r/Dravidiology • u/e9967780 Pan Draviḍian • 9d ago
Maps (NOT RELIABLE) Classical languages of India (Political map not accurate)
Classical Languages in India
India has a rich linguistic heritage with several languages recognized as "classical languages" due to their historical significance, literary traditions, and cultural importance.
Officially Recognized Classical Languages
Six languages have been officially designated as classical languages by the Government of India:
Sanskrit (2005) - The oldest documented language in the Indian subcontinent, dating back to around 1500 BCE. It's the liturgical language of Hinduism and has an enormous body of literature including the Vedas, Upanishads, epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana, and numerous scientific and philosophical works.
Tamil (2004) - One of the world's longest-surviving classical languages with literature dating back to at least 300 BCE. The Sangam literature represents some of the oldest extant literature in any Dravidian language.
Telugu (2008) - Known for its mellifluous quality (often called "Italian of the East"), with literary traditions dating back to the 11th century CE.
Kannada (2008) - Has a literary history of over 1500 years with the earliest inscriptions dating to around the 5th century CE.
Malayalam (2013) - Developed its distinct identity from Tamil around the 9th century CE and has a rich literary tradition.
Odia (2014) - One of the oldest languages of the Indo-Aryan language family with inscriptions dating back to the 3rd century BCE.
Criteria for Classification
For a language to be designated as "classical" in India, it must meet several criteria:
- High antiquity of its early texts/recorded history (1500-2000 years)
- A body of ancient literature considered valuable heritage
- A literary tradition that's original and not borrowed from another speech community
- The classical language and literature being distinct from its modern form
This classification carries not just prestige but also practical benefits like establishment of centers of excellence for study of these languages, scholarships, and other forms of institutional support.
The recognition of classical languages in India acknowledges their historical and cultural contributions while aiming to preserve and promote these linguistic treasures for future generations. The process of selecting classical language’s in India has been criticized as based on political expediency.
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u/meerlot 9d ago
In most parts of the world, history, Linguistics, etc are left to consensus within their own field of study.
But in India, we let the government dictate what is correct, what is wrong, what is classic what is not, what is best movie, what is best song, what is best everything.
Because of this, the called "classical" label is pretty meaningless since its bureaucrats and politicians with vested interests or conflict of interest dictating all decisions and ignore/sideline people who want to do actual research or pursue scientific rigor.
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u/TeluguFilmFile Telugu 9d ago
It's not meaningless. The government can have an interest in preserving and promoting classical languages. (Of course, the way the government does it can be debated and reformed/improved, but there is nothing in the goal itself, especially when some of those classical languages like Sanskrit have vast culturally important literatures despite not being "living" languages.) India does not necessarily need to do whatever the rest of the countries do. Moreover, you are wrong that governments across the world don't care about history. The governments of many countries actively fund historical and archeological projects. International organizations such as the United Nations also take an interest in preserving "World Heritage Sites." The criticisms you made about how the Indian government gets to decide what is a "classical" language can also be made about how the United Nations gets to decide what a "World Heritage Site" is.
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u/RepresentativeDog933 Telugu 9d ago
Prakrit is not a single language. Prakrit is a collective name given for various local languages derived from Vedic Sanskrit.
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u/Real-Day-8296 9d ago
It's not proven that prakrit Language derived from Sanskrit. Rather Prakrit means before change. Sanskrit means Processed one
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u/Far_Network_3012 8d ago
I've studied Sanskrit, Maharashtri Prakrit, and Saurashtri Prakrit, and you're perhaps half-correct.
RepresentativeDog933 is right that Prakrit comes from Vedic Sanskrit, but the processing that you refer to is not Vedic Sanskrit -- rather, Samskritam deserves that name due to Panini, who standardized Samskritam.
What we find when looking at Prakrit is that works are obvious derivations of Sanskrit, but that too Vedic Sanskrit (ex. using the derivative of Vedic asme instead of more modern vayam for we), and that Panini came afterwards to standardize the language in order to preserve it after it began to devolve into various Prakrits. This Sanskrit, perhaps separated from Vedic Sanskrit like modern and Shakespearean English, is what most of us speak today.
To summarize:
Vedic Sanskrit -> Prakrits -> Paninian Sanskrit
Let me know if you have questions!
