Indian and Sri Lankan Languages

This is the correct answer. Ashtadhyayi of Panini is a work on Sanskrit grammar.

The Constitution of India recognizes 22 languages in the 8th Schedule. English is not included in the 8th Schedule but is recognized as an official language for government work under Article 343(2) and the Official Languages Act, 1963.

This is the correct answer. Jain scholars produced a wealth of literature in a variety of languages: Prakrit, Sanskrit and Tamil. For centuries, manuscripts of these texts were carefully preserved in libraries attached to temples.

Malayalam is the principal language spoken in Lakshadweep, as these islands lie off the coast of Kerala. Malayalam and English are the official languages of the union territory.

 Mahl language is spoken the most by people of Minicoy Island and Lakshadweep.

Prakrit refers to a group of Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were the vernacular languages of ancient India, evolving from earlier languages. These languages were spoken by the common people centuries before classical Sanskrit was formalized and codified by grammarians like Panini.

The Sangam literature was composed in Tamil language during the Sangam period (roughly 3rd century BCE to 3rd century CE). This corpus of ancient Tamil poetry is among the earliest available literary works in any Indian language after Sanskrit literature. The texts provide valuable insights into the culture, society, and politics of ancient Tamilakam.

Sangam classics were written in Tamil, the oldest of the Dravidian languages with a continuous literary tradition spanning over two millennia. The Sangam literature (3rd century BCE to 3rd century CE) represents the earliest major corpus of Tamil poetry and is divided into two major classifications: aham (love/interior) and puram (war/exterior) poetry. These works provide valuable insights into ancient Tamil society, culture, polity, and everyday life during the Sangam period.

Patañjali, the great grammarian, was the author of the Mahâbhâṣya, a commentary on Pâṇini's Aṣṭâdhyâyî. (Hence, statement 1 is incorrect.) Patanjali was the contemporary of Pushyamitra of Sunga Dynasty. (Hence, statement 2 is also incorrect.)

The Sangam literature was composed in Tamil language by Tamil poets between approximately 300 BCE and 300 CE. This classical Tamil corpus includes works like Silappathikaram and Manimekalai. It represents the earliest major literature in Dravidian languages, not Sanskrit or Hindi.

Prakrit was the primary administrative and literary language during the Mauryan Empire, especially under Ashoka whose edicts were inscribed in Prakrit and Brahmi script. Sanskrit existed but was less commonly used in official inscriptions during this period.

The language of the Indus Valley Civilization remains undeciphered and unknown. While various scholars have proposed Proto-Dravidian, Proto-Munda, or other language families, none of these theories have been conclusively proven due to the limited corpus of inscriptions and lack of a bilingual text. The script remains one of the world's great undeciphered writing systems.

Ashtadhyayi by Panini is the foundational Sanskrit grammatical treatise consisting of 3,959 sutras. It systematically describes Sanskrit morphology and syntax. The other options are not grammatical works - Ritu Samhar is a poem by Kalidasa about seasons, Panchatantra is a collection of fables, and Uttarramcharita is a Sanskrit play by Bhavabhuti.

Apabhramsha refers to the "corrupted" or "fallen" languages that evolved from Prakrits and were spoken by common people during medieval India (roughly 6th-13th centuries CE). It represents the transitional stage between Prakrits and modern Indo-Aryan languages like Hindi, Bengali, and Marathi. The term literally means "that which has fallen down" or "corrupted," referring to linguistic deviation from classical Sanskrit. Option C correctly identifies it as the common people's language.

Malayalam, spoken primarily in Kerala, is a Dravidian language. Bhojpuri, Dogri, and Oriya (Odia) are Indo-Aryan languages from different branches of the Indo-European language family.