Vadodara: A two-day Bharat Bhasha Confluence, a linguistic gathering of over 650 speakers representing some 320 Indian languages, began in C.C. Mehta Auditorium at the M.S. University campus on Monday morning.

Professor Ganesh Devy, founder of Bhasha Research and Publication Centre which is organising the meet, said, "It is perhaps for the first time that eminent heads of Central Institute of Indian Languages from its first head D.P. Pattanayak to the present incumbent Rajesh Sachdeva along with Vice Chancellors, linguists, publishers, writers, cultural activists and persons belonging to numerous speech communities have joined such a conference."

The Bharat Bhasha Confluence got underway with keynote addresses by 20 eminent scholars and cultural activists from across the country. An exhibition on endangered languages, development of Gujarati language and alphabet and Indian literature in general was also opened on the occasion. IANS