Five Centres of Excellence to anchor India's classical language heritage
The Union government has approved the establishment of five Centres of Excellence for studies in five classical languages — Assamese, Bengali, Marathi, Pali and Prakrit — the Ministry of Education said in a statement on Saturday.
The centres are intended to give these languages dedicated institutional platforms for advanced academic research, the preservation and digitisation of literary heritage, and the wider sharing of knowledge about their traditions, the Ministry said.
Under the plan, the Centre of Excellence for Classical Assamese will be established at Tezpur University in Assam, while Visva-Bharati University in West Bengal has been selected for the centre for Classical Bengali. The Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute, a deemed university in Pune, Maharashtra, will host the centre for Marathi. The Central University of Odisha and the Central University of Gujarat will host the remaining two centres.
The Ministry's statement named Pali as the language for both the Odisha and Gujarat centres, although the five languages approved include Prakrit. A clarification on the language to be housed at the Gujarat centre was not immediately available.
“The establishment of these five centres marks a significant step towards strengthening the institutional ecosystem for the study, research, and preservation of India's classical languages,” the statement said.
Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi welcomed the decision in a post on X, saying the centre at the Central University of Odisha “will strengthen the study, preservation and promotion of Pali, a language deeply connected with India's intellectual, spiritual and cultural traditions.”
What the centres will do
According to the Ministry, the Centres of Excellence will strengthen academic research and scholarship by providing dedicated institutional space for advanced research and academic engagement in the respective languages.
They will also support the documentation, preservation and digitisation of linguistic and literary resources, contributing to the long-term conservation of India's textual heritage. In addition, the centres are expected to improve access to, and dissemination of, the literary and knowledge traditions associated with each language, while strengthening regional ecosystems for higher education and research.
“The initiative reinforces the government's efforts to preserve and promote India's rich linguistic and literary heritage while strengthening institutions of higher education as centres of research and scholarship,” the statement said.
Context
Eleven languages now hold classical language status in India. Tamil was the first to be granted the status in 2004, followed by Sanskrit in 2005, Telugu and Kannada in 2008, Malayalam in 2013 and Odia in 2014. The Union Cabinet added Assamese, Bengali, Marathi, Pali and Prakrit to the list in 2024.
Classical language status is decided by the Union Cabinet on the basis of criteria that include the antiquity of a language's recorded history, the existence of a body of ancient literature valued as heritage by generations of speakers, and an original literary tradition rather than one borrowed from another language.
The announcement on Saturday did not specify a timeline for setting up the five centres, the funding allocated to them, or the number of faculty and researchers they are expected to engage.
