The Centre is considering a proposal from the Maharashtra government to grant classical language status to Marathi. Kannada, Malyalam, Odia, Tamil, Telugu and Sanskrit have already been recognize as classical languages of the country. Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma said this in the Lok Sabha today.

Elaborating the criteria for declaring any language as classical, he said it must have a recorded history of 1500 to 2000 years. Also, its literary tradition should be original and distinct from its modern form, he said.