Languages of India

Part of a series on
Constitutionally recognised languages of India
Category
Scheduled Languages

A
Assamese
B
Bengali
Bodo
D
Dogri
G
Gujarati
H
Hindi
K
Kannada
Kashmiri
Konkani
M
Maithili
Malayalam
Marathi
Meitei (Manipuri)
N
Nepali
O
Odia (Oriya)
P
Punjabi
S
Sanskrit
Santali
Sindhi
T
Tamil
Telugu
U
Urdu

Related

Official languages of India
Languages with official status in India

There is no national language in India. Rather, Hindi is the "official" language. There are various recognised languages in India depending on the state or territory you are in. However, section 343(1) of the Indian constitution directly states: "The official language of the Union shall be Hindi in the Devanagari script. The form of numerals to be used for the official purposes of the Union shall be the international form of Indian numerals." The business in Indian parliament can only be transacted in Hindi or in English. English is allowed to be used in official purposes such as parliamentary proceedings, judiciary, and communications between the central government and a state government.

The Constitution lists 22 scheduled languages of India: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.

List of Languages of the Indian State

This table shows the most spoken language and other official languages in each Indian state or territory.

State / Union Territory Most Spoken Language Other Official Languages
Andhra Pradesh Telugu
Arunachal Pradesh English Nyishi
Assam Assamese
Bihar Hindi
Chhattisgarh Hindi
Goa Konkani
Gujarat Gujarati
Haryana Hindi
Himachal Pradesh Hindi
Jharkhand Hindi
Karnataka Kannada
Kerala Malayalam
Madhya Pradesh Hindi
Maharashtra Marathi
Manipur Meitei
Meghalaya Garo Khasi English
Mizoram Mizo English
Nagaland English Angami
Odisha Odia
Punjab Punjabi
Rajasthan Hindi
Sikkim Nepali English, Sikkimese (Bhutia), Lepcha
Tamil Nadu Tamil
Telangana Telugu
Tripura Bengali Kokborok, English
Uttar Pradesh Hindi
Uttarakhand Hindi
West Bengal Bengali
Andaman & Nicobar Islands (UT) Hindi English
Chandigarh (UT) Hindi Punjabi, English
Dadra & Nagar Haveli (UT) Gujarati Hindi, English
Daman & Diu (UT) Gujrati Hindi, English
Delhi (NCT) Hindi English, Punjabi, Urdu
Jammu & Kashmir (UT) Kashmiri Dogri, Hindi, Urdu, English
Ladakh (UT) Ladakhi Hindi, English, Urdu
Lakshadweep (UT) Malayalam Jeseri, Mahl, English
Puducherry (UT) Tamil Telugu, Malayalam, French, English

Notice: When a state is marked with (UT), it means it is an Indian territory, not state. An example is that Puerto Rico is a US territory or Hong Kong is a Chinese territory. If there is a blank space in the third column, that means there is only one official language.

References

  1. ↑ PTI (25 January 2010). "Hindi, not a national language: Court". The Hindu. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  2. ↑ "Constitutional Provisions: Official Language Related Part-17 of The Constitution Of India". Department of Official Language, Government of India. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  3. 1 2 "THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE POLICY OF THE UNION | Department of Official Language | Ministry of Home Affairs | GoI". rajbhasha.nic.in. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  4. ↑ "India", The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 11 April 2023, archived from the original on 18 March 2021, retrieved 15 April 2023

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