India is expanding institutional support for the study of its classical languages with the approval of five new Centres of Excellence dedicated to Classical Assamese, Classical Bengali, Classical Marathi, Classical Pali and Classical Prakrit.
The Department of Higher Education under the Ministry of Education approved the establishment of the centres on October 3, 2026. The announcement has brought a new academic focus to five languages that received Classical Language status in 2024.
Editorial Insight
Key Highlights
Important points readers should notice.
Issue/Event: Five Centres of Excellence approved for Classical Language studies.
Location: Assam, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Odisha and Gujarat.
Authority/Organisation: Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education.
Action Taken: Dedicated Centres of Excellence approved at five higher educational institutions.
Impact: Greater institutional support for research, preservation, digitisation and dissemination of India's linguistic and literary heritage.
The centres will be established at higher educational institutions across Assam, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Odisha and Gujarat.
According to the government, the initiative is intended to strengthen academic research and scholarship while supporting the preservation and digitisation of linguistic and literary resources. It will also promote wider access to knowledge and traditions associated with these languages.
Where Will the Five Centres Be Located?
Editorial Analysis
Why This Matters
India's linguistic heritage includes a large body of historical texts, manuscripts, literature and knowledge traditions. Preserving these resources requires more than formal recognition. Academic research, documentation and digitisation can help ensure that historical material remains available to future generations. The new centres could also strengthen specialised research within universities and create regional academic ecosystems around the five Classical Languages. The initiative is therefore significant not only from a cultural perspective but also for higher education, research and digital preservation.
The five Centres of Excellence and their respective institutions are:
- Classical Assamese: Tezpur University, Assam
- Classical Bengali: Visva-Bharati University, West Bengal
- Classical Marathi: Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute, Pune, Maharashtra
- Classical Pali: Central University of Odisha, Odisha
- Classical Prakrit: Central University of Gujarat, Gujarat
The geographical spread means that the initiative will create dedicated academic centres across five different states rather than concentrating classical-language research in a single location.
What Will These Centres Actually Do?
The initiative goes beyond simply teaching the five languages.
The Centres of Excellence are expected to provide dedicated platforms for advanced academic research, scholarly work and engagement with the respective classical languages.
Another major area will be preservation and digitisation. Ancient linguistic and literary resources can be vulnerable to physical deterioration and limited accessibility. Digitisation can help create durable academic resources and make them easier for researchers and students to access.
The centres will also work toward wider dissemination of classical-language knowledge and strengthen regional academic ecosystems around these languages.
Why These Five Languages?
Assamese, Bengali, Marathi, Pali and Prakrit were granted Classical Language status in 2024.
The recognition expanded India's list of Classical Languages to 11. The other six are Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia.
The government's criteria for Classical Language status include antiquity of early texts or recorded history, a body of ancient literature considered heritage by generations of speakers, and evidence from knowledge texts, poetry, inscriptions and related sources.
The new centres therefore represent a further institutional step following the recognition granted to the five languages in 2024.
From Recognition to Research
Classical Language status provides recognition of a language's historical and literary significance. The new Centres of Excellence are aimed at building academic infrastructure around that recognition.
Research into manuscripts, texts, linguistic development, translation, preservation and digitisation can help connect historical material with modern scholarship.
For students and researchers, the development could create more structured opportunities for specialised academic work. For the wider public, digitisation and dissemination could make parts of India's linguistic heritage easier to access.
