Languages of India

Languages of India belong to several language families, the major ones being the Indo-Aryan languages spoken by 78.05% of Indians and the Dravidian languages spoken by 19.64% of Indians;<ref name="EBCIndoAryanLanguages">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="EBCDravidianLanguages">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> both families together are sometimes known as Indic languages.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Efn Languages spoken by the remaining 2.31% of the population belong to the Austroasiatic, Sino–Tibetan, Tai–Kadai, Andamanese, and a few other minor language families and isolates.<ref name="Moseley2008">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp According to the People's Linguistic Survey of India, India has the second highest number of languages (780), after Papua New Guinea (840).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Ethnologue lists a lower number of 456.<ref name="ethnologue_world">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Article 343 of the Constitution of India stated that the official language of the Union is Hindi in Devanagari script, with official use of English to continue for 15 years from 1947. In 1963, a constitutional amendment, The Official Languages Act, allowed for the continuation of English alongside Hindi in the Indian government indefinitely until legislation decides to change it.<ref name="governmentministry1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The form of numerals to be used for the official purposes of the Union are "the international form of Indian numerals",<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> which are referred to as Arabic numerals in most English-speaking countries.<ref name="constitution1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Despite some misconceptions, Hindi is not the national language of India; the Constitution of India does not give any language the status of national language.<ref name="National">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="PTI">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution lists 22 languages,<ref>Languages Included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Template:Sic. Template:Webarchive.</ref> which have been referred to as scheduled languages and given recognition, status and official encouragement. In addition, the Government of India has awarded the distinction of classical language to Assamese, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Pali, Prakrit, Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu. This status is given to languages that have a rich heritage and independent nature.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

According to the Census of India of 2001, India has 122 major languages and 1599 other languages. However, figures from other sources vary, primarily due to differences in the definition of the terms "language" and "dialect". The 2001 Census recorded 30 languages which were spoken by more than a million native speakers and 122 which were spoken by more than 10,000 people.<ref name="Census2001"/> Three contact languages have played an important role in the history of India in chronological order: Sanskrit,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Persian<ref name="KachruKachru2008">Template:Cite book</ref> and English.<ref name="contact-lingo">Bhatia, Tej K and William C. Ritchie. (2006) Bilingualism in South Asia. In: Handbook of Bilingualism, pp. 780–807. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing</ref> Persian was the court language during the Indo-Muslim period in India and reigned as an administrative language for several centuries until the era of British colonisation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> English continues to be an important language in India. It is used in higher education and in some areas of the Indian government.Template:Cn

Hindi, which has the largest number of first-language speakers in India today,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> serves as the lingua franca across much of northern and central India. However, there have been concerns raised with Hindi being imposed in South India, most notably in the states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.<ref name="nehru1">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Hardgrave1965" /> Some in Maharashtra, West Bengal, Assam, Punjab and other non-Hindi regions have also started to voice concerns about imposition of Hindi.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Bengali is the second most spoken and understood language in the country with a significant number of speakers in eastern and northeastern regions. Marathi is the third most spoken and understood language in the country with a significant number of speakers in the southwest,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> followed closely by Telugu, which is most commonly spoken in southeastern areas.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Hindi is the fastest growing language of India, followed by Kashmiri in the second place, with Meitei (officially called Manipuri) as well as Gujarati, in the third place, and Bengali in the fourth place, according to the 2011 census of India.<ref name="auto">—{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}
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According to the Ethnologue, India has 148 Sino-Tibetan, 140 Indo-European, 84 Dravidian, 32 Austro-Asiatic, 14 Andamanese, and 5 Kra-Dai languages.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

History

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}Template:Further The Southern Indian languages are from the Dravidian family. The Dravidian languages are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Proto-Dravidian languages were spoken in India in the 4th millennium BCE and started disintegrating into various branches around 3rd millennium BCE.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Dravidian languages are classified in four groups: North, Central (Kolami–Parji), South-Central (Telugu–Kui), and South Dravidian (Tamil-Kannada).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The Northern Indian languages from the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European family evolved from Old Indo-Aryan by way of the Middle Indo-Aryan Prakrit languages and Apabhraṃśa of the Middle Ages. The Indo-Aryan languages developed and emerged in three stages — Old Indo-Aryan (1500 BCE to 600 BCE), Middle Indo-Aryan stage (600 BCE and 1000 CE), and New Indo-Aryan (between 1000 CE and 1300 CE). The modern north Indian Indo-Aryan languages all evolved into distinct, recognisable languages in the New Indo-Aryan Age.<ref name="Kachru2006">Template:Cite book</ref>

In the Northeast India, among the Sino-Tibetan languages, Meitei language (officially known as Manipuri language) was the court language of the Manipur Kingdom (Template:Langx). It was honoured before and during the darbar sessions before Manipur was merged into the Dominion of the Indian Republic. Its history of existence spans from 1500 to 2000 years according to most eminent scholars including Padma Vibhushan awardee Suniti Kumar Chatterji.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Even according to the "Manipur State Constitution Act, 1947" of the once independent Manipur, Manipuri and English were made the court languages of the kingdom (before merging into Indian Republic).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Persian, or Farsi, was brought into India by the Ghaznavids and other Turko-Afghan dynasties as the court language. Culturally Persianized, they, in combination with the later Mughal dynasty (of Turco-Mongol origin), influenced the art, history, and literature of the region for more than 500 years, resulting in the Persianisation of many Indian tongues, mainly lexically. In 1837, the British replaced Persian with English and Hindustani in Perso-Arabic script for administrative purposes and the Hindi movement of the 19th Century replaced Persianised vocabulary with Sanskrit derivations and replaced or supplemented the use of Perso-Arabic script for administrative purposes with Devanagari.<ref name="KachruKachru2008"/><ref name="Brass2005">Template:Cite book</ref>

Each of the northern Indian languages had different influences. For example, Hindustani was strongly influenced by Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian, leading to the emergence of Modern Standard Hindi and Modern Standard Urdu as registers of the Hindustani language. Bangla on the other hand has retained its Sanskritic roots while heavily expanding its vocabulary with words from Persian, English, French and other foreign languages.<ref name="KulshreshthaMathur2012">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="nunley1999">Template:Citation</ref>

Inventories

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The first official survey of language diversity in the Indian subcontinent was carried out by Sir George Abraham Grierson from 1898 to 1928. Titled the Linguistic Survey of India, it reported a total of 179 languages and 544 dialects.<ref name="Ahmad2009">Template:Cite book</ref> However, the results were skewed due to ambiguities in distinguishing between "dialect" and "language",<ref name="Ahmad2009"/> use of untrained personnel and under-reporting of data from South India, as the former provinces of Burma and Madras, as well as the princely states of Cochin, Hyderabad, Mysore and Travancore were not included in the survey.<ref name="Saba2013">Template:Cite bookTemplate:Dead link</ref>

Different sources give widely differing figures, primarily based on how the terms "language" and "dialect" are defined and grouped. Ethnologue, produced by the Christian evangelist organisation SIL International, lists 435 tongues for India (out of 6,912 worldwide), 424 of which are living, while 11 are extinct. The 424 living languages are further subclassified in Ethnologue as follows:<ref name="Ethnologue">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Ethnologue2">Ethnologue : Languages of the World (Seventeenth edition) : Statistical Summaries Template:Webarchive. Retrieved 17 December 2014.</ref>

• Institutional– 45
• Stable– 248
• Endangered– 131
• Extinct– 11

The People's Linguistic Survey of India, a privately owned research institution in India, has recorded over 66 different scripts and more than 780 languages in India during its nationwide survey, which the organisation claims to be the biggest linguistic survey in India.<ref name="PLSI">Template:Cite news</ref>

The People of India (POI) project of Anthropological Survey of India reported 325 languages which are used for in-group communication by 5,633 Indian communities.<ref name="BanerjeeChaudhuryDas2005">Template:Cite book</ref>

Census of India figures

The Census of India records and publishes data with respect to the number of speakers for languages and dialects, but uses its own unique terminology, distinguishing between language and mother tongue. The mother tongues are grouped within each language. Many of the mother tongues so defined could be considered a language rather than a dialect by linguistic standards. This is especially so for many mother tongues with tens of millions of speakers that are officially grouped under the language Hindi.

