Odisha Review Classical Status to Odia Language Language and Language Policy in India Prof. Surya Narayan Misra Odia becomes the first language from the Indo- later religious fundamentalism which was the goal Aryan linguistic group, the Sixth Classical of the British Policy based on 'Divide and Rule'. Language of India. In February, 2014 the decision to accord this status to Odia language indicated In 1920 Nagpur Session of AICC that Odia has no resemblance to Hindi, Sanskrit, Gandhi to bring Congress closer to the people suggested the formation of language based Bengali and Telugu. This has caused tremendous provincial congress committees. This helped the excitement in the State and its people. Utkal Pradesh Congress Committee to be formed The Classical language issue actually under Utkalmani Gopabandhu Das separating the emerged during the British era. During 19th party from Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee. Century Tamil Scholars those who were The popular movement under Gandhi’s leadership conscious of their Tamil heritage have been urging was not hinting towards the idea that in free India upon the classical character of their mother tongue language would become the basis for the formation to be recognised. They claimed that Tamil had of the Indian States. Of course, Odisha became rich original literary and grammatical traditions, the first State under the British to be linguistically organised. In 1940s the north Indian politicians had its own script system and an unbroken history. demanded that Hindi should be the 'National In addition they claimed that Tamil was spoken Language'. This distanced the south from the Hindi for the last 2000 years. Their demand had some dominating thinking. In the Constituent Assembly weightage. when the issue of Official language was discussed But the free India while framing the it was after a due debate decided that ‘Hindi’in Constitution was engaged in the debate on making ‘Devnagari’script shall be official language of India the official language. It is to be remembered that and a 15 years time was given for the Indians to English came to India in 1830s and in 1867 the learn and respect the language. Colonial authority pronounced their language In 1940s Gandhi disliked the attempt of policy. Persian was replaced by English as the imposing Hindi and suggested instead Civil language. This act caused a huge loss to the ‘Hindustani’in ‘Devanagari’script should be the Persian knowing Muslim population in India. The language of the nation and for this he suggested decision initiated both linguistic chauvinism and that the new language with its script may be 14 March- 2014 Classical Status to Odia Language Odisha Review prepared taking into consideration other languages In 2001 census it was found that 30 and their scripts and different words having pan- languages are spoken by more than a million native Indian acceptance. speakers and 122 by more than 10,000 speakers. More than three millennia of language contact has Thus state formation issue engulfed the led to significant mutual influence among the four language issue. After Gandhi’s death JVP (Jawahar, Vallabh Bhai and Pattabhi) hinted that language families in India. Two contact languages language cannot be the basis of the formation of have played an important role in the history of the State. The SRC under Justice Fazl Alli India. They were Persian and English. received this message while redrawing the map The official language of India was Hindi of India. with 41% of population speaking it. It was the India is a poly glot state. 1652 languages Primary Official language and English was taken were identified in this Country out of which 415 as Secondary Official language. Article 343 (1) languages had dominating presence. In order to states that the official language of the Union shall provide credence to the regional languages the be Hindi in Devanagari script. The individual states VIIIth schedule to the Constitution was designated can legislate their own official language. Odia is as 'the languages of the Union'. the official language of Odisha. At present 22 languages are placed in the VIIIth schedule and In India 73% of the language speaking they are official languages of the Union. The Table group come under Indo-Aryan group and 24% below provides idea about the languages in the are placed in Dravidian category. Rest belong to VIIIth Schedule and the region where it is spoken. Austro-Asiatic and Tibato-Burma and few minor This is the official Statement of 2008. languages. Language Language Family Speakers in Million State (s) (2001) Assamese Indo-Aryan (NE) 13 Assam, Arunachal Pradesh Bengali Indo-Aryan (Eastern) 83 WB, Assam, Tripura, A&N, Jharkhand, Odisha Bodo Tibato-Burna 1.4 Assam Dogri Indo-Aryan (N-W) 2.3 J & K Gujrati Indo-Aryan (Western) 46 Gujrat, D & N, D & D Hindi Indo-Aryan (entral ) 