Centre approves 5 hubs to study India's classical languages

India's classical language map is expanding from classrooms and archives into dedicated research centres.

The Ministry of Education has approved five Centres of Excellence for Classical Assamese, Bengali, Marathi, Pali and Prakrit. The decision was conveyed through an Office Memorandum issued by the Department of Higher Education's Language Division on October 1, 2026.

The five centres will come up at universities and institutions across Assam, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Odisha and



Gujarat:

. 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, Sunabeda, Odisha

. Classical Prakrit: Central University of Gujarat, Kundhela, Vadodara, Gujarat

The centres are expected to support academic research, digitisation, preservation and dissemination of the five languages and their heritage.