How will a classical status help languages?

How will a classical status help languages?

What does this mean for Marathi, Bengali, Assamese, Pali and Prakrit? On what basis is such a status accorded?

The Union Cabinet approved classical status for five languages earlier this month — Marathi, Bengali, Assamese, Pali, and Prakrit — by tweaking the criteria for the declaration.

What makes a language classical?

• When the new UPA-led Union government introduced the classical status for Indian languages in 2004, it defined them using
• three criteria: that its earliest texts or recorded history dated back over a thousand years;
• that it had a body of ancient literature considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers; and that its literary tradition must be original and not borrowed from another speech community.
• Tamil was the first language declared to be classical. In 2005, these criteria were tweaked to push back the historical requirement to 1,500 to 2,000 years and to stipulate that “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”.
• Under these norms, five more languages were declared as classical over the next decade: Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Odia.

What lies ahead for the newly declared classical languages?

• “It is important that the language in which Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore wrote is recognised as a classical language, at a time when many people are reluctant to speak in Bangla,” says Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri, a writer, historian and Indologist.
• “So many Bengali works are awaiting translation. Bengali dialects also need support. This will also help research proposals in Bangla to get central funds.”
• The Centre has funded universities for Sanskrit and Tamil and centres of excellence and university chairs for the other existing classical languages, as well as national and international awards. Central budget grants for classical languages have ranged from Rs51 crore for Tamil in the last decade to Rs3.7 crore for Malayalam since 2020.
• “There are so many rock inscriptions in Assamese which are yet to be deciphered, and this will support researchers seeking to study the ancient language and translate Assamese classics
• “But we also hope it will give a fillip to the learning and use of modern Assamese, given the rise of English-medium schools. Our report proved that our language has deep roots. Now we must ensure that it also has support to spread its leaves and branches.”
• ‘A classical status is a matter of national pride for a language; it will help research proposals in the vernacular languages to get central funds’