Indian Languages & Scripts

Key Pointers

Language families: Indo-Aryan (about 75% speakers; Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Odia, Assamese), Dravidian (about 20%; Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Tulu, Gondi), Austroasiatic (Santali, Mundari, Khasi), Tibeto-Burman (Manipuri, Bodo).
Eighth Schedule (22 languages): Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu.
- Originally 14; Sindhi added by the 21st Amendment (1967); Konkani, Manipuri, Nepali by the 71st Amendment (1992); Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Santali by the 92nd Amendment (2003).
Constitutional provisions: Article 343 (Hindi in Devanagari as the official language of the Union); Article 351 (development of Hindi); Article 350A (mother-tongue instruction in primary education); Article 350B (Special Officer for linguistic minorities).
Classical languages: Tamil (2004), Sanskrit (2005), Telugu and Kannada (2008), Malayalam (2013), Odia (2014); Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali (2024).
Scripts:
- Indus script: Undeciphered.
- Brahmi: Written left to right; mother of most Indian scripts; used in Ashokan edicts; deciphered by James Prinsep (1837).
- Kharosthi: Written right to left; derived from Aramaic; used in the north-west (Ashoka's Shahbazgarhi and Mansehra edicts).
- Devanagari (Hindi, Marathi, Sanskrit, Nepali), Gurmukhi (Punjabi; standardised by Guru Angad), Bengali–Assamese, Odia, Telugu–Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil/Grantha, Sharada (Kashmir), Perso-Arabic (Nastaliq) for Urdu and Kashmiri, Ol Chiki (Santali; Pandit Raghunath Murmu, 1925).
Census 2011: Hindi is the most widely spoken mother tongue (about 44%), followed by Bengali, Marathi, Telugu and Tamil.

MCQs

Q1. How many languages are listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution?
(a) 14
(b) 18
(c) 22
(d) 24
Answer: (c).

Q2. The Brahmi script was deciphered by:
(a) Alexander Cunningham
(b) James Prinsep
(c) John Marshall
(d) R.D. Banerji Answer:
(b). In 1837.

Q3. Which script is written from right to left?
(a) Brahmi
(b) Kharosthi
(c) Devanagari
(d) Grantha
Answer: (b).