1951 Census

Separate figures for Hindi, Urdu, and Punjabi were not issued, due to the fact the returns were intentionally recorded incorrectly in states such as East Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, PEPSU, and Bilaspur.<ref name="langs1951">Template:Cite book</ref>

1961 Census

The 1961 census recognised 1,652 mother tongues spoken by 438,936,918 people, counting all declarations made by any individual at the time when the census was conducted.<ref name="Census1961">Template:Cite journal</ref> However, the declaring individuals often mixed names of languages with those of dialects, subdialects and dialect clusters or even castes, professions, religions, localities, regions, countries and nationalities.<ref name="Census1961"/> The list therefore includes languages with barely a few individual speakers as well as 530 unclassified mother tongues and more than 100 idioms that are non-native to India, including linguistically unspecific demonyms such as "African", "Canadian" or "Belgian".<ref name="Census1961"/>

1991 Census

The 1991 census recognises 1,576 classified mother tongues.<ref name="Vijayanunni">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> According to the 1991 census, 22 languages had more than a million native speakers, 50 had more than 100,000 and 114 had more than 10,000 native speakers. The remaining accounted for a total of 566,000 native speakers (out of a total of 838 million Indians in 1991).<ref name="Vijayanunni"/><ref name="Census1991">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

2001 Census

According to the census of 2001, there are 1,635 rationalised mother tongues, 234 identifiable mother tongues and 22 major languages.<ref name="Census2001">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Of these, 29 languages have more than a million native speakers, 60 have more than 100,000 and 122 have more than 10,000 native speakers.<ref name="Wischenbart2013">Template:Cite book</ref> There are a few languages like Kodava that do not have a script but have a group of native speakers in Coorg (Kodagu).<ref name="SchiffrinFina2010">Template:Cite book</ref>

2011 Census

According to the most recent census of 2011, after thorough linguistic scrutiny, edit, and rationalisation on 19,569 raw linguistic affiliations, the census recognises 1,369 rationalised mother tongues and 1,474 names which were treated as ‘unclassified’ and relegated to ‘other’ mother tongue category.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Among, the 1,369 rationalised mother tongues which are spoken by 10,000 or more speakers, are further grouped into appropriate set that resulted into total 121 languages. In these 121 languages, 22 are already part of the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India and the other 99 are termed as "Total of other languages" which is one short as of the other languages recognised in 2001 census.<ref>Census Data 2001 General Notes|access-date = 29 August 2019</ref>

Multilingualism

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File:Danger sign in India.jpeg

A danger sign in India containing eight languages, all using different scripts.

File:Road sign Kochi.jpeg

A pentalingual highway sign in Kochi written in Malayalam, English, Hindi, Tamil and Kannada.

2011 Census India

First, second, and third languages by number of speakers in India (2011 Census)

Language	Language Family	First language speakers		Second language	Third language	Total speakers
		Numbers<ref name="1971-2001">Template:Cite report</ref>	As % of total population	Speakers (millions)		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Hindi	Indo-Aryan	528,347,193	43.63	139	24	692	57.1
Bengali	Indo-Aryan	97,237,669	8.30	9	1	107	8.9
Marathi	Indo-Aryan	83,026,680	6.86	13	3	99	8.2
Telugu	Dravidian	81,127,740	6.70	12	1	95	7.8
Tamil	Dravidian	69,026,881	5.70	7	1	77	6.3
Gujarati	Indo-Aryan	55,492,554	4.58	4	1	60	5.0
Urdu	Indo-Aryan	50,772,631	4.19	11	1	63	5.2
Kannada	Dravidian	43,706,512	3.61	14	1	59	4.9
Odia	Indo-Aryan	37,521,324	3.10	5	0.03	43	3.5
Malayalam	Dravidian	34,838,819	2.88	0.05	0.02	36	2.9
Punjabi	Indo-Aryan	33,124,726	2.74	0.03	0.003	36	3.0
Assamese	Indo-Aryan	15,311,351	1.26	7.48	0.74	24	2.0
Maithili	Indo-Aryan	13,583,464	1.12	0.03	0.003	14	1.2
Meitei (Manipuri)	Indo-Aryan	1,761,079	0.15	0.4	0.04	2.25	0.2
English	Indo-European Germanic	259,678	0.02	83	46	129	10.6
Sanskrit	Indo-Aryan	24,821	0.00185	0.01	0.003	0.025	0.002

Language families

Ethnolinguistically, the languages of South Asia, echoing the complex history and geography of the region, form a complex patchwork of language families, language phyla and isolates.<ref name="Moseley2008"/> Languages spoken in India belong to several language families, the major ones being the Indo-Aryan languages spoken by 78.05% of Indians and the Dravidian languages spoken by 19.64% of Indians. The most important language families in terms of speakers are:<ref name="EBIndiaLanguages">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="EBCIndoAryanLanguages"/><ref name="EBCDravidianLanguages"/><ref name="Moseley2008"/><ref>INDIA STATISTICS REPORT</ref>

Language family	Population Template:Nobold<ref>Template:Cite report</ref>
Indo-European language family	Template:Number and percent
Dravidian language family	Template:Number and percent
Austroasiatic language family	Template:Number and percent
Tibeto-Burman language family	Template:Number and percent
Semito-Hamitic language family	Template:Number and percent
Other languages	Template:Number and percent
Total speaker/population	Template:Number and percent

Indo-Aryan language family

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File:Indo-Aryan language map.svg

Present-day geographical distribution of the major Indo-Aryan language groups. Romani, Domari, Kholosi, Luwati, and Lomavren are outside the scope of the map. Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend (not shown: Kunar (Dardic), Chinali-Lahuli (Unclassified))

The largest of the language families represented in India, in terms of speakers, is the Indo-Aryan language family, a branch of the Indo-Iranian family, itself the easternmost, extant subfamily of the Indo-European language family. This language family predominates, accounting for some 1035 million speakers, or over 76.5 of the population, per a 2018 estimate. The most widely spoken languages of this group are Hindi,<ref group=n>Although linguistically Hindi and Urdu are the same language called Hindustani, the government classifies them as separate languages instead of different standard registers of same language.</ref> Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Odia, Maithili, Punjabi, Marwari, Kashmiri, Assamese (Asamiya), Chhattisgarhi and Sindhi.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Aside from the Indo-Aryan languages, other Indo-European languages are also spoken in India, the most prominent of which is English, as a lingua franca.

