The Indian States and their Languages
The Indian States and their Languages – India, a union of states, is a sovereign, secular, democratic republic with a parliamentary system of government.
India has become one of the most diverse cultural nations globally is divided into 28 states and eight union territories for administrative purposes.
The tradition, culture, art, language, and food vary from state to state and are unique to each region.
While India has 22 different official languages, it is home to 121 languages and 270 mother tongues. It’s also home to the world’s oldest language, Hindi.
The major ones are the Indo-Aryan languages spoken by 78.05% of Indians and the Dravidian languages spoken by 19.64% of Indians, and both families together are sometimes known as Indic languages.
Hindi and English are the two official languages of India and 22 Scheduled Languages as per the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India.
The Indian States and their Languages
State | Official Languages | Second Language |
Andhra Pradesh | Telugu | Hindi |
Arunachal Pradesh | English | Hindi |
Assam | Assamese | Bengali, Bodo |
Bihar | Hindi | Urdu |
Chhattisgarh | Hindi | Chhattisgarhi |
Goa | Konkani, English | Marathi |
Gujarat | Gujarati | Hindi |
Haryana | Hindi | English, Punjabi |
Himachal Pradesh | Hindi | Sanskrit |
Jharkhand | Hindi | Angika, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Ho, Kharia, Khortha, Kurmali, Kurukh, Magahi, Maithili, Mundari, Nagpuri, Odia, Santali and Urdu |
Karnataka | Kannada | English |
Kerala | Malayalam | English |
Madhya Pradesh | Hindi | Marathi |
Maharashtra | Marathi | Hindi |
Manipur | Manipuri | English |
Meghalaya | English | Khasi and Garo |
Mizoram | Mizo | English, Hindi |
Nagaland | English | Nagamese |
Odisha | Odia | English |
Punjab | Punjabi | - |
Rajasthan | Hindi | - |
Sikkim | English, Nepali, Sikkimese, Lepcha | Gurung, Limbu, Magar, Mukhia, Newari, Rai, Sherpa and Tamang |
Tamil Nadu | Tamil | English |
Telangana | Telugu | Urdu |
Tripura | Bengali, English, Kokborok | - |
Uttar Pradesh | Hindi | Urdu |
Uttarakhand | Hindi | Sanskrit |
West Bengal | Bengali, English | Nepali, Urdu, Hindi, Odia, Santali, Punajbi, Kamtapuri, Rajbanshi, Kurmali, Kurukh and Telugu |
Union Territories and their Languages
Union Territories | Official Languages | Spoken Language |
Andaman and Nicobar Islands | Hindi, English | Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Nicobarese, Malayalam, Sadri, Kurukh, Munda, Kharia |
Chandigarh | English | - |
Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu | Gujarati, Konkani, Marathi, Hindi | - |
Delhi | Hindi, English | Urdu and Punjabi |
Lakshadweep | Malayalam | English |
Jammu and Kashmir | Kashmiri, Dogri, Hindi, Urdu, English | |
Ladakh | Hindi, English | |
Puducherry | Tamil, French, English | Telugu and Malayalam |