The Education Ministry has approved five Centres of Excellence for classical languages. Here is what that means.

The five languages are Classical Assamese, Classical Bengali, Classical Marathi, Classical Pali and Classical Prakrit. India grants classical status to languages with a long, independent literary tradition.

Each language gets a dedicated centre at a university. Assamese goes to Tezpur University. Bengali goes to Visva-Bharati. Marathi goes to Deccan College in Pune. Pali goes to the Central University of Odisha. Prakrit goes to the Central University of Gujarat.

The centres will do four things: advanced research, preservation of manuscripts and texts, digitisation of linguistic heritage, and wider dissemination of knowledge about these languages.

The approval came through a Department of Higher Education memorandum dated October 1, announced on October 3. The goal is to build a lasting institutional ecosystem for classical studies in the regions where these languages grew.

Odisha’s chief minister welcomed the Pali centre, noting the language’s deep links with India’s intellectual and spiritual traditions.