Narendra Modi wins over Buddhists by designating Classical status to Pali,Prakrit,Marathi, Bengali and Assamese.

Milind Dharmasena

New Delhi

Union cabinet on Thursday approved classical language status to Pali, Prakrit, Marathi, Bengali and Assamese languages.A gazette notification to this effect was issued on October 4.Before this India had 6 classical languages-Kannada, Tamil , Telugu, Malayalam and Odiya.

Though Marathi, Bengali, and Assamese are languages of 3 different states , Buddhists in India have a reason to be happy about these languages getting classical status

It’s interesting to note that , Buddha preached his discourse in Pali language, while Prakrit was the language spoken by ancient Buddhists. In Modern India, Maharashtra has the highest number of Buddhists . West Bengal , Assam and its neighbouring states like Sikkim , Arunachal Pradesh have big number of population who follow and revere Buddhism. Though Marathis, Bengalis and Assamese have reasons to celebrate the cabinet decision giving their respective languages a classical status , It has made Buddhists more happier as it zones into their culture regions.

Speaking to NDC , Bhante Prashil Ratna said ‘‘It’s being a demand by Buddhists from a long time to accord classical status to Pali , which Prime Minster Narendra Modi has acknowledged. We the Buddhist Sangha would like to thank him for designating Classical status to Pali , a language spoken by Lord Buddha ‘’

Bhante Mahendra of kushinagar expressed his happiness over the decision of Prime Minister to give Pali language its due respect.