Dravidian language family

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The second largest language family is the Dravidian language family, accounting for some 277 million speakers, or approximately 20.5% per 2018 estimate. The Dravidian languages are spoken mainly in southern India and parts of eastern and central India as well as in parts of northeastern Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. The Dravidian languages with the most speakers are Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam.<ref name="EBCDravidianLanguages"/> Besides the mainstream population, Dravidian languages are also spoken by small scheduled tribe communities, such as the Oraon and Gond tribes.<ref name="West2009">Template:Cite book</ref> Only two Dravidian languages are exclusively spoken outside India, Brahui in Balochistan, Pakistan and Dhangar, a dialect of Kurukh, in Nepal.<ref name="LevinsonChristensen2002">Template:Cite book</ref>

Austroasiatic language family

File:India austroasiatic map.svg

Approximate distribution of the Austroasiatic languages in India

Families with smaller numbers of speakers are Austroasiatic and numerous small Sino-Tibetan languages, with some 10 and 6 million speakers, respectively, together 3% of the population.<ref name="Ishtiaq 1999">Template:Cite book</ref>

The Austroasiatic language family (austro meaning South) is the autochthonous language in Southeast Asia, arrived by migration. Austroasiatic languages of mainland India are the Khasi and Munda languages, including Bhumij and Santali. The languages of the Nicobar islands also form part of this language family. With the exceptions of Khasi and Santali, all Austroasiatic languages on Indian territory are endangered.<ref name="Moseley2008"/>Template:Rp

Tibeto-Burman language family

The Tibeto-Burman language family is well represented in India. However, their interrelationships are not discernible, and the family has been described as "a patch of leaves on the forest floor" rather than with the conventional metaphor of a "family tree".<ref name="Moseley2008"/>Template:Rp

Padma Vibhushan awardee Indian Bengali scholar Suniti Kumar Chatterjee said, "Among the various Tibeto-Burman languages, the most important and in literature certainly of much greater importance than Newari, is the Meitei or Manipuri language".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In India, Tibeto-Burman languages are spoken across the Himalayas in the regions of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam (hills and autonomous councils), Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and West Bengal.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in India include two constitutionally recognised official languages, Meitei (officially known as Manipuri) and Bodo as well as the non-scheduled languages like Karbi, Deori, Lepcha, and many varieties of several related Tibetic, West Himalayish, Tani, Brahmaputran, Angami–Pochuri, Tangkhul, Zeme, Kukish sub linguistic branches, among many others.

Tai-Kadai language family

{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= {{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= Template:Ambox }} }} The Ahom language, a Southwestern Tai language, had been once the dominant language of the Ahom Kingdom in modern-day Assam, but was later replaced by the Assamese language (known as Kamrupi in ancient era which is the pre-form of the Kamrupi dialect of today). Nowadays, small Tai communities and their languages remain in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh together with Sino-Tibetans, e.g. Tai Phake, Tai Aiton and Tai Khamti, which are similar to the Shan language of Shan State, Myanmar; the Dai language of Yunnan, China; the Lao language of Laos; the Thai language of Thailand; and the Zhuang language in Guangxi, China.

Andamanese language families

The languages of the Andaman Islands form another group:<ref name="Burenhult1996">Template:Cite journal</ref>

• the Great Andamanese languages, comprising a number of extinct, and one highly endangered language Aka-Jeru.
• the Ongan family of the southern Andaman Islands, comprising two extant languages, Önge and Jarawa, and one extinct language, Jangil.

In addition, Sentinelese is thought likely to be related to the above languages.<ref name="Burenhult1996"/>

Niger-Congo language family

In addition, a Bantu language, Sidi, was spoken until the mid-20th century in Gujarat by the Siddi.<ref name="Moseley2008"/>Template:Rp

Language isolates

The only language found in the Indian mainland that is considered a language isolate is Nihali.<ref name="Moseley2008"/>Template:Rp The status of Nihali is ambiguous, having been considered as a distinct Austroasiatic language, as a dialect of Korku and also as being a "thieves' argot" rather than a legitimate language.<ref name="Anderson2007">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The other language isolates found in the rest of South Asia include Burushaski, a language spoken in Gilgit–Baltistan (administered by Pakistan), Kusunda (in western Nepal), and Vedda (in Sri Lanka).<ref name="Moseley2008"/>Template:Rp The validity of the Great Andamanese language group as a language family has been questioned and it has been considered a language isolate by some authorities.<ref name="Moseley2008"/>Template:Rp<ref name = "Greenb">Greenberg, Joseph (1971). "The Indo-Pacific hypothesis." Current trends in linguistics vol. 8, ed. by Thomas A. Sebeok, 807.71. The Hague: Mouton.</ref><ref name="Abbi2006">Abbi, Anvita (2006). Endangered Languages of the Andaman Islands. Germany: Lincom GmbH.</ref> The Hruso language, which is long assumed to be a Sino-Tibetan language, it may actually be a language isolate.<ref name="Blench2011">Template:Citation</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Roger Blench classifies the Shompen language of the Nicobar Islands as a language isolate.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Roger Blench also considers Puroik to be a language isolate.<ref>Blench, Roger. 2011. (De)classifying Arunachal languages: Reconsidering the evidence Template:Webarchive</ref>

Official languages

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File:Official language map of India by state and union territory (claimed and disputed hatched).svg

Official languages of India by state and union territory. Hindustani refers to both Hindi and Urdu in this map.

Federal level

After Mughal rule and prior to Independence, in British India, English was the sole language used for administrative purposes as well as for higher education purposes.<ref name="Guha2011">Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1946, the issue of national language was a bitterly contested subject in the proceedings of the Constituent Assembly of India, specifically what should be the language in which the Constitution of India is written and the language spoken during the proceedings of Parliament and thus deserving of the epithet "national". The Constitution of India does not give any language the status of national language.<ref name="National"/><ref name="PTI"/>

Members belonging to the northern parts of India insisted that the Constitution be drafted in Hindi with the unofficial translation in English. This was not agreed to by the drafting committee on the grounds that English was much better to craft the nuanced prose on constitutional subjects. The efforts to make Hindi the pre-eminent language were bitterly resisted by the members from those parts of India where Hindi was not spoken natively.

Eventually, a compromise was reached not to include any mention of a national language. Instead, Hindi in Devanagari script was declared to be the official language of the union, but for "fifteen years from the commencement of the Constitution, the English Language shall continue to be used for all the official purposes of the Union for which it was being used immediately before such commencement."<ref name="Guha2011"/>

Article 343 (1) of the Constitution of India states "The Official Language of the Union government shall be Hindi in Devanagari script."<ref name=cons/>Template:Rp<ref name="Benedikter2009b">Template:Cite book</ref> Unless Parliament decided otherwise, the use of English for official purposes was to cease 15 years after the constitution came into effect, i.e. on 26 January 1965.<ref name=cons/>Template:Rp<ref name="Benedikter2009b"/>

As the date for changeover approached, however, there was much alarm in the non-Hindi-speaking areas of India, especially in Kerala, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, West Bengal, Karnataka, Puducherry and Andhra Pradesh. Accordingly, Jawaharlal Nehru ensured the enactment of the Official Languages Act, 1963,<ref name="OLA163Amdt">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="CPOLch07">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> which provided that English "may" still be used with Hindi for official purposes, even after 1965.<ref name="Guha2011"/> The wording of the text proved unfortunate in that while Nehru understood that "may" meant shall, politicians championing the cause of Hindi thought it implied exactly the opposite.<ref name="Guha2011"/>

In the event, as 1965 approached, India's new Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri prepared to make Hindi paramount with effect from 26 January 1965. This led to widespread agitation, riots, self-immolations, and suicides in Tamil Nadu. The split of Congress politicians from the South from their party stance, the resignation of two Union ministers from the South, and the increasing threat to the country's unity forced Shastri to concede.<ref name="Guha2011"/><ref name="Hardgrave1965">Template:Cite book</ref>

As a result, the proposal was dropped,<ref name="Time1966">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="Forrester1966">Template:Citation</ref> and the Act itself was amended in 1967 to provide that the use of English would not be ended until a resolution to that effect was passed by the legislature of every state that had not adopted Hindi as its official language, and by each house of the Indian Parliament.<ref name="OLA163Amdt"/>

