Indian languages fall under two major and two minor families : the Indo-European languages—Indo-Aryan (70%)—and the Dravidian languages (22% ), Austro-Asiatic and Tibeto-Burman families and a few isolated languages.
The first official language of India is Hindi. English is the second.The constitution of the country reads: "The official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script.". Interesting to note that the constitution or the law specifies a National language. States have their own official languages. For example the southern state of Kerala has Malayalam as the official language while Andhra Pradesh has Telugu.
Interesting Quick Fact: Did you know that Malayalam, the language spoken in the southern Indian state of Kerala is the longest PALINDROME word?
There are several hundred languages spoken in various parts of the country. According to the 1961 census, there are 1,652 spoken languages in India! But the most often spoken by most people. Here is a language map of India. Here is a list of all the Indian Languages - 1000s!
| Langauge | Origins | Speakers* | Which region is it common in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assamese/Axomiya | Indo-Aryan, Eastern | 13 | Assam |
| Bengali | Indo-Aryan, Eastern | 83 | West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand, Tripura (list) |
| Bodo | Tibeto-Burman | 1.2 | Assam |
| Dogri | Indo-Aryan, Northern | 0.1 | Jammu and Kashmir |
| Gujarati | Indo-Aryan, Western | 46 | Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu (list) |
| Hindi | Indo-Aryan, various | 422 | the "Hindi belt", North India |
| Kannada | Dravidian, Southern | 38 | Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Goa (list) |
| Kashmiri | Dardic | 5.5 | Jammu and Kashmir |
| Konkani | Indo-Aryan, Southern | 2.5 | Konkan (Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala) |
| Maithili | Indo-Aryan, Eastern | 12 | Bihar |
| Malayalam | Dravidian, Southern | 33 | Kerala, Lakshadweep, Mahé, Puducherry |
| Manipuri (also Meitei or Meithei) | Tibeto-Burman | 1.5 | Manipur |
| Marathi | Indo-Aryan, Southern | 72 | Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Goa (list) |
| Nepali | Indo-Aryan, Northern | 2.5 | Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam |
| Oriya | Indo-Aryan, Eastern | 33 | Orissa |
| Punjabi | Indo-Aryan | 29 | Punjab, Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana |
| Sanskrit | Indo-Aryan | 0.05 | Mattur |
| Santali | Austro-Asiatic, Munda | 6.5 | Santal tribals of the Chota Nagpur Plateau (comprising the states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa) |
| Sindhi | Indo-Aryan, Northwestern | 2.5 | Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh (list) |
| Tamil | Dravidian, Southern | 61 | Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra (list) |
| Telugu | Dravidian, South-Central | 74 | Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Orissa (list) |
| Urdu | Indo-Aryan, Central | 52 | Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand (list) |
* Speakers in Millions as per 2001 Survey
Most Indian Langauages have their own script. Here are details of Indic scripts
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