The languages of India belong to several major linguistic families, the two largest being the Indo-European languages—Indo-Aryan (spoken by 70% of Indians)—and the Dravidian languages (spoken by 22% of Indians).
Individual mother tongues in India number several hundred; the 1961 census recognized 1,652. According to Census of India of 2001, 29 languages are spoken by more than a million native speakers, 122 by more than 10,000. Three millennia of language contact have led to significant mutual influence among the four language families in India and South Asia. Two contact languages have played an important role in the history of India: Persian and English.
♦ Official Language:
The official language of the Republic of India is Hindi. Article 343(1) states "The Official Language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script." And that English could be also used for official purposes. The individual states can legislate their own official languages, depending on their linguistic demographics. Article 345 of the Indian constitution provides recognition to "official languages" of the union to include any one or more of the languages in use in the state or Hindi language adopted by a state legislature as the official language of that state.
♦ The languages of the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution:
The Eighth Schedule to the Indian Constitution contains a list of 22 scheduled languages. The following table lists the languages set out in the eighth schedule as of May 2008, together with the regions where they are used.
| Sl. No. | Language | Genetic affiliation | Geographical distribution |
| 1. | Assamese/Axomiya |
Indo-Aryan, Eastern | Assam |
| 2. | Bengali |
Indo-Aryan, Eastern | West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand, Tripura |
| 3. | Bodo |
Tibeto-Burman | Assam |
| 4. | Dogri |
Indo-Aryan, Northern | Jammu and Kashmir |
| 5. | Gujarati |
Indo-Aryan, Western | Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu |
| 6. | Hindi |
Indo-Aryan, various | the "Hindi belt", Northern India |
| 7. | Kannada |
Dravidian, Southern | Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Goa |
| 8. | Kashmiri |
Dardic | Jammu and Kashmir |
| 9. | Konkani |
Indo-Aryan, Southern | Konkan (Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala) |
| 10. | Maithili |
Indo-Aryan, Eastern | Bihar |
| 11. | Malayalam |
Dravidian, Southern | Kerala, Lakshadweep, Mahé, Puducherry |
| 12. | Manipuri (also Meitei or Meithei) |
Tibeto-Burman | Manipur |
| 13. | Marathi |
Indo-Aryan, Southern | Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Goa |
| 14. | Nepali |
Indo-Aryan, Northern | Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam |
| 15. | Oriya |
Indo-Aryan, Eastern | Orissa |
| 16. | Punjabi |
Indo-Aryan | Punjab, Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana |
| 17. | Sanskrit |
Indo-Aryan | Mattur |
| 18. | Santali |
Munda | Santal tribals of the Chota Nagpur Plateau (comprising the states of Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa) |
| 19. | Sindhi |
Indo-Aryan, Northwestern | Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh |
| 20. | Tamil |
Dravidian, Southern | Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Pondicherry, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra |
| 21. | Telugu |
Dravidian, South-Central | Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Orissa |
| 22. | Urdu |
Indo-Aryan, Central | Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh |
♦ Languages currently used by Indian States and Union Territories:
The Eighth Schedule to the Indian Constitution contains a list of 22 scheduled languages. The following table lists the languages set out in the eighth schedule as of May 2008, together with the regions where they are used.
| Sl. No. | States | Official Language | Other Officially Recognised Languages |
1. |
Andhra Pradesh |
Telugu |
Urdu |
2. |
Arunachal Pradesh |
English |
None |
3. |
Assam |
Assamese |
Bengali, Bodo |
4. |
Bihar |
Hindi |
Urdu |
5. |
Chhattisgarh |
Hindi |
None |
6. |
Goa |
Konkani |
Marathi |
7. |
Gujarat |
Gujarati, Hindi |
|
8. |
Haryana |
Hindi |
Punjabi |
9. |
Himachal Pradesh |
Hindi |
Pahari |
10. |
Jammu and Kashmir |
Urdu |
None |
11. |
Jharkhand |
Hindi |
None |
12. |
Karnataka |
Kannada |
|
13. |
Kerala |
Malayalam |
English |
14. |
Madhya Pradesh |
Hindi |
|
15. |
Maharashtra |
Marathi |
|
16. |
Manipur |
Meitei |
None |
17. |
Meghalaya |
English |
Khasi, Garo |
18. |
Mizoram |
Mizo |
None |
19. |
Nagaland |
English |
None |
20. |
Orissa |
Oriya, |
None |
21. |
Punjab |
Punjabi |
None |
22. |
Rajasthan |
Hindi |
None |
23. |
Sikkim |
Nepali |
None |
24. |
Tamil Nadu |
Tamil |
None |
25. |
Tripura |
English, Bengali, Kokborok |
None |
26. |
Uttarakhand |
English, Hindi |
Urdu |
27. |
Uttar Pradesh |
Hindi |
Urdu, Bojpoori |
28. |
West Bengal |
Bengali |
Nepali |
| Sl. No. | Union Territories | Official Language | Other Officially Recognised Languages |
1. |
Andaman and Nicobar Islands |
Hindi, English |
Telugu , Tamil |
2. |
Chandigarh |
Punjabi, Hindi |
|
3. |
Dadra and Nagar Haveli |
Marathi, Gujarati |
|
4. |
Daman and Diu |
Gujarati, English |
Marathi |
5. |
Delhi |
Hindi |
Urdu, Punjabi |
6. |
Lakshadweep |
Malayalam, Tamil |
|
7. |
Pondicherry |
French, Tamil, English |
Telugu, Malayalam |
