Languages in India


Indian Languages Map

See the Map in JPEG
  • Hindi
  • Bengali
  • Assamese
  • Kashmiri
  • Telugu
  • Kannada
  • Tamil
  • Malayalam
  • Marathi
  • Manipuri
  • Gujarati
  • Punjabi
  • Odia
  • Nepali
India, a potpourri of different cultures, religions and beliefs, is home to not just one or two languages but to an uncountable number of different lingual families. Languages belonging to the two major language families - Indo Aryan and Dravidian - are spoken by more than 90% of the people of India. Know more about the languages of India with India Language Map.

According to Ethnologue, India is considered to be home to 461 languages, out of which 14 have been reported to be extinct.

But still there is not a single Indian language that is spoken across its length and breadth. Hindi is spoken by a majority of North Indians, but it is not a popular means of communication in the southern part of India. Similarly, South Indian languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam are not understood by the people of North India.

For the convenience of people, the Constitution of India has recognised 22 languages in the eighth schedule. These are known as Scheduled Languages and constitute the major languages of the country. India Language Map provides detailed information about these languages listed in Schedule VIII of the Constitution and spoken in different parts of the country.

The list of some of the Indian languages includes:

  • Sanskrit
  • Hindi
  • English
  • Gujarati - Language of Gujarat and Union Territories of Dadar and Nagar Haveli
  • Punjabi - The official language of Punjab
  • Bengali- The state language of West Bengal
  • Assamese - Official language of Assam
  • Dogri, Urdu - The language of Jammu and Kashmir
  • Oriya - The state language of state of Odisha
  • Marathi - Language of Maharashtra
  • Kannada - The official language of Karnataka
  • Tamil - The state language of Tamil Nadu
  • Telugu - It is the official language of Andhra Pradesh.
  • Malayalam - It is the official language of Kerala
  • Sindhi
  • Konkani - The state language of Goa
  • Manipuri - The official language of Manipur
  • Khasi - The official language of Meghalaya
  • Mizo - The official language of Mizoram
  • English - The official language of Nagaland

As per Articles 344(1) and 351 of theĀ Indian Constitution, the eighth schedule includes the recognition of the following 22 languages:

  • Assamese
  • Bengali
  • Bodo
  • Dogri
  • Gujarati
  • Hindi
  • Kannada
  • Kashmiri
  • Konkani
  • Maithili
  • Malayalam
  • Manipuri
  • Marathi
  • Nepali
  • Odia
  • Punjabi
  • Sanskrit
  • Santali
  • Sindhi
  • Tamil
  • Telugu
  • Urdu

Urdu and Telugu are also the official languages of the newly formed state of Telangana.

Besides these, there are other languages, which are spoken by large masses but have still not acquired the status of Scheduled Languages of India. These languages spoken by regional people are known as regional languages of India. These include Rajasthani, Haryanvi, Bhili, Gondi and Tulu among others.

Some Indian languages are not widely spoken and have been given the status of minority languages. Mahl and Portuguese languages come under this category.

List by number of native speakers in India



The 2011 census recorded 31 individual languages as having more than 1 million native speakers

RankLanguage2011 Census
  SpeakersPercentage
1Hindi 52,83,47,19343.63%
2Bengali9,72,37,6698.03%
3Telugu8,11,27,7406.70%
4Marathi8,30,26,6806.86%
5Tamil6,90,26,8815.70%
6Urdu5,07,72,6314.19%
7Gujarati5,54,92,5544.58%
8Kannada4,37,06,5123.61%
9Malayalam3,48,38,8192.88%
10Oriya3,75,21,3243.10%
11Punjabi3,31,24,7262.74%
12Assamese1,53,11,3511.26%
13Maithili1,35,83,4641.12%
14Bhili/Bhilodi1,04,13,6378.67%
15Santali73,68,19213.89%
16Kashmiri67,97,5870.56%
17Nepali29,26,1680.24%
18Gondi29,84,4539.97%
19Sindhi27,72,2640.23%
20Konkani22,56,5020.19%
21Dogri25,96,7670.21%
22Khandeshi18,60,236-10.36%
23Kurukh19,88,35013.52%
24Tulu18,46,4277.18%
25Meitei/Manipuri17,61,0790.15%
26Bodo14,82,9290.12%
27Khasi14,31,34426.83%
28Mundari11,28,2286.30%
29Ho14,21,41836.32%
30Garo11,45,32328.76%
31Tripuri10,11,29418.42%


