Old Malayalam

Old Malayalam
പഴയ മലയാളം
Paḻaya Malayāḷam
Old Malayalam (Vattezhuthu script)
RegionKerala
EraDeveloped into Middle Malayalam by c. 13th century
Dravidian
Early forms
Vatteluttu script (with Pallava/Southern Grantha characters)
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
GlottologNone

Old Malayalam, the inscriptional language found in Kerala from c. 9th to c. 13th century CE,[1] is the earliest attested form of Malayalam.[2][3] The language was employed in several official records and transactions (at the level of the Chera Perumal kings as well as the upper-caste village temples).[2] Old Malayalam was mostly written in Vatteluttu script (with Pallava/Southern Grantha characters).[2] Most of the inscriptions were found from the northern districts of Kerala, those lie adjacent to Tulu Nadu.[2] The origin of Malayalam calendar dates back to year 825 CE.[4][5][6]

The existence of Old Malayalam is sometimes disputed by scholars.[7] They regard the Chera Perumal inscriptional language as a diverging dialect or variety of contemporary Tamil.[7]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Narayanan2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c d Narayanan, M. G. S. (2013). Perumals of Kerala. Thrissur: CosmoBooks. pp. 380–82. ISBN 9788188765072.
  3. ^ Ayyar, L. V. Ramaswami (1936). The Evolution of Malayalam Morphology (1st ed.). Trichur: Rama Varma Research Institute. p. 3.
  4. ^ "Kollam Era" (PDF). Indian Journal History of Science. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 May 2015. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
  5. ^ Broughton Richmond (1956), Time measurement and calendar construction, p. 218
  6. ^ R. Leela Devi (1986). History of Kerala. Vidyarthi Mithram Press & Book Depot. p. 408.
  7. ^ a b Freeman, Rich (2003). "The Literary Culture of Premodern Kerala". In Sheldon, Pollock (ed.). Literary Cultures in History. University of California Press. pp. 445–46. ISBN 9780520228214.