The Total number of Indian languages, that are still in use will add upto 1,500 or more. That is because there are very twisted dialects of the same language structure if you move to different regions of the same state. There are 28 states in all.
The languages recognised by the govt. and spoken by the majority (more than 10,000) may be summed up as 122. And since there are 28 states, there should be 28 official languages, one for each state!
Well, there are 29 Main languages. Urdu, the Royal language of the Muslim poets, is also an Indian language.
The national language is
Hindi. The name
India is derived from
Hindusthan. Hindu + Sthan meaning the abode of Hindus. The word Hindu came from the river Sindhu (Indus), on whose basin, the Aryan civilization grew up. In my opinion, the national language should have been Sanskrit, since it is the mother of all Indian languages.
Indian languages have assimilated many words from foreign tongues. They include Persian, Arabic, Portuguese, English, French, Turkish, Chinese, Greek, Roman and Bactrian (Bakhtar) (remember the Bactrians, Greeks, Greco-Bactrians who came with Alexander 325 BC ? They opened up a trade route with ancient India. Thats how Gandhara style of Art flourished.)