Classical Languages

  • IASbaba
  • March 18, 2020
  • 0
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Classical Languages

Part of: GS Prelims and GS-II- Polity

In News:

  • Rajya Sabha passes bill to grant the status of Central universities to three deemed Sanskrit universities:
    • Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan in Delhi
    • Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth in Delhi 
    • Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth in Tirupati.
  • Currently there are six languages that enjoy the ‘Classical’ status in India:
    • Tamil (declared in 2004), Sanskrit (2005), Kannada (2008), Telugu (2008), Malayalam (2013), and Odia (2014).
  • All the Classical Languages are listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
  • The guidelines for declaring a language as ‘Classical’ are:
    • High antiquity of its early texts/recorded history over a period of 1500-2000 years
    • A body of ancient literature/texts, which is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers;
    • The literary tradition be original and not borrowed from another speech community
    • The classical language and literature being distinct from modern, there may also be a discontinuity between the classical language and its later forms or its offshoots.

Places in News:

  • Pakke Tiger Reserve – a biodiversity hotspot of the eastern Himalayas is located in Arunachal Pradesh 
  • The Sundarban National Park is located in the south-east of Calcutta in the District of West Bengal and forms part of the Gangetic Delta.

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