Official State Languages query

[Tom Head]

On Thu, 15 Aug 1996, Peter D Banos wrote:

> > Can anyone confirm that this is the set and order of appearance of the 13
> > that appear (plus English) on Indian currency notes:
> > 
> > Assamese, Bengali, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Hindi, Oriya, Punjabi,
> > Rajasthani, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu
> 
> I used to keep a Rs10 note on me for just such a purpose, but
> unfortunately it didn't survive transfer into my current wallet.
> My recollection though is that Marathi was there, and not Rajasthani.

I'm in the process of learning Hindi and Sanskrit; does anyone on this 
list know of a text (preferably fairly inexpensive -- I'm a student) that 
describes, compares, or otherwise explains India's national languages?
(I would be especially interested in one published in India and available 
via mail-order.)  

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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\ Thomas Head                    \
\ thomash at misnet.com             \ 
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