Hindi

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File:Hindispeakers.png

The Hindi-belt, including Hindi-related languages such as Rajasthani and Bhojpuri

In the 2001 census, 422 million (422,048,642) people in India reported Hindi to be their native language.<ref name="CensusData2001S1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This figure not only included Hindi speakers of Hindustani, but also people who identify as native speakers of related languages who consider their speech to be a dialect of Hindi, the Hindi belt. Hindi (or Hindustani) is the native language of most people living in Delhi and Western Uttar Pradesh.<ref name="ELL2">Template:ELL2</ref>

"Modern Standard Hindi", a standardised language is one of the official languages of the Union of India. In addition, it is one of only two languages used for business in Parliament. However, the Rajya Sabha now allows all 22 official languages on the Eighth Schedule to be spoken.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Hindustani, evolved from khari boli (खड़ी बोली), a prominent tongue of Mughal times, which itself evolved from Apabhraṃśa, an intermediary transition stage from Prakrit, from which the major North Indian Indo-Aryan languages have evolved.Template:Citation needed

By virtue of its being a lingua franca, Hindi has also developed regional dialects such as Bambaiya Hindi in Mumbai. In addition, a trade language, Andaman Creole Hindi has also developed in the Andaman Islands.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In addition, by use in popular culture such as songs and films, Hindi also serves as a lingua franca across North-Central India.Template:Citation needed

Hindi is widely taught both as a primary language and language of instruction and as a second tongue in many states.

English

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} British colonialism in India resulted in English becoming a language for governance, business, and education. English, along with Hindi, is one of the two languages permitted in the Constitution of India for business in Parliament. Despite the fact that Hindi has official Government patronage and serves as a lingua franca over large parts of India, there was considerable opposition to the use of Hindi in the southern states of India, and English has emerged as a de facto lingua franca over much of India.<ref name="Guha2011"/><ref name="Hardgrave1965"/> Journalist Manu Joseph, in a 2011 article in The New York Times, wrote that due to the prominence and usage of the language and the desire for English-language education, "English is the de facto national language of India. It is a bitter truth."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> English language proficiency is highest among urban residents, wealthier Indians, Indians with higher levels of educational attainment, Christians, men and younger Indians.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2017, more than 58 per cent of rural teens could read basic English, and 53 per cent of fourteen year-olds & sixty per cent of 18-year-olds could read English sentences.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Scheduled languages

File:Indian Languages Map.jpg

CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Until the Twenty-first Amendment of the Constitution of India in 1967, the country recognised 14 official regional languages. The Eighth Schedule and the Seventy-First Amendment provided for the inclusion of Sindhi, Konkani, Meitei and Nepali, thereby increasing the number of official regional languages of India to 18. The Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India, as of 1 December 2007, lists 22 languages,<ref name="cons" />Template:Rp which are given in the table below together with the regions where they are used.<ref name="CensusData2001S1" />

File:Fastest growing languages of India — Hindi (first), Kashmiri (second), Gujarati & Meitei alias Manipuri (third), Bengali (fourth) — based on 2011 census of India.jpg

Fastest growing languages of India — Hindi (first), Kashmiri (second), Gujarati & Meitei/Manipuri (third), Bengali (fourth) — based on 2011 census of India<ref name="auto"/>

Language	Family	ISO 639 code
Assamese	Indo-Aryan	as
Bengali (Bangla)	Indo-Aryan	bn
Bodo	Sino-Tibetan	brx
Dogri	Indo-Aryan	doi
Gujarati	Indo-Aryan	gu
Hindi	Indo-Aryan	hi
Kannada	Dravidian	kn
Kashmiri	Indo-Aryan	ks
Konkani	Indo-Aryan	gom
Maithili	Indo-Aryan	mai
Malayalam	Dravidian	ml
Meitei (Manipuri)	Sino-Tibetan	mni
Marathi	Indo-Aryan	mr
Nepali	Indo-Aryan	ne
Odia	Indo-Aryan	or
Punjabi	Indo-Aryan	pa
Sanskrit	Indo-Aryan	sa
Santali	Austroasiatic	sat
Sindhi	Indo-Aryan	sd
Tamil	Dravidian	ta
Telugu	Dravidian	te
Urdu	Indo-Aryan	ur

The individual states, the borders of most of which are or were drawn on socio-linguistic lines, can legislate their own official languages, depending on their linguistic demographics. The official languages chosen reflect the predominant as well as politically significant languages spoken in that state. Certain states having a linguistically defined territory may have only the predominant language in that state as its official language, examples being Karnataka and Gujarat, which have Kannada and Gujarati as their sole official language respectively. Telangana, with a sizeable Urdu-speaking Muslim population, and Andhra Pradesh<ref name="correspondent">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> has two languages, Telugu and Urdu, as its official languages.

Some states buck the trend by using minority languages as official languages. Jammu and Kashmir used to have Urdu, which is spoken by fewer than 1% of the population, as the sole official language until 2020. Meghalaya uses English spoken by 0.01% of the population. This phenomenon has turned majority languages into "minority languages" in a functional sense.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

{{#lsth:Languages with official status in India|Official languages of states}} {{#lsth:Languages with official status in India|Official languages of Union Territories}} In addition to states and union territories, India has autonomous administrative regions which may be permitted to select their own official language – a case in point being the Bodoland Territorial Council in Assam which has declared the Bodo language as official for the region, in addition to Assamese and English already in use.<ref name="BTC">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Bengali in the Barak Valley,<ref name="BarakValleya">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> as its official languages.

Prominent languages of India

Hindi

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

File:South Indian languages.jpg

At a tourist site in Bengaluru – Top to bottom, the languages are Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam. English and many other European languages are also provided here.

In British India, English was the sole language used for administrative purposes as well as for higher education purposes. When India became independent in 1947, the Indian legislators had the challenge of choosing a language for official communication as well as for communication between different linguistic regions across India. The choices available were:

• Making "Hindi", which a plurality of the people (41%)<ref name="CensusData2001S1"/> identified as their native language, the official language.
• Making English, as preferred by non-Hindi speakers, particularly Kannadigas and Tamils, and those from Mizoram and Nagaland, the official language. See also Anti-Hindi agitations.
• Declare both Hindi and English as official languages and each state is given freedom to choose the official language of the state.

The Indian constitution, in 1950, declared Hindi in Devanagari script to be the official language of the union.<ref name=cons>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Unless Parliament decided otherwise, the use of English for official purposes was to cease 15 years after the constitution came into effect, i.e. on 26 January 1965.<ref name=cons/> The prospect of the changeover, however, led to much alarm in the non-Hindi-speaking areas of India, especially in South India whose native tongues are not related to Hindi. As a result, Parliament enacted the Official Languages Act in 1963,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> which provided for the continued use of English for official purposes along with Hindi, even after 1965.

Bengali

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Native to the Bengal region, comprising the nation of Bangladesh and the states of West Bengal, Tripura and Barak Valley region<ref name="The World Factbook">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Summary by language size">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> of Assam. Bengali (also spelt as Bangla: বাংলা) is the sixth most spoken language in the world.<ref name="The World Factbook"/><ref name="Summary by language size"/> After the partition of India (1947), refugees from East Pakistan were settled in Tripura, and Jharkhand and the union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. There is also a large number of Bengali-speaking people in Maharashtra and Gujarat where they work as artisans in jewellery industries. Bengali developed from Abahattha, a derivative of Apabhramsha, itself derived from Magadhi Prakrit. The modern Bengali vocabulary contains the vocabulary base from Magadhi Prakrit and Pali, also borrowings from Sanskrit and other major borrowings from Persian, Arabic, Austroasiatic languages and other languages in contact with.

