The Department of Higher Education under the Ministry of Education has approved the creation of five Centres of Excellence dedicated to the study of classical Indian languages. These new institutions will be housed at established universities across five states and will work to advance academic research, preserve historical texts, and make knowledge about these languages more widely available to the public.
Key facts
- Five Centres of Excellence approved for Classical Assamese, Classical Bengali, Classical Marathi, Classical Pali and Classical Prakrit
- Classical Assamese centre at Tezpur University, Assam
- Classical Bengali centre at Visva-Bharati University, West Bengal
- Classical Marathi centre at Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute, Pune, Maharashtra
- Classical Pali centre at Central University of Odisha, Odisha
- Classical Prakrit centre at Central University of Gujarat, Gujarat
- Centres will be spread across five states: Assam, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Odisha and Gujarat
What the centres will do
Each Centre of Excellence will operate as a dedicated hub for scholarship and institutional support in its assigned classical language. The centres are designed to function as advanced research platforms where scholars can pursue specialised academic work that would not be feasible at general university departments.
The centres will concentrate on four main areas of activity. First, they will strengthen academic research and scholarship by providing institutional resources and platforms where scholars can engage in advanced study of their respective languages. Second, they will work on preserving and digitising historical texts and linguistic resources, ensuring that manuscripts and literary works are documented in digital form for long-term conservation. Third, the centres will make classical language knowledge more accessible to the broader public through wider dissemination programmes. Fourth, each centre will contribute to building stronger academic ecosystems for classical language studies within their respective regions.
Institutional locations and regional spread
The decision to locate the centres at different universities across five states reflects a deliberate effort to distribute scholarly infrastructure geographically. By placing Classical Assamese studies at Tezpur University in the northeast, Classical Bengali at Visva-Bharati in West Bengal, Classical Marathi at Deccan College in Maharashtra, Classical Pali at Central University of Odisha, and Classical Prakrit at Central University of Gujarat, the Government aims to strengthen higher education ecosystems in multiple regions simultaneously.
This geographic distribution also allows the centres to remain connected to the cultural and linguistic contexts in which these classical languages evolved and continue to hold significance.
Focus on preservation and digitisation
A key component of the centres’ mandate is the preservation of linguistic and literary heritage. India has accumulated vast quantities of texts in classical languages over centuries, many of which exist only in manuscript form and risk deterioration or loss. By establishing dedicated digitisation programmes, the centres will create permanent digital records of these materials, making them available for research and reducing dependence on fragile originals.
This work connects to broader government efforts to conserve India’s textual heritage and make historical knowledge accessible to researchers worldwide.
What this means for you
If you are a student or scholar interested in classical Indian languages, these centres will provide new opportunities for advanced study, research and specialisation at dedicated institutions. Researchers working on classical texts, linguistic history or literary traditions will have access to improved facilities and institutional support.
The emphasis on digitisation means that scholars and the general public will increasingly have access to historical texts and resources online, reducing the need for travel to rare manuscript collections. This makes classical language scholarship more accessible to people across India and beyond.
For universities hosting these centres, the designation brings additional institutional resources and recognition as centres of excellence, potentially attracting more funding and talented researchers to their programmes.