The Department of Higher Education under the Ministry of Education, Government of India, has approved the establishment of five dedicated Centres of Excellence (CoEs) to advance academic research, preservation, and digitisation across five recently recognised classical Indian languages.
The new institutional centres will focus on Classical Assamese, Classical Bengali, Classical Marathi, Classical Pali, and Classical Prakrit. The initiative aims to build robust institutional mechanisms to conserve India’s ancient linguistic and literary heritage while making classic texts accessible through modern digital tools.
Top Higher Educational Institutions Selected
The five Centres of Excellence will be hosted at premier Central and Deemed Universities located across five states:
| Classical Language | Designated Centre of Excellence | Location |
| Classical Assamese | Tezpur University | Assam |
| Classical Bengali | Visva-Bharati University | West Bengal |
| Classical Marathi | Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute (Deemed University) | Pune, Maharashtra |
| Classical Pali | Central University of Odisha | Koraput, Odisha |
| Classical Prakrit | Central University of Gujarat | Gandhinagar, Gujarat |
Four Key Operational Areas
According to the Ministry of Education, the newly approved CoEs will focus on four core academic and developmental verticals:
- Strengthening Academic Research: Providing dedicated academic platforms for high-level scholarly studies, critical editions, and linguistic research in the respective languages.
- Preservation and Digitisation: Documenting rare palm-leaf manuscripts, cataloguing ancient texts, and digitising primary sources to ensure long-term conservation.
- Wider Dissemination: Facilitating public access, publishing translations, and promoting knowledge traditions rooted in ancient Indian literature.
- Boosting Regional Academic Ecosystems: Empowering higher education institutions in Assam, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Gujarat to serve as regional hubs for classical studies.
The move reinforces ongoing efforts to integrate traditional knowledge systems with modern higher education while strengthening research infrastructure across Indian universities.
