Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday called for preservation and promotion of classical languages as they provide the window to civilisational values of ancient India.
Naidu, who arrived at Venkatachalam in Nellore district by a special train, interacted with the Telugu scholars, litterateurs and experts in the Telugu language during a luncheon meeting here.
During the interaction, the Vice President said that India's classical languages represent knowledge and wisdom of ancient thinkers, scientists, poets, sages, doctors, philosophers, and rulers.
"If we don't preserve and sustain this link, we lose a very precious key to treasure house we have all inherited," he said.
He expressed concern that more than 40 languages or dialects in India are considered endangered and are believed to be heading towards extinction as only a few thousand people speak them.
An official release said Naidu's discussions with scholars centred around the promotion of classical Telugu language and development of the 'Center of Excellence for Studies in Classical Telugu' (CESCT).
CESCT was set up under the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysore after Telugu was recognised as a classical language in 2008. The release said Tamil was the first language in India to be accorded the classical language status in 2004.
Subsequently, the Centre for Excellence of Classical Tamil, which was functioning in the campus of the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, was shifted to Chennai on the request from the Tamil Nadu government in 2008.
The institute is now known as the Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT).
The Vice President had visited CICT, Chennai, on Sunday to acquaint himself with the functioning and various projects undertaken by the Institute for preservation and promotion of Tamil language.
Sanskrit, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia are the other languages that have been declared as classical languages.
Following a demand to shift the Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Telugu from Mysuru, the Vice President had suggested shifting the CESCT to then unified Andhra Pradesh some years ago.
Subsequently, the Central government wrote to the combined Andhra Pradesh government in this regard.
Following the bifurcation of the state of Andhra Pradesh, Naidu urged the Central government to shift CESCT to either of the Telugu speaking states. Later, the Union government decided to locate CESCT in Nellore.
The release said that even as the modalities are being worked out for a new campus for the institute in Nellore, Deepa Venkat, daughter of the Vice President and managing trustee of Swarna Bharat Trust, has offered to house the institute for 3-4 years free of cost in the premises of the trust in Nellore.
It said that on suggestions of the Vice President, the Union Human Resource Development Ministry has orgsed a two-day workshop on 'Development of Center of Excellence for Studies in classical Telugu' at Swarna Bharat Trust, Nellore.
The release said that various scholars and experts of Telugu classical language are participating in the workshop, which will discuss the preparation of a roadmap on preservation, propagation, and promotion of classical Telugu so that the richness of the language could be taken to a greater height.
The Vice President also witnessed 'BhuvanaVijayam', an artistic rendering of the best of Telugu classical poetry at Swarna Bharat Trust .
( With inputs from ANI )