India’s classical language map is expanding from classrooms and archives into dedicated research centres.
The Ministry of Education has approved five Centres of Excellence for Classical Assamese, Bengali, Marathi, Pali and Prakrit. The decision was conveyed through an Office Memorandum issued by the Department of Higher Education’s Language Division on October 1, 2026.
The five centres will come up at universities and institutions across Assam, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Odisha and Gujarat:
- Classical Assamese: Tezpur University, Assam
- Classical Bengali: Visva-Bharati University, West Bengal
- Classical Marathi: Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute, Pune, Maharashtra
- Classical Pali: Central University of Odisha, Sunabeda, Odisha
- Classical Prakrit: Central University of Gujarat, Kundhela, Vadodara, Gujarat
The centres are expected to support academic research, digitisation, preservation and dissemination of the five languages and their heritage.
WHY THESE FIVE LANGUAGES MATTER
There is also a recent chapter behind this move. In October 2024, the Union Cabinet approved Classical Language status for Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali, taking India’s total number of classical languages to 11. Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia had received the status earlier.
The government’s criteria for classical status include ancient texts or recorded history spanning roughly 1,500 to 2,000 years, a body of heritage literature and evidence through inscriptions and other knowledge texts.
For Odisha, the announcement has a special significance. Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi welcomed the approval of the Classical Pali centre at the Central University of Odisha, calling it a step towards preserving India’s linguistic and intellectual heritage.
With these five centres, languages that received classical status only two years ago are now getting dedicated institutional spaces for deeper study and preservation.
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