The Union Cabinet has approved the recognition of five more languages as “classical,” expanding the list of India’s culturally significant tongues. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw made the announcement on Thursday, stating that Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese, and Bengali have been included in this prestigious category.
“Prime Minister Modi has always emphasized the importance of Indian languages. Today, five languages—Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese, and Bengali—have been approved as classical languages,” Vaishnaw said.
Marathi Granted Classical Language Status
The demand for classical status for the Marathi language has been long-standing among the people of Maharashtra. For decades, various state governments have pushed for this recognition. Finally, the central government has approved the proposal to grant classical language status to Marathi. Along with Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese, and Bengali have also been granted the same status, as announced by Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
Following this announcement, Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis posted on X (formerly Twitter), stating, “Today is a historic day in the history of our beloved Marathi language!”
He added, “The decision to grant classical status to the Marathi language has been taken by the Union Cabinet today. On behalf of Maharashtra’s 12 crore people, I express my heartfelt gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and all the ministers in the Union Cabinet. Efforts to achieve this have been ongoing, both during my time as Chief Minister and now under the leadership of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. We are grateful to the scholars and intellectuals who contributed to proving Marathi’s classical status through texts like ‘Lilacharitra,’ ‘Dnyaneshwari,’ and ‘Viveksindhu.’ Finally, today, that auspicious day has arrived.”
Fadnavis also highlighted that the recognition, coming on the first day of Navratri, brings immense pride and joy to all Marathi speakers worldwide. He expressed hope that this status will open doors to more support and funding from the central government for the development of Marathi.
Until now, six languages—Tamil, Sanskrit, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, and Odia—had been recognized as classical. With this new addition, Marathi, Bengali, Pali, Prakrit, and Assamese have joined the list.