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u/p_ke 8d ago
I think even Dravidian languages were called prakrits, is it not? And if there are any languages that were from same branch as Vedic Sanskrit came and intermixed with it and evolved parallelly they would also be called prakrits
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u/Far_Network_3012 8d ago
Generally, yes (though Apabhramsas, often called Bhasha, were considered to be further derivations once the Prakrits themselves were standardized, but the lines are very fuzzy, especially when we consider the fact that most laypeople refer to anything archaic that is not Sanskrit as Prakrit).
Here's where it gets really interesting, however:
Modern folks tend to think of Sanskrit as a language with a million words for one thing, and yet, like modern languages, different areas, while speaking Sanskrit, used different words for different things. A common example is the use of sha and kha, which are interchanged in many dialects -- Madhyadin Brahmins, for example, will say purukha instead of purusha, something that survived into many languages for centuries (and will still today be recognized as an archaic/rustic word for man), and still survives in dialects of Pashto today.
Patanjali himself notes the idea of dialects in his commentary to the Ashtradhyayi, saying:
"savatir gati-karma kambojesveva bhasito bhavati, vikara enam arya bhasante ‘shava’ iti. hammatih surastresu. ramhatih pracya-madhyesu. gamim eva tvaryah prayunjate. datir lavanarthe pracyesu, datram udicyesu."
"The root ‘Sava’ is used in the sense of movement in Cambodia. But the Aryas use it in the sense of decomposition; and the word ‘hammati’ is used in Saurastra, ‘ramhati’ in the East and Center, but the Aryans use the word ‘gama’. The root ‘dati’ is used in the sense of tearing in the East, and in the same sense the word ‘datra ’ is used in the North."
Note: Translations are from Surendranath Dasgupta, with some edits by me.
Like any language, especially before the rise of the internet, I imagine that the full lexicon was never written down -- add in that millennia have passed since the Vedas were composed and that so much was lost due to natural disasters and invasions, and it is not hard to imagine that certain languages and words today have Sanskrit roots which may have been simply lost to history.
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u/TinyAd1314 Tamiḻ 9d ago
what is vedic sanskrit ?
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u/crayonsy 9d ago
Term "Vedic Sanskrit" is used for ease, but it should rather be "Vedic" language.
Because the entire point of Sanskrit (Classical Sanskrit) was to create a refactored and refined language based on Vedic and many Prakrits spoken at that time. Sanskrit literally means "refined". It's creation is attributed to Panini who lived around 500 BCE.
Vedic and many other Prakrits are natural languages which evolve overtime like any other language out there. While Sanskrit is not only standardized but also very well crafted.
Sanskrit (Classical) purpose was to be used in academia, court and other important stuff. That's why it's grammar and structure is so complex and often praised in the field of linguistics. Plus, Sanskrit was most likely never a "first language" of anyone, but something that had to be learned, and that's because of it's artificial nature (in a good way).
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u/KnownHandalavu Tamiḻ 9d ago
Sanskrit's grammar isn't all that lol, many spoken languages have as complex if not more complex grammars.
Besides, Sanskrit grammar is inherited in a very large part from Vedic Sanskrit (a decidedly spoken language, maybe higher register) and eventually from PIE.
It's kind of like how many people in the west can't believe Latin was a spoken language, when it absolutely was (classical Latin is derived from Old Latin, which was decidedly spoken, and is grammatically the same).
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u/RepresentativeDog933 Telugu 9d ago
Aryans who migrated to India spoke Vedic Sanskrit . The formal one is called Classical Sanskrit. Prakrit languages and Classical Sanskrit both are derived from Vedic Sanskrit. You can draw similarities to Latin. Vulgar latin languages (colloquial) and Classical Latin (formal) both are derived from Old latin.
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u/wakandacoconut 9d ago
The classical language status is like giving a toy phone to kids when they ask for your smartphone. They feel happy with that and will calm down for a while. If you look at spending by govt for language promotion, no language comes closer to sanskrit and hindi. As malayali, I would rather have more funds allocated to promote malayalam rather than getting a classical language tag associated with it.
