MPSC 2026 Prelims Paper-I · Question 98 of 100

Correct — option (4), '(e), (b), (a), (d), (c)' — that is, Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Odia, Pali. The Government of India has conferred classical language status in batches since 2004, and the five languages named in this question were declared in that order: Tamil was the first, declared a classical language in 2004. Sanskrit followed in 2005. Telugu came in 2008, together with Kannada, which is not among the options here. Odia was added in 2014. Pali came in the large batch of October 2024, when five languages were recognised at once — Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali — taking the total number of classical languages to eleven. Malayalam, declared in 2013, is the sixth language in the sequence and is likewise not offered here. One fact solves this question completely, and it is the fact almost every candidate has. Tamil was the first language to receive the status. Now look at the first entry in each option: option (1) begins with Odia, option (2) with Telugu, option (3) with Sanskrit, and only option (4) begins with Tamil. Nothing else needs checking. In a sequencing question, always test the options against the single item whose position you are most certain of — the first or the last — before attempting to reconstruct the whole chain, because the option list frequently disagrees on exactly that position. A second, independent check is available at the other end. Pali was recognised in 2024 and is the most recent of the five by a decade, so it must come last. Option (1) and option (4) both end with Pali; option (2) ends with Odia and option (3) ends with Pali as well. Combining the two anchors — Tamil first, Pali last — leaves only option (4).

• (1)(d), (e), (a), (b), (c) — This puts Odia first, ahead of Tamil and Sanskrit. Odia was recognised in 2014, a full decade after Tamil and nine years after Sanskrit, and was in fact the sixth language to receive the status. The rest of the sequence is also disturbed: Sanskrit is placed after Telugu, when Sanskrit was declared in 2005 and Telugu in 2008.
• (2)(a), (e), (b), (c), (d) — Two clear errors. It opens with Telugu, recognised in 2008, ahead of Tamil, recognised in 2004; and it closes with Odia, recognised in 2014, after Pali, recognised in 2024. The option effectively inverts both ends of the sequence, which is why checking either the first or the last item disposes of it immediately.
• (3)(b), (a), (e), (d), (c) — This is the near-miss, and the most instructive one. Its last two entries, Odia then Pali, are correct, and it is right that Sanskrit is very old — but the question asks for the order of official recognition, not the order of antiquity. Sanskrit is undoubtedly the more ancient language, yet Tamil received the classical designation first, in 2004, with Sanskrit following in 2005. The option is built precisely to catch a candidate who sorts by age of the language instead of by date of the government's declaration.

The classical language designation is a decision of the Union Government, taken on the advice of an expert committee, and it carries specific consequences rather than being purely honorific: awards for scholars distinguished in the language, provision for a centre of excellence for studies in it, and professorial chairs in central universities. The criteria settled when the category was created in 2004 were four — high antiquity of the earliest texts or recorded history over a period of a thousand years or more; a body of ancient literature regarded as a valuable heritage by generations of its speakers; a literary tradition that is original and not borrowed from another speech community; and the recognition that the classical language and its literature may be distinct from the modern language, so that a discontinuity between the classical form and its later offshoots is not a bar. The criteria were revised by a linguistic experts committee in 2024, before the batch of five languages recognised in October of that year.

The chronology matters more than the criteria for exam purposes, and it runs: Tamil in 2004, Sanskrit in 2005, Telugu and Kannada in 2008, Malayalam in 2013, Odia in 2014, and then Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali together in October 2024, bringing the count to eleven. That last batch is of particular significance in Maharashtra, since Marathi's inclusion followed years of representation by the State, and it is the reason a Maharashtra examiner is likely to keep returning to this topic. Note also what the list is not: classical status is separate from the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, which lists twenty-two languages for a quite different purpose connected with official language policy and representation on the Official Language Commission. Pali and Prakrit, for instance, are classical languages but are not Eighth Schedule languages, while many Eighth Schedule languages have no classical designation.

• Order of recognition among the five in this question: Tamil (2004), Sanskrit (2005), Telugu (2008), Odia (2014), Pali (2024)
• The full sequence also includes Kannada, recognised in 2008 alongside Telugu, and Malayalam, recognised in 2013
• In October 2024 five languages were recognised together — Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali — taking the total number of classical languages to eleven
• The original criteria required high antiquity of the earliest texts or recorded history over a thousand years or more, a body of ancient literature treated as a valuable heritage, an original literary tradition, and allowed for discontinuity between the classical language and its modern forms; the criteria were revised by a linguistic experts committee in 2024
• Classical language status is distinct from inclusion in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, which lists twenty-two languages for a different purpose

• Sorting by the antiquity of the language rather than by the date of recognition. Sanskrit is far older than Tamil's declaration date is early, but Tamil was designated first, in 2004 — and one distractor here exists solely to punish that confusion
• Confusing classical status with the Eighth Schedule. They are separate lists made for separate purposes, and membership of one does not imply membership of the other
• Reconstructing a whole sequence when one anchor would do. Testing only the first position eliminates three of the four options in this question

Sequencing questions are a standing MPSC format, applied to classical languages, States by date of formation, constitutional amendments and office-holders. They are set because they are easy to key and hard to guess. The reliable technique is the same every time: identify the item whose position you are surest of, check what each option does with that position, and eliminate. A second anchor at the other end usually finishes the job. For this particular topic, Maharashtra candidates should carry the full recognition chronology, since Marathi's own 2024 designation makes it a live subject for the State's papers.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which was the first language of India to be conferred the status of a classical language, and in which year ?

  • (a)Sanskrit, in 2004
  • (b)Tamil, in 2004
  • (c)Tamil, in 2005
  • (d)Sanskrit, in 2005

  Answer(b) Tamil, in 2004 — it was the first language to receive the designation, with Sanskrit following in 2005, Telugu and Kannada in 2008, Malayalam in 2013 and Odia in 2014.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  In October 2024 the Union Government conferred classical language status on five languages at once. Which of the following was NOT among them ?

  • (a)Marathi
  • (b)Prakrit
  • (c)Malayalam
  • (d)Assamese

  Answer(c) Malayalam — it had already been recognised in 2013. The five languages recognised together in October 2024 were Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali, taking the total number of classical languages to eleven.