tamil was the first indian language to be declared as a classical language.
first indian language to be declared as a classical language?
tamil
tamil (also spelt as "thamizh": தமிழ்) is a dravidian language predominantly spoken in tamil nadu, puduchery and many parts of sri lanka. it is also spoken by large minorities in the andaman and nicobar islands, kerala, karnataka, andhra pradesh, malaysia, singapore, mauritius and throughout the world. tamil ranks fifth by the number of native speakers in india (61 million in the 2001 census) and ranks 20th in the list of most spoken languages. it is one of the 22 scheduled languages of india and was the first indian language to be declared a classical language by the government of india in 2004. tamil is one of the longest surviving classical languages in the world. it has been described as "the only language of contemporary india which is recognisably continuous with a classical past." the two earliest manuscripts from india, acknowledged and registered by unesco memory of the world register in 1997 and 2005, are in tamil.
languages of india
odia is the dominant language of odisha. odia is the only major classical language in east india and sixth indian language to be considered as a classical language in the basis of being old and not borrowed from other languages.





















































according to indian national mission for manuscripts, after sanskrit, odia has the second-highest number of manuscripts. as per records there are around 2.13 lakhs ancient manuscript in odia. in the list bengali is in 9th position with 15412 ancient manuscripts.
east india