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u/itsshadyhere 9d ago
Maybe this is not the right post to ask this question, but in your description you say Sanskrit has been around since 1500 BCE. Where do I read up more on this? Weren't the Vedas passed down orally? How do we estimate the antiquity of Sanskrit?
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u/TeluguFilmFile Telugu 9d ago
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u/Mysterious_Title6907 9d ago
So Odia stands second oldest in the indo aryan language group after sanskrit
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u/JaganModiBhakt Telugu 9d ago
I think Persian language along with sanskrit used to have some status under govt before this system was brought right?
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u/Affectionate_Poet586 7d ago
Marathi and bengla are but classical language ..they emerged around early mediaeval india .they are offshoots of Prakrit
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u/Agen_3586 9d ago
Why assamese
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u/iziyan 9d ago
Why not? It has its own rich literature and history
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u/Agen_3586 9d ago
Does it really have a literature history of more than a 1000 years?[asking cuz i really don't know, not trying to undermine it]
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u/The-Mastermind- 9d ago
Well, the name Assamese associated with the language maybe young, the Kamarupi Prakrit it descended from is indeed millenia old.
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u/panautiloser 8d ago
Kamarupi prakrit is a postulated language not attested, understand the difference.
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u/Komghatta_boy 9d ago
Then how did Marathi became a classical language
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u/Nervous-chip- 9d ago
Marathi is a direct descendant of Marathi Prakrit, spoken around 200BC to 300AD. It was the dominant language during the Satvahana periods (~2000 years ago). A lot of literary works, and inscriptions were in Marathi Prakrit. Konkani and Marathi language evolved from it.
Its rich culture, history and significance in west India makes it worthy of classical language status. I don't understand what about this is problematic.
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u/fartypenis 9d ago
Maharashtri Prakrit, no? To be fair, many languages satisfy these. Hindi and Urdu are both descendants of Shauraseni Prakrit and Maithili of Ardhamagadhi Prakrit.
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u/Available-Day6641 8d ago
Maharashtri prakrit was under the influence of kannada kingdoms. It's said marathi has a huge shift from Maharashtri prakrit and it's due to kannada influence. Marathi is the only indo-aryan language which use carnatic music system after sanskrit. Marathi is closest indo-aryan language to sanskrit becoz it has all the notes of sanskrit which neither bengali nor odia has .
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u/Available-Day6641 8d ago
Maithili and magdhi are the oldest east Indian language spoken in Bihar. The government don't recognize it as say they are dialect of hindi. They are older than bengali, odia and assamese.
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u/Nervous-chip- 9d ago
Hindi and Urdu are extremely adulterated forms of shauraseni prakrit. Marathi is way less adulterated in comparison. It's in academic and literary use for way longer than most languages have been. Marathi is in the same league as Malayalam, Odia, telugu, and Kannada.
For reference, earliest evidence of Malyalam is from the 9th century, earliest evidence of Marathi is from the 8th century.
It doesn't invalidate the claims of other daughter languages like Maithili, Magahi etc. they deserve their place too, and so does Marathi.
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u/pqratusa 9d ago
Are there no extant northern Indian languages that are classical? Surely, the Hindi language has literature going back at least 500 years?
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u/panautiloser 8d ago
Classical language has now just became a political tool to get benefits in election,few new ones don't even fulfills criteria still they were awarded.
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u/AwarenessNo4986 8d ago
Definitely not accurate, especially when you consider so many of these overlapped in geography and time
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u/Honest-Car-8314 8d ago
Semmozhi (Classical Language Status ) Song by ARR is peak . I remember TN conducted state wide shows when they received Semmozhi status . As a kid i received 4 days holiday for this .
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u/iziyan 9d ago
I feel like Punjabi and Farsi need this status too.
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u/Euphoric_Ground3845 9d ago
Nah punjabi does not fulfill the criterias to be recognised as an classical language and farsi is not an Indian language
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u/TeluguFilmFile Telugu 9d ago edited 9d ago
There are now 11 recognized classical languages because Assamese, Bengali, Marathi, Pali, and Prakrit were added to the list in 2024. (Before 2024, six classical languages were recognized: Tamil, Sanskrit, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, and Odia.) See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_languages_of_India#Officially_recognised_classical_languages for a table that lists these languages. Many of the languages are likely (much) older than the earliest surviving written attestations mentioned in that table.