Like most Indian languages, Bengali has a number of dialects. It exhibits diglossia, with the literary and standard form differing greatly from the colloquial speech of the regions that identify with the language.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Bengali language has developed a rich cultural base spanning art, music, literature, and religion. Bengali has some of the oldest literature of all modern Indo-Aryan languages, dating from about 7th to 12th century ('Charyapada' Buddhist songs).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Mitra">Template:Cite news</ref> There have been many movements in defence of this language and in 1999 UNESCO declared 21 Feb as the International Mother Language Day in commemoration of the Bengali Language Movement in 1952.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Assamese

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

File:Illustrated Manuscript of Dakhinpat Sattra( Bhagawat).jpg

A Bhagavata manuscript written in Early Assamese, from Dakhinpat Satra.

Asamiya or Assamese language is most spoken in the state of Assam.<ref name="india-travel-agents.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language with more than 23 million total speakers including more than 15 million native speakers and more than 7 million L2 speakers per the 2011 Census of India.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Along with other Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, Assamese evolved at least before the 7th century CE<ref>Sen, Sukumar (1975), Grammatical sketches of Indian languages with comparative vocabulary and texts, Volume 1, P 31</ref> from the middle Indo-Aryan Magadhi Prakrit. Assamese is unusual among Eastern Indo-Aryan languages for the presence of the {{#invoke:IPA|main}} (which, phonetically, varies between velar (Template:IPAblink) and a uvular (Template:IPAblink) pronunciations). The first characteristics of this language are seen in the Charyapadas composed in between the eighth and twelfth centuries. The first examples emerged in writings of court poets in the fourteenth century, the finest example of which is Madhav Kandali's Saptakanda Ramayana composed during 14th century CE, which was the first translation of the Ramayana into an Indo-Aryan language.

Marathi

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language. It is the official language and co-official language in Maharashtra and Goa states of Western India respectively, and is one of the official languages of India. There were 83 million speakers of the language in 2011.<ref name="Language and Mother Tongue">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Marathi has the third-largest number of native speakers in India and ranks 10th in the list of most spoken languages in the world. Marathi has some of the oldest literature of all modern Indo-Aryan languages; Oldest stone inscriptions from 8th century & literature dating from about 1100 AD (Mukundraj's Vivek Sindhu dates to the 12th century). The major dialects of Marathi are Standard Marathi (Pramaan Bhasha) and the Varhadi dialect. There are other related languages such as Ahirani, Dangi, Vadvali, Samavedi. Malvani Konkani has been heavily influenced by Marathi varieties. Marathi is one of several languages that descend from Maharashtri Prakrit. The further change led to the Apabhraṃśa languages like Old Marathi.

Marathi Language Day (मराठी दिन/मराठी दिवस (transl. Marathi Dina/Marathi Diwasa) is celebrated on 27 February every year across the Indian states of Maharashtra and Goa. This day is regulated by the State Government. It is celebrated on the birthday of eminent Marathi Poet Vishnu Vaman Shirwadkar, popularly known as Kusumagraj .

Marathi is the official language of Maharashtra and co-official language in the union territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. In Goa, Konkani is the sole official language; however, Marathi may also be used for all official purposes.<ref name="goa">The Goa, Daman, and Diu Official Language Act, 1987 makes Konkani the official language, but provides that Marathi may also be used "for all or any of the official purposes". The Government also has a policy of replying in Marathi to correspondence received in Marathi. Commissioner Linguistic Minorities, [1], pp. para 11.3 Template:Webarchive</ref>

Over a period of many centuries the Marathi language and people came into contact with many other languages and dialects. The primary influence of Prakrit, Maharashtri, Apabhraṃśa and Sanskrit is understandable. Marathi has also been influenced by the Austroasiatic, Dravidian and foreign languages such as Persian and Arabic. Marathi contains loanwords from Persian, Arabic, English and a little from French and Portuguese.

Meitei

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Meitei language (officially known as Manipuri language) is the most widely spoken Indian Sino-Tibetan language of Tibeto-Burman linguistic sub branch. It is the sole official language in Manipur and is one of the official languages of India. It is one of the two Sino-Tibetan languages with official status in India, beside Bodo. It has been recognised as one of the advanced modern languages of India by the National Sahitya Academy for its rich literature.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It uses both Meitei script as well as Bengali script for writing.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Meitei language is currently proposed to be included in the elite category of "Classical Languages" of India.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Besides, it is also currently proposed to be an associate official language of Government of Assam. According to Leishemba Sanajaoba, the present titular king of Manipur and a Rajya Sabha member of Manipur state, by recognising Meitei as an associate official language of Assam, the identity, history, culture and tradition of Manipuris residing in Assam could be protected.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Meitei Language Day (Manipuri Language Day) is celebrated on 20 August every year by the Manipuris across the Indian states of Manipur, Assam and Tripura. This day is regulated by the Government of Manipur. It is the commemoration of the day on which Meitei was included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India on 20 August 1992.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Telugu

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Telugu is the most widely spoken Dravidian language in India and around the world. Telugu is an official language in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Yanam, making it one of the few languages (along with Hindi, Bengali, and Urdu) with official status in more than one state. It is also spoken by a significant number of people in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and by the Sri Lankan Gypsy people. It is one of six languages with classical status in India. Telugu ranks fourth by the number of native speakers in India (81 million in the 2011 Census),<ref name="Language and Mother Tongue"/> fifteenth in the Ethnologue list of most-spoken languages worldwide and is the most widely spoken Dravidian language.

Tamil

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

File:Thiruppugazh - Umbartharu - Hamsadhwani.wav

15th-century anthology of Tamil religious poetry dedicated to Ganesha

Tamil is a Dravidian language predominantly spoken in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and many parts of Sri Lanka. It is also spoken by large mino Telugu is the second oldest language in Dravidian languages, after Tamil.rities in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius and throughout the world. Tamil ranks fifth by the number of native speakers in India (61 million in the 2001 Census)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and ranks 20th in the list of most spoken languages.Template:Citation needed It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and was the first Indian language to be declared a classical language by the Government of India in 2004. Tamil is one of the longest surviving classical languages in the world.<ref name="Circulation and the Historical Geog">Template:Citation</ref><ref>Steever, Sanford B. "The Dravidian languages", First Published (1998), pp. 6–9. Template:ISBN</ref> It has been described as "the only language of contemporary India which is recognisably continuous with a classical past".<ref name="richestClassical">Kamil Zvelebil, The Smile of Murugan Leiden 1973, p11-12</ref> The two earliest manuscripts from India,<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref> acknowledged and registered by UNESCO Memory of the World register in 1997 and 2005, are in Tamil.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> Tamil is an official language of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Sri Lanka and Singapore. It is also recognised as a minority language in Canada, Malaysia, Mauritius and South Africa.

Urdu

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} After independence, Modern Standard Urdu, the Persianised register of Hindustani became the national language of Pakistan. During British colonial times, knowledge of Hindustani or Urdu was a must for officials. Hindustani was made the second language of British Indian Empire after English and considered as the language of administration.Template:Citation needed The British introduced the use of Roman script for Hindustani as well as other languages. Urdu had 70 million speakers in India (per the Census of 2001), and, along with Hindi, is one of the 22 officially recognised regional languages of India and also an official language in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh<ref name="correspondent"/>, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Telangana that have significant Muslim populations.

