Ministry of Education Approves Five Centres of Excellence for Studies in Classical Languages

Centres of Excellence (CoEs) have been sanctioned by the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, for conducting research into Classical Assamese, Classical Bengali, Classical Marathi, Classical Pali and Classical Prakrit languages. The notification has been issued on 3rd October 2026. These Centres shall facilitate higher research, documentation, conservation and digitization of the literature, in addition to spreading awareness regarding classical languages of India. The CoEs are situated in Assam, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Odisha and Gujarat.

Five Centres of Excellence and Host Institutions

The five Centres have been assigned to higher education institutions that have regional and academic significance for the respective languages.

Thus, the five Centres have been established in five different states of India, thereby establishing institutional support for research on classical languages in the country.

Areas of focus

These five Centres of Excellence will operate on four main areas of activity,

• Academic research and scholarship: Establishment of platforms for advanced research and scholarship in the respective languages.
• Preservation and Digitization: Documentation, preservation and digitization of linguistic and literary resources and textual traditions.
• Dissemination: Promotion of greater accessibility of linguistic and literary traditions of the five languages.
• Higher Education Ecosystems: Enhancing the capacity of higher education institutions and research networks focused on classical language study in the five states.

Classical Languages of India

The current development is an addition to the list of Classical Language in India, which was extended in 2024. On 3rd October, 2024, the Union Cabinet granted Classical Language status to Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali, making the total of Classical Languages in India reach 11.

There were six languages which had been granted the status before this development, namely Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia. Tamil became the first Classical Language of India in 2004.

The five languages added in 2024 were based on the recommendations of Linguistics Experts Committee which modified the standards for Classical Languages.

Classical Language Criteria

The modified set of criteria includes several historical and literary factors. A language must possess,

• Antiquity of early texts and recorded history of about 1,500 to 2,000 years.
• A corpus of ancient literature or text which is considered a legacy of generations of speakers of the language.
• Texts related to knowledge especially prose as well as poetry and epigraphy/inscription.
• A classical language as well as literature which might be different from the current state of the language or not continuous with later states of its offshoots.

The committee of linguists of the Sahitya Akademi amended the criteria in July 2024 and recommended Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali as Classical Languages.

Importance of the Five Centres

The newly established Centres are dedicated institutional facilities for the five languages that were designated as Classical Languages in 2024. Their emphasis on research, documentation, digitization and dissemination can help in preserving ancient texts and traditions of knowledge in addition to creating robust academic environments for the study of Classical Languages.

This scheme also involves the linking of the designation of Classical Languages with higher education institutions, thereby giving the newly designated languages a platform for scholarly study and preservation.