Classical languages are those which are ancient, of an independent nature and not a derivative of any other tradition. A language must have a history of minimum 1500 years to grant the Classical status. The status of classical language is provided by Ministry of Tourism & Culture(G.O.I.).
At present there are six classical languages:
- Tamil-(First Classical Language,2004)
- Sanskrit-(2005)
- Kannada-(2008)
- Telugu-(2008)
- Malayalam-(2013)
- Odiya-(Latest and Sixth Classical Language,2014 )
*Five classical languages in the world — Chinese, Sanskrit, Arabic, Greek and Latin.