Gujarati

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the west Indian region of Gujarat. Gujarati is part of the greater Indo-European language family. Gujarati is descended from Old Gujarati (Template:Circa – 1500 CE), the same source as that of Rajasthani. Gujarati is the chief and official language in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is also an official language in the union territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. According to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 4.5% of population of India (1.21 billion according to 2011 census) speaks Gujarati. This amounts to 54.6 million speakers in India.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Kannada

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Kannada is a Dravidian language which branched off from Kannada-Tamil sub group around 500 B.C.E according to the Dravidian scholar Zvelebil.<ref name="constitution">Zvelebil in H. Kloss & G.D. McConnell; Constitutional languages, p.240, Presses Université Laval, 1 January 1989, Template:ISBN</ref> It is the official language of Karnataka. According to the Dravidian scholars Steever and Krishnamurthy, the study of Kannada language is usually divided into three linguistic phases: Old (450–1200 CE), Middle (1200–1700 CE) and Modern (1700–present).<ref>Steever, S. B., The Dravidian Languages (Routledge Language Family Descriptions), 1998, p.129, London, Routledge, Template:ISBN</ref><ref name="krishna">Krishnamurti, Bhadriraju, The Dravidian Languages (Cambridge Language Surveys), 2003, p.23, Cambridge and London: Cambridge University Press, Template:ISBN</ref> The earliest written records are from the 5th century,<ref name="record">H. Kloss & G.D. McConnell, Constitutional languages, p.239, Presses Université Laval, 1 January 1989, Template:ISBN</ref> and the earliest available literature in rich manuscript (Kavirajamarga) is from Template:Circa.<ref name="literature1">Narasimhacharya R; History of Kannada Literature, p.2, 1988, Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, Template:ISBN</ref><ref name="literature2">Sastri, Nilakanta K.A.; A history of South India from prehistoric times to the fall of Vijayanagar, 1955, 2002, India Branch of Oxford University Press, New Delhi, Template:ISBN</ref> Kannada language has the second oldest written tradition of all languages of India.<ref name="verna1">Das, Sisir Kumar; A History of Indian Literature, 500–1399: From Courtly to the Popular, pp.140–141, Sahitya Akademi, 2005, New Delhi, Template:ISBN</ref><ref name="oldest">R Zydenbos in Cushman S, Cavanagh C, Ramazani J, Rouzer P, The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics: Fourth Edition, p.767, Princeton University Press, 2012, Template:ISBN</ref> Current estimates of the total number of epigraph present in Karnataka range from 25,000 by the scholar Sheldon Pollock to over 30,000 by the Sahitya Akademi,<ref name="current">Datta, Amaresh; Encyclopaedia of Indian literature – vol 2, p.1717, 1988, Sahitya Akademi, Template:ISBN</ref> making Karnataka state "one of the most densely inscribed pieces of real estate in the world".<ref name="dense">Sheldon Pollock in Dehejia, Vidya; The Body Adorned: Sacred and Profane in Indian Art, p.5, chapter:The body as Leitmotif, 2013, Columbia University Press, Template:ISBN</ref> According to Garg and Shipely, more than a thousand notable writers have contributed to the wealth of the language.<ref name="wealth1">Garg, Gaṅgā Rām; Encyclopaedia of the Hindu World, Volume 1, p.68, Concept Publishing Company, 1992, New Delhi, Template:ISBN</ref><ref name="wealth2">Shipley, Joseph T.; Encyclopedia of Literature – Vol I, p.528, 2007, READ BOOKS, Template:ISBN</ref>

Malayalam

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Malayalam has official language status in the state of Kerala and in the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry. It belongs to the Dravidian family of languages and is spoken by some 38 million people. Malayalam is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka; with some speakers in the Nilgiris, Kanyakumari and Coimbatore districts of Tamil Nadu, and the Dakshina Kannada and the Kodagu district of Karnataka.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Malayalam originated from Middle Tamil (Sen-Tamil) in the 7th century.<ref name="Asher2013">Template:Cite book</ref> As Malayalam began to freely borrow words as well as the rules of grammar from Sanskrit, the Grantha alphabet was adopted for writing and came to be known as Arya Eluttu.<ref>Epigraphy – Grantha Script Template:Webarchive Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology</ref> This developed into the modern Malayalam script.<ref>Andronov, Mikhail Sergeevich. A Grammar of the Malayalam Language in Historical Treatment. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1996.</ref>

Odia

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Odia (formerly spelled Oriya)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> is one of the modern language officially recognised as a classical language from the Indo-Aryan group. Odia is primarily spoken and has official language status in the Indian state of Odisha and has over 40 million speakers. It was declared as a classical language of India in 2014. Native speakers comprise 91.85% of the population in Odisha.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Odia originated from Odra Prakrit which developed from Magadhi Prakrit, a language spoken in eastern India over 2,500 years ago. The history of Odia language can be divided to Old Odia (3rd century BC −1200 century AD),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Early Middle Odia (1200–1400), Middle Odia (1400–1700), Late Middle Odia (1700–1870) and Modern Odia (1870 until present day). The National Manuscripts Mission of India have found around 213,000 unearthed and preserved manuscripts written in Odia.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Santali

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Santali is a Munda language, a branch of Austroasiatic languages spoken widely in Jharkhand and other states of eastern India by Santhal community of tribal and non-tribal.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is written in Ol Chiki script invented by Raghunath Murmu at the end of 19th century.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Santali is spoken by 0.67% of India's population.<ref name=":022">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} For items below No. 26, see individual Ethnologue entry for each language.</ref><ref name="fulllangdatacensus 20112">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> About 7 million people speak this language.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is also spoken in Bangladesh and Nepal.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The language is major tribal language of Jharkhand and thus Santhal community is demanding to make it as the official language of Jharkhand.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Punjabi

{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= {{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= Template:Ambox }} }} {{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Punjabi, written in the Gurmukhi script in India, is one of the prominent languages of India with about 32 million speakers. In Pakistan it is spoken by over 80 million people and is written in the Shahmukhi alphabet. It is mainly spoken in Punjab but also in neighbouring areas. It is an official language of Delhi and Punjab.

Maithili

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Maithili is an Indo-Aryan language native to India and Nepal. In India, it is widely spoken in the Bihar and Jharkhand states.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Native speakers are also found in other states and union territories of India, most notably in Uttar Pradesh and the National Capital Territory of Delhi.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the 2011 census of India, It was reported by 13,583,464 people as their mother tongue comprising about 1.12% of the total population of India.<ref>Rise in Hindi language speakers, Statement-4 Retrieved on 22 February 2020Template:Dead link</ref> In Nepal, it is spoken in the eastern Terai, and is the second most prevalent language of Nepal.<ref name=Sah2013>Template:Cite journal</ref> Tirhuta was formerly the primary script for written Maithili. Less commonly, it was also written in the local variant of Kaithi.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Today it is written in the Devanagari script.<ref name=Yadava2013>Yadava, Y. P. (2013). Linguistic context and language endangerment in Nepal. Nepalese Linguistics 28: 262–274.</ref>

In 2003, Maithili was included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution as a recognised regional language of India, which allows it to be used in education, government, and other official contexts.<ref name=Singh2011>Singh, P., & Singh, A. N. (2011). Finding Mithila between India's Centre and Periphery. Journal of Indian Law & Society 2: 147–181.</ref>

Template:AnchorClassical languages of India

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Template:Further In 2004, the Government of India declared that languages that met certain requirements could be accorded the status of a "Classical Language" of India.<ref name="bbcclassical">Template:Cite news</ref>

Languages thus far declared to be classical:

