What criteria are used by the government of India to declare a language Classical?
The following criteria will be used to determine the eligibility of languages to be considered for classification as a “Classical Language “: i) High antiquity of its early texts/recorded history over a thousand years. ii) A body of ancient literature/texts, which is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers. iii) The literary tradition be original and not borrowed from another speech community. It is also notified that the Tamil language satisfies the criteria listed above and would henceforth be classified as a ‘Classical Language’. The Ministry of Culture will take all further steps to follow up and implement the above decisions. In the “Corrigendum” issued later, the following point was added: iv) 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. 4.