258-422 Bihar, CG NCT, HY, HP, JH,MP, Raj, UP & Ukhand Kannada Dravidian 40 Karnataka Kashmiri Indo-Aryan (Dardic) 5.5 J & K Konkani Indo-Aryan (South) 2.5-7.6 Goa, Karnataka, MH, Kerala Maithili Indo-Aryan (E) 12-32 Bihar Malayalam Dravidian 33 Kerala, Puducherry Laccadine Manipuri Tibato-Burma 1.5 Manipur March - 2014 15 Odisha Review Classical Status to Odia Language Marathi Indo-Aryan (South) 72 Maharastra, Goa, D & N, D & D Nepali Indo-Aryan (North) 2.9 Sikkim, W B ODIA Indo Aryan (E) 33 Odisha Punjabi Indo-Aryan (NW) 34 CH, Delhi, Punjab, HP & HY Sanskrit Indo-Aryan 0.01 Non-regional Santali Munda 6.5 Santali Tribal belt in the East Sindhi Indo-Aryan (NW) 2.5 Non-regional Tamil Dravidian 61 Tamilnadu, A&N, Puducherry Telugu Dravidian 74 A.P., Puducherry, A & N Urdu Indo-Aryan (Central) 52 J & K, Telengana, NCT, Bihar & UP. The language controversy and anti-Hindi of Kerala and her language Malayalam was agitation was a new challenge during the problem denied the status up to 2013. After initial dilly led country having war situation with Pakistan and dallying Odia in Feb, 2014 received the positive one humiliating hostility with China in 1962. nod. Accordingly the official language Act, 1963 was amended in 1967 and in section 3 (2) of the Act A classical Language is a language with a it was provided that English shall continue for literature that is classical. According to G.L. Hart official work beyond 25th January, 1965. The Act classical language should be ancient, it should be also laid down that both Hindi and English shall an independent tradition that arose mostly on its compulsorily be used for certain specified own, not as on offshoot of another tradition and purpose such as, Resolution, General Orders, it must have a large and extremely rich body of Rules, Notification, Administrative and other ancient literature. Reports, Press Releases and official papers to In India when we talk about classical be laid before both the Houses of Parliament. language our attention is immediately drawn Later in 1976 the official Language Rules were towards Sanskrit due to its holy form used in framed under the provision of Section-8(1) of the Vedic era. This term eventually came to be used Official Language Act, 1963 as amended in 1967. to denote the older literary form of any language. Thus a plural society like India having plethora of In the world Chinese, Sanskrit, Arabic, Greek languages and some being of ancient origin and and Latin are known as classical languages. In originality, it was natural that some of them claim independent India Sanskrit lost its hold and it Classical Status and get some benefit and could not get a secured position of official language preferential treatment. in the Constituent Assembly. A special status was (II) conferred on Sanskrit under Article 351. During last ten years (2004-2014) Six However Sanskrit was the primary source for language were decorated as classical language. many languages including Hindi. The Central It began in 2004 with Tamil followed by Sanskrit Sahitya Academy was reluctant to award the in 2005. Both Telugu and Kannada followed the classical status and as mentioned earlier stipulated scheme by 2008. But the high profile literate State stringent rules for languages to claim the Status. 16 March- 2014 Classical Status to Odia Language Odisha Review The Tamil language claimed the status. The Dravidian families, as also that of the Asiatic group old Tamil Pomes of the Sangam anthologies of languages current among the tribal groups. The pressed into the mainstream for this consideration. language has many linguistic variations like Finally the language received recognition in 2004 Baleswari, Sambalpuri etc. Besides, hill regions followed by Sanskrit in 2005. of North and South Odisha have their own local In 2006 the Union Minister for Tourism variants. Odia has also influenced the formation and Culture announced new rules for the award of Chatisgadi and Sadri of Chhotnagpur. The first of the Status. They were – (a) High antiquity of dated inscription in Odia goes back to 1051 AD its early texts/recorded history over a period of discovered at Urajang. But recent discoveries of 1500-2000 years, (b) A body of ancient literature/ Sanskrit inscriptions with Odia words thrown in, texts which is considered a valuable heritage by reported from Odisha and Andhra region of generations of Speakers, (c) The literary tradition Kalinga empire pushed back its formation to 6th should be original and not borrowed from another Century AD. The Odia literary activites took a Speech Community, and (d) the classical language glorious path during the reign of Suryavamsis. The and literature being distinct from the modern, there above lines explain the antiquity nature and may be discontinuity between classical language character of Odia language which has been and its later form of offshoots.