• Tamil (in 2004),<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Sanskrit (in 2005),<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Kannada (in 2008),<ref name="antiquity"/>
• Telugu (in 2008),<ref name="antiquity">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Malayalam (in 2013),<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Odia (in 2014),<ref name=Hindu-Oriya-Classical>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Assamese (in 2024)<ref name=pressrelise/><ref name=classical-lang-status/>
• Bangla (in 2024),<ref name=pressrelise>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=classical-lang-status>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Marathi (in 2024)<ref name=pressrelise/><ref name=classical-lang-status/>
• Pali (in 2024)<ref name=pressrelise/><ref name=classical-lang-status/>
• Prakrit (in 2024)<ref name=pressrelise/><ref name=classical-lang-status/>

Over the next few years, several languages were granted the Classical status, and demands have been made for other languages, including Maithili<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and Meitei (officially called Manipuri).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Other regional languages and dialects

The 2001 census identified the following native languages having more than one million speakers. Most of them are dialects/variants grouped under Hindi.<ref name="CensusData2001S1"/>

Languages	No. of native speakers<ref name="CensusData2001S1"/>
Bhojpuri	33,099,497
Rajasthani	18,355,613
Magadhi/Magahi	13,978,565
Chhattisgarhi	13,260,186
Haryanvi	7,997,192
Marwari	7,936,183
Malvi	5,565,167
Mewari	5,091,697
Khorth/Khotta	4,725,927
Bundeli	3,072,147
Bagheli	2,865,011
Pahari	2,832,825
Laman/Lambadi	2,707,562
Awadhi	2,529,308
Harauti	2,462,867
Garhwali	2,267,314
Nimadi	2,148,146
Sadan/Sadri	2,044,776
Kumauni	2,003,783
Dhundhari	1,871,130
Tulu	1,722,768
Surgujia	1,458,533
Bagri Rajasthani	1,434,123
Banjari	1,259,821
Nagpuria	1,242,586
Surajpuri	1,217,019
Kangri	1,122,843

Practical problems

File:Linguistic map of Northeast India English Native.png

"Scheduled" and "non-scheduled" official languages of Northeast Indian states; most of the languages in Northeast are unrecognised by the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India

India has several languages in use; choosing any single language as an official language presents problems to all those whose "mother tongue" is different. However, all the boards of education across India recognise the need for training people to one common language.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> There are complaints that in North India, non-Hindi speakers have language trouble. Similarly, there are complaints that North Indians have to undergo difficulties on account of language when travelling to South India. It is common to hear of incidents that result due to friction between those who strongly believe in the chosen official language, and those who follow the thought that the chosen language(s) do not take into account everyone's preferences.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Local official language commissions have been established and various steps are being taken in a direction to reduce tensions and friction.Template:Citation needed

Languages by earliest known inscriptions

Earliest known manuscripts are often subjected to debates and disputes, due to the conflicting opinions and assumptions of different scholars, claiming high antiquity of the languages. So, inscriptions are studied more in depth for understanding the chronology of the oldest known languages of the Indian subcontinent.

Date	Language	Earliest known inscriptions	Images	Notes
Template:Nowrap	Old Tamil	rock inscription ARE 465/1906 at Mangulam caves, Tamil Nadu<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> (Other authors give dates from late 3rd century BC to 1st century AD.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>)	File:2nd century BCE Tamil Brahmi inscription Arittapatti Madurai India.jpg 2nd century BCE Tamil Brahmi inscription Arittapatti, Madurai, India
1st century BC	Sanskrit	Ayodhya Inscription of Dhana, and Hathibada Ghosundi Inscriptions (both near Chittorgarh)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	File:Dhanadeva Ayodhya inscription.jpg Dhanadeva Ayodhya inscription	The Junagadh rock inscription of Rudradaman (shortly after 150 AD) is the oldest long text.<ref>Salomon (1998), p. 89.</ref>
Template:Circa 450	Old Kannada	Halmidi inscriptionTemplate:Sfnp	File:Halmidi OldKannada inscription.JPG Halmidi inscription
c. 568 CE	Meitei	Yumbanlol copper plate inscriptions about literature of sexuality, the relationships between husbands and wives, and instructions on how to run a household.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	File:Yumbanlol (Yumpanlol) - a 6th century Classical Meitei language copper manuscript text - in Meetei script - works on sensuality & relationship between husbands & wives and how to run a household in Ancient Kangleipak civilisation state.jpg Yumbanlol copper plate inscriptions
c. 575 CE	Telugu	Kalamalla inscription<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
c. 849/850 CE	Malayalam	Quilon Syrian copper plates<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	File:Quilon Syrian copper plates (849 CE) plates 1 and 4.jpg Quilon Syrian copper plates plates
c. 1012 CE	Marathi	A stone inscription from Akshi taluka of Raigad district<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
c. 1051 CE	Odia	Urajam inscription<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	File:Odia- Urajam inscription.jpg Odia - Urajam inscription

Language policy

Template:Further The Union Government of India formulated the Three language formula.

In the Prime Minister's Office

Template:See also The official website of the Prime Minister's Office of India publishes its official information in 11 Indian official languages, namely Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Meitei (Manipuri), Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu, out of the 22 official languages of the Indian Republic, in addition to English and Hindi.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In the Press Information Bureau

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The Press Information Bureau (PIB) selects 14 Indian official languages, which are Dogri, Punjabi, Bengali, Oriya, Gujarati, Marathi, Meitei (Manipuri), Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Konkani and Urdu, in addition to Hindi and English, out of the 22 official languages of the Indian Republic to render its information about all the Central Government press releases.Template:Efn<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In the Staff Selection Commission

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The Staff Selection Commission (SSC) selected 13 Indian official languages, which are Urdu, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Konkani, Meitei (Manipuri), Marathi, Odia and Punjabi, in addition to Hindi and English, out of the 22 official languages of the Indian Republic, to conduct the Multi-Tasking (Non-Technical) Staff examination for the first time in its history.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In the Central Armed Police Forces

The Union Government of India selected Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Malayalam, Meitei (Manipuri), Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Odia, Urdu, Punjabi, and Konkani, 13 out of the 22 official languages of the Indian Republic, in addition to Hindi & English, to be used in the recruitment examination of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF). The decision was taken by the Home Minister after having an agreement between the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Staff Selection Commission.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The official decision will be converted into action from Template:Start date and age.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Language conflicts

There are conflicts over linguistic rights in India. The first major linguistic conflict, known as the Anti-Hindi agitations of Tamil Nadu, took place in Tamil Nadu against the implementation of Hindi as the official language of India. Political analysts consider this as a major factor in bringing DMK to power and leading to the ousting and nearly total elimination of the Congress party in Tamil Nadu.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Strong cultural pride based on language is also found in other Indian states such as Assam, Odisha, Karnataka, West Bengal, Punjab and Maharashtra. To express disapproval of the imposition of Hindi on its states' people as a result of the central government, the government of Maharashtra made the state language Marathi mandatory in educational institutions of CBSE and ICSE through Class/Grade 10.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The Government of India attempts to assuage these conflicts with various campaigns, coordinated by the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, a branch of the Department of Higher Education, Language Bureau, and the Ministry of Human Resource Development.Template:ClarifyTemplate:Citation needed

Linguistic movements

In the history of India, various linguistic movements were and are undertaken by different literary, political and social associations as well as organisations, advocating for the changes and the developments of several languages, dialects and vernaculars in diverse critical, discriminative and unfavorable circumstances and situations.

Bengali

• Bengali language movement in India

Bhojpuri

The Bhojpuri language movement, a linguistic movement that has been actively campaigning for greater recognition of the Bhojpuri language since 1947.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

There have been several protests and demands to include the Bhojpuri language in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution for a long time. In 1971, CPI MP Bhogendra Jha introduced a bill on this issue in the Lok Sabha, but it was rejected.

