Teerth Yatri

Although it is India's national language, Hindi is only spoken as a mother tongue by about 20% of the population, mainly in the area known as the Hindi-belt, the cow-belt or Mimaru, which includes Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. This Indic language is the official language of the Indian government and the states already mentioned, plus Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

Urdu is the state language of Jammu and Kashmir. Along with Hindi, it evolved in early Delhi. While Hindi was largely adopted by India's Hindu population, the Muslims embraced Urdu, and so the latter is written in the Perso-Arabic script and includes many Persian words.

An ancient Dravidian language at least 2000 years old, and the state language of Tamil Nadu. It is spoken by around 65 million people.

Spoken by nearly 200 million people (mostly in what is now Bangladesh), and the state language of West Bengal. Developed as a language in the 13th century.

Kashmiri speakers account for about 55% of the population of Jammu and Kashmir. It is an Indic language written in the Perso-Arabic script.

Over 2000 years old, Kannada is spoken by over twenty million people worldwide and is the official language of the state of Karnataka.

An Indic language dating back to around the 13th century, Marathi is the state language of Maharashtra.

State language of Gujarat, it is an Indic language.

Telugu is the Dravidian language spoken by the largest number of people;it is the state language of Andhra Pradesh. Malayalam is also a Dravidian language; it's the state language of Kerala.

A product of British rule, English is still widely spoken and written in most Indian states 50 years after independence.