Scheduled Languages in descending order of speaker's strength - 2011



S. No.LanguagePersons who Returned the Language as their Mother TonguePercentage to Total Population
1Hindi52,83,47,19343.63
2Bengali9,72,37,6698.03
4Marathi8,30,26,6806.86
3Telugu8,11,27,7406.70
5Tamil6,90,26,8815.70
7Gujarati5,54,92,5544.58
6Urdu5,07,72,6314.19
8Kannada4,37,06,5123.61
10Oriya3,75,21,3243.1
9Malayalam3,48,38,8192.88
11Punjabi3,31,24,7262.74
12Assamese1,53,11,3511.26
13Maithili1,35,83,4641.12
14Santali73,68,1920.61
15Kashmiri67,97,5870.56
16Nepali29,26,1680.24
17Sindhi27,72,2640.23
18Konkani22,56,5020.19
19Dogri25,96,7670.21
20Manipuri 17,61,0790.15
21Bodo14,82,9290.12
22Sanskrit24,821N


States official languages



S. No.StatesOfficial LanguagesAdditional Official Languages
1Andhra PradeshTeluguUrdu
2Arunachal PradeshEnglish 
3AssamAssamese 
4BiharHindiUrdu
5ChhattisgarhHindi 
6GoaKonkaniMarathi
7GujaratGujarati 
8HaryanaHindi 
9Himachal PradeshHindiEnglish
10JharkhandHindiUrdu
11KarnatakaKannada 
12KeralaMalayalam 
13Madhya PradeshHindi 
14MaharashtraMarathi 
15ManipurManipuriEnglish
16MeghalayaEnglishKhasi
17MizoramMizo, English, Hindi 
18NagalandEnglish 
19OdishaOdia 
20PunjabPunjabi (in Gurumukhi Script) 
21RajasthanHindiEnglish
22SikkimEnglish 
23Tamil NaduTamilEnglish
24TelanganaTelugu and Urdu 
25TripuraBengali, Kokborok and English 
26Uttar PradeshHindiUrdu
27UttarakhandHindi 
28West BengalBengali Hindi, Urdu, Santhali, Oriya and Punjabi, Nepali
S. No.Union TerritoryOfficial LanguagesOther Officially Recognised Languages
1Andaman and Nicobar IslandsEnglish, Hindi 
2ChandigarhEnglishPunjabi and Hindi
3Dadra and Nagar HaveliHindi and Gujarati Marathi
4Daman and DiuKonkani and Gujarati 
5DelhiHindiPunjabi, Urdu
6LakshadweepEnglishHindi
7PuducherryTamil, EnglishMalayalam and Telugu
8Jammu and KashmirUrdu 
9LadakhLadakhi 


Other local languages and dialects



The 2011 census identified the following native languages having more than one million speakers. All of them are dialects/variants grouped under Hindi

S. No.StateSpeakers
1Haryanvi322,230,097
2Bhojpuri50,579,447
3Rajasthani25,806,344
4Chhattisgarhi16,245,190
5Magadh/Magahi12,706,825
6Khorth/Khotta8,038,735
7Marwari7,831,749
8Bundeli/Bundelkhan5,626,356
9Malvi5,212,617
10Sadan/Sadri4,345,677
11Mewari4,212,262
12Awadhi3,850,906
13Laman/Lambadi3,276,548
14Pahari3,253,889
15Harauti2,944,356
16Bagheli/Baghel Khan2,679,129
17Garhwali2,482,089
18Nimadi2,309,265
19Nimadi 2,309,265
20Surjapuri2,256,228
21Kumauni2,081,057
22Surgujia1,738,256
23Surgujia1,738,256
24Banjari1,581,271
25Brajbhasha 1,556,314
26Dhundhari1,476,446
27Gojri/Gujjari/Gujar1,227,901
28Kangri1,117,342


Last Updated on: November 19, 2019