In 2009 and 2016, Yogi Adityanath, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and former MP from Gorakhpur, raised the issue of Bhojpuri's recognition in the Lok Sabha. He emphasised that Bhojpuri, spoken in parts of India and 27 countries, is one of the world's major languages.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Meitei (Manipuri)

• Meitei language movements (aka Manipuri language movements), various linguistic movements for the cause of Meitei language (officially called Manipuri language)
  • Meitei linguistic purism movement, an ongoing linguistic movement, aimed to attain linguistic purism in Meitei language
  • Scheduled language movement, a historical linguistic movement in Northeast India, aimed at the recognition of Meitei language as one of the scheduled languages of Indian Republic
  • Meitei classical language movement, an ongoing linguistic movement in Northeast India, aimed at the recognition of Meitei language as an officially recognised "classical language"
  • Meitei associate official language movement, a semi active linguistic movement in Northeast India, aimed at the recognition of Meitei language as an "associate" official language of Assam

Rajasthani

• Rajasthani language movement, a linguistic movement that has been campaigning for greater recognition for the Rajasthani language since 1947

Tamil

• Tanittamil Iyakkam (Pure Tamil Movement), a linguistic purism movement for the Tamil language, to ignore the loanwords borrowed from Sanskrit

Developmental works

In the age of technological advancements, the Google Translate supports the following Indian languages: Bengali, Bhojpuri,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Meiteilon (Manipuri)Template:Efn (in Meitei scriptTemplate:Efn), Odia, Punjabi (in Gurmukhi scriptTemplate:Efn), Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu.

Meitei (Manipuri)

Template:Further On 4 September 2013, the Directorate of Language Planning and Implementation (DLPI) was established for the development and the promotion of Meitei language (officially called Manipuri language) and the Meitei script (Manipuri script) in Manipur.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The Manipuri Sahitya Parishad is given annual financial support of Template:INRConvert by the Government of Manipur.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Since 2020, the Government of Assam is giving annual financial support of Template:INR Convert to the Assam Manipuri Sahitya Parishad. Besides, the Assam government financed Template:INR Convert for the creation of a corpus for the development of the Meitei language (officially called Manipuri language).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In September 2021, the Central Government of India released Template:INRConvert as the first instalment for the development and the promotion of the Meitei language (officially called Manipuri language) and the Meitei script (Manipuri script) in Manipur.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The Department of Language Planning and Implementation of the Government of Manipur offers a sum of Template:INRConvert, to every individual who learns Meitei language (officially called Manipuri language), having certain terms and conditions.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Sanskrit

Template:Further The Central Government of India allocated ₹6438.4 million in the last three years for the development and the promotion of Sanskrit, ₹2311.5 million in 2019–20, around ₹2143.8 million in 2018–19, and ₹1983.1 million in 2017–18.<ref name="hindustantimes.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Tamil

Template:Further The Central Government of India gave an allocation of Rs 105.9 million in 2017–18, Rs 46.5 million in 2018–19 and Rs 77 million in 2019–20 to the "Central Institute of Classical Tamil" for the development and the promotion of Tamil language.<ref name="hindustantimes.com"/><ref name="thewire.in">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Telugu and Kannada

Template:Further The Central Government of India gave an allocation of Rs 10 million in 2017–18, Rs 9.9 million in 2018–19 and Rs 10.7 million in 2019–20, each for the development and the promotion of Telugu language and Kannada language.<ref name="hindustantimes.com"/><ref name="thewire.in"/>

Computerisation

Multi-pair translations

Language	Language code	Google Translate<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Bhashini<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Microsoft Translator<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Yandex Translate<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	IBM Watson<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Awadhi	awa	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No
Bengali	bn	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
Bhojpuri	bho	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
Gujarati	gu	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
Hindi	hi	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
Kannada	kn	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
Maithili	mai	Template:Yes	Template:Beta	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
Malayalam	ml	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
Marathi	mr	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
Meitei (Manipuri)	mni Template:Small	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
Odia (Oriya)	or	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
Punjabi	pa	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
Tamil	ta	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
Telugu	te	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes

Writing systems

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}Most languages in India are written in scripts derived from Brahmi.<ref name="DanielsBright1996">Template:Cite book</ref> These include Devanagari, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Meitei Mayek, Odia, Eastern Nagari – Assamese/Bengali, Gurumukhi and other. Urdu is written in a script derived from Arabic. A few minor languages such as Santali use independent scripts (see Ol Chiki script).

Various Indian languages have their own scripts. Hindi, Marathi, Maithili<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Angika are languages written using the Devanagari script. Most major languages are written using a script specific to them, such as Assamese (Asamiya)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> with Asamiya,<ref name="books.google.co.uk">Template:Cite book</ref> Bengali with Bengali, Punjabi with Gurmukhi, Meitei with Meitei Mayek, Odia with Odia script, Gujarati with Gujarati; Awadhi, Magahi and Bhojpuri with Kaithi script<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> etc. Urdu and Kashmiri, Saraiki and Sindhi are written in modified versions of the Perso-Arabic script. With this one exception, the scripts of Indian languages are native to India. Some languages like Kodava that didn't have a script, as well as some languages such as Tulu which already had a script, adopted the Kannada script due to its readily available printing settings.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

File:Handwriting of Mudhoji Bhonsle.jpg

Seal, signature and handwriting of Maratha Senadhurandar Mudhoji Bhonsle I of Chandrapur and Nagpur. This text is written in Modi script which was used as an alternative script for Marathi.

• ANDRO INSCRIBED STONE.jpg

  A Meitei language stone inscription in Meitei script about a royal decree of a Meitei king found in the sacred site of God Panam Ningthou in Andro, Imphal East, Manipur

• Development of Orissan scripts.jpg

  Development of Odia script

• Jambai Tamil Brahmi.jpg

  Tamil-Brahmi inscription in Jambaimalai

• Silver rupee of Rudra Simha.jpg

  Silver coin issued during the reign of Rudra Singha with Assamese inscriptions

• Asokan brahmi pillar edict.jpg

  North Indian Brahmi found in Ashok pillar

• Halmidi OldKannada inscription.JPG

  The Halmidi inscription, the oldest known inscription in the Kannada script and language. The inscription is dated to the 450 CE - 500 CE period.

• Telugu inscription at Srikakulam, Krishna District in Andhra Pradesh.jpg

  An early Telugu inscription found in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh

See also

• Caribbean Hindustani
• Fiji Hindi
• Indo-Portuguese creoles
• Languages of Bangladesh
• Languages of Bhutan
• Languages of China
• Languages of Fiji
• Languages of Guyana
• Languages of Malaysia
• Languages of Maldives
• Languages of Mauritius
• Languages of Myanmar
• Languages of Nepal
• Languages of Pakistan
• Languages of Réunion
• Languages of Singapore
• Languages of Sri Lanka
• Languages of Trinidad and Tobago
• List of endangered languages in India
• List of languages by number of native speakers in India
• National Translation Mission
• Romanisation of Sindhi
• Tamil diaspora
• Telugu diaspora

External links

• Linguistic map of India with a detailed map of the Seven Sister States (India) at Muturzikin.com
• Languages and Scripts of India
• Kulkarni-Joshi, Sonal. "Linguistic history and language diversity in India: Views and counterviews." Journal of Biosciences 44 (2019): 1–10.
• Diversity of Languages in India
• A comprehensive federal government site that offers complete info on Indian Languages
• Technology Development for Indian Languages, Government of India Template:Webarchive
• Languages Spoken in Himachal Pradesh – Himachal Pariksha Template:Webarchive