermann oldenberg mentioned that Pali was the original language of Odisha. Poet Jayadeva’s literary contribution::Jayadeva was a Sanskrit poet . He was born in an Utakal Brahmin family of (Puri)Bhubaneswar in circa 1200 AD. He is most known for his composition,the epic poem Gita Govinda,which depicts the divine love of the Hindu deity Krishna and his consort Radha,and is considered on important text in the bhakti move ment of Hinduism About the end of the 13th Century and the beginning of the 14th the influence of Jayadeva’s literary contribution changed the pattern of versification in Odia…………….AME SAMASTE BHARATIYA….(HIMANSHU PANDA…CUTTACK BHUBANESWAR…..ODISHA INDIA……JAI JAGANNATH…….JAI HIND…….MERA BHARAT MAHAN
SUdalaimani
February 24, 2015 at 5:35 pmOne of the latest language, which changed from Tamil (Dravida family) to Indo Aryan language. But we can get Oriya’s old name was Oratta nadu from Tamil Literature.
Where ever mentioned Indo —— language like Indo Aryan language all were created from Tamil (Dravida family) only, because Tamil is THE PRIMARY CLASSICAL LANGUAGE OF THE WORLD
Mother language for all language of world
jagannath
March 1, 2015 at 12:00 amyou are the reason why the whole india hates the portion of people in tamil nadu who forget patriotism when they talk about vocal supremacy…for u we ca’t have Sri Lanka as our friend,u stupods don’t know that the sinhalese with whom u fight in sri-lanka are the descendants of Odisha parents. before commenting on my mother tongue, don’t underestimate the power of a Odia. KIYA :-)
Sai Krishna
October 30, 2019 at 2:33 pmThat sounds far fetched. The grammar, alphabetical order and other discourse rules in Odia are very similar to Sanskritan languages than any Dravidian language. The words in its language is heavily Indo-Aryan. It’s known to have been derived from a Prakrit language.
So the history of Odia language and it’s modern representation have shown no influence from Tamil or any other Dravidian language. A simple mention in your Tamil texts only shows what the Tamil writers perceived Odia as. These Tamil writers could have met Greek people and documented them and given them names on their own. That would only show the perception by Tamil people regarding the Greek visitors.
Suresh
April 3, 2015 at 9:40 pmComment first of all only mother languages has to be called classical languages. Not daughter languages like Telugu Kannada Malayalam oria etc… Rest are daughters of Tamil and Oria is daughter of Sanskrit. There should be only two or three classical languages in India. Like Tamil Sanskrit and Urdu.
prasanth
March 26, 2020 at 10:20 pmUnga appa sonna na Telugu is daughter of Tamil ani modallo history teriyama pesade
NAMBI RAJAN
May 23, 2015 at 9:37 pmTamil is really having all the quality of works from ancient time onwards and that kind of works transfered or copied into various languages. Further it is used for enrich their languages and at the same time they demolised or restricted the main works to reached common people by using their power in kingdom as Chief presit or religious guru because they conveyed message to god using Sanskrit for maintain their power in kingdom and unable to understand the common people. In prolong period of continuation changed the important from tamil language to Sanskrit and also diveded the people by cast system to enjoyed as religious guru. Finally that became practised and belongs to their caste or family. Over a periods that work lost its root and introduced as new form with little change.
In India it is very clear all happened by political power, that is why list of classical languages increased and in the future all the languages becomes classical language.
Bhushan
May 28, 2015 at 11:56 amThere are two things you need to look all Dravidian Languages are inherited from Sanskrit. The Second thing you Kannada king or Tulluva Dyanasty mpw called Tullu emperor Sri Krishna Devarayya said that telugu is the Sweetest Language of all the languages in the Country. Even though he is Kannada emperor but he is proud to say as a telugu King. He wrote in his own Literature Amuktha malyada. Subramania Bahartiyar the Tamil Poet said telugu is the sweetest Language along with arvam (Tamil).
raghu
June 26, 2015 at 10:51 pmhello people Tamil is not the mother language for Kannada.
Kannada is a language which is as independent as Tamil, don’t write what ever you feel.
check kandamil a ancient language which gave rise to both Kannada and Tamil simultaneously
Pravin Rajendran
October 10, 2017 at 4:50 amyes correct raghu tamil and kannada are twin brothers
Gopikanta Ghosh
May 1, 2018 at 4:53 pmI am amazed we have so many classical languages. India is great
ATHULKUMAR
October 11, 2019 at 6:12 pmeverybody writes here are try to prove them self that , they are the only great people. why this much hesitations guys. I am from Kerala and even from last 12 years of life in Delhi , every north Indians are telling that Kerala is one of the best state. it doesn’t mean other states are not good. other states also good and excellent.
Mr: Viswanath & Mr:Ramakrishnan . don’t mix your personal opinion here & harass any states. we believe that every human beings are great . All people are blessed with gods.
Deepak
November 2, 2019 at 2:48 amAll have old monk and sleep peacefully.. nothing counts.. try to not argue about this in public and keep your feelings only for yourself in there present world..
Vinu
February 15, 2020 at 12:33 pmOnly language in the world -tamil
First language –tamil
Only classical language –tamil
Best literature –tamil
National language –tamil
World language –tamil
Dear tamil people, open your eyes. Accept others. Every language has something to respect. Tamil is just one among them
Basanti das
March 4, 2020 at 9:43 pmThank you very much
It’s very important information
for our examination
Basanti das
March 4, 2020 at 9:44 pmThank you very much
It’s very important information
for our examination, it’s very helpful for us
Vishnuprasadvs
March 10, 2020 at 11:33 amMalayalam language have it’s own tradition,
Vazhappalli Copper plates from 832 AD and Tharisapalli Copper plates from 849 AD,The oldest documents written purely in Malayalam,
Alex
August 1, 2020 at 12:57 amBy now, I hope all the other writers who believe in fiction than facts, would have got themselves enlightened to know that Tamil is the oldest language in the world… When your guru, Modi himself started saying Tamil is the oldest language in the world.
Earth revolves around the sun whether someone believes it or not
Uma Maheshwar Rao Garapati
August 3, 2020 at 5:32 pmYour text, I quote “These two languages are undoubtedly parental sources for many languages belonging to the Indo-European family and the Dravidian family of linguistic groups.” is certainly wrong and absolutely nonsense. This must have been written by someone who doesn’t have even a basic knowledge of linguistics. Tamil is not the parental source of any language and Sanskrit is not the source of many Indo-European languages. Instead you can say Sanskrit was the parental source for all Indo-Aryan languages. That’s all.
Theroor_Karen
August 3, 2020 at 10:40 pmIn the world, Tamil is the one of ancient languages. Tamil is having history and more evidence of more than 3000 years. Please don’t compare other languages with Tamil. Other Dravidian languages are using more Tamil words. Malayalam is almost Tamil. Here people are speaking about BC. History evidence. But Tamil is From AD 3000 Years. Even Koriya also using Tamil words. Please check evidence in You tube itself. Please try to know the history of Tamil. Now a days In Tamil Nadu found more Tamil culture Evidences of before 2000 Years.
Rithu Goyal
August 17, 2020 at 12:28 pmI now understood why AP separated from Tamilians who act like Islamic fundamentalists thinking they are the superior of all