The great poet Madhav Julian, who had lamented the state of the Marathi language in the pre-Independence era, must be a happy soul today. On October 3, 2024, Marathi, among other languages such as Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali, received the special status of Classical Language.
Shanta Gokhale, a well-known literary figure, a veteran journalist, translator, author, playwright and art critic, talks about the purpose of the status and how it will help preserve the language. “The classical status will help us understand our heritage better. Substantial funding will come from the Central government. If used wisely, well and without corruption, the funds will help in setting up chairs for the teaching of
Marathi in all the universities of the State. They will make seminal research into ancient texts possible. They will also create jobs in fields like translation and archiving,” she shares.
From literature to theatre to bhakti sangeet, Marathi has played an important role in the progress of Maharashtra.
“Marathi has always been a classical language. The humongous corpus of contributions by our saints and poets on religion and philosophy is evidence. The prose was introduced later and Thanjavur Marathas elevated the language on par with Sanskrit, Telugu and Tamil with their texts on music, dance and drama,” says Indumati Raman, Author of Bhagavata Mela: My Tryst with Tradition who was awarded the Tagore Fellowship for her research on ‘Dance-Theatre by Thanjavur Maratha Rajas - Design Rhetoric of Marathi Yakshaganams’.
Talking about the contribution of the Marathi language to arts and culture, Ashok Kothawale, a Marathi language author and owner of Majestic Publishing House, says, “Every art has a Marathi contribution. From Sant Dnyaneshwar to other writers, there have been great contributions. There are at least 1000 fiction novels that are written in Marathi every year. Several theatre dramas are adapted from the Marathi language to other languages.”
Marathi struggled for eleven years to get classical status. The special status of the language creates a new light for the people across the country. “The credit for the special status given to Marathi amongst other
languages is not done by one person solely. Many people raised their voices for years to give the Marathi language a classical status,” he expresses.
The special status opens doors for new universities and educational institutions to take up the language as one of their subjects. “The special status or recognition might help attract scholars globally, and universities will be encouraged to establish Marathi Departments in the syllabus,” Raman says.
Kothawale expresses the need for people of other languages to learn Marathi so that they can understand its rich literature and theatre. “They will understand Marathi literature and drama as they will understand the subjects being spoken in the language. Marathi drama and literature are rich.”
Shanta Gokhale, however, differs. “Marathi will not become popular among non-Marathi speaking States. That is not even the purpose of applying for classical status. The advantage of the new status will be confined to preserving and promoting the language within Maharashtra,” she feels.
Young theatre artists believe that this may not have much impact on the theatre and drama culture of society. Bhagyesh Patil, a Marathi theatre actor from Mumbai, believes that Marathi theatre will have less impact because the genre of theatre has a specific audience. “The special status given to the Marathi language amongst other languages will help it grow but will not have much impact on the theatre. This is because Marathi theatre has a specific audience. If you see a Marathi theatre audience come to watch a play, they are all decked up. They treat Marathi theatre as a festival and celebrate it.”
Opinions about the impact may differ. But all agree to celebrate that Marathi has been given the Classical Language status.
What is a Classical Language?
According to the Press Information Bureau, Government of India, Classical status is given to an Indian language if it is high in antiquity, of its early texts/ recorded history over a thousand years. A body of ancient literature/ texts, which is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers. The literary tradition must be original and not borrowed from another speech community.
