Skip to main content

Antiquity of Kannada Language

Antiquity of Kannada Language:


Kannada is among more than 20 languages of the Dravidian group. It is one of the oldest Dravidian languages . The name Isila found in one of the Ashokan inscriptions in Karnataka has been described as a Kannada word by Prof. D.L. Narasimhachar. According to him, it means “throw an arrow”. Thus, Kannada was a spoken language during the 3rd century B.C. itself. The next important document that helps us to prove the antiquity of Kannada is The Geography written by Ptolemy, a scholar from Alexandria, during the first half of the second century A.D. Ptolemy speaks of many places in Karnataka such as Kalgeris (identified as Kalkeri), Modogoulla (Mudugal), Badamios (Badami) and so on. All these are not only places in Karnataka, but are also names of Kannada origin.
The famous Halmidi Record of the Kadambas which is an inscription of the 5th century, is the oldest available written in the Old Kannada script. We have a Badami Record of Mangalesha too dated 578 A.D. in Kannada. Kappe Arabhatta’s Record at Badami (700 A.D.) has the first Kannada poem in ತ್ರಿಪದಿ tripadi metre.

Oldest available literary work in Kannada is ಕವಿರಾಜಮಾರ್ಗ Kavirajamarga, a book on poetics belonging to 9th century. This work speaks of some earlier poets in Kannada. Hence, Kannada must have been a fully developed language by the 5th or the 6th century A.D and must have been a spoken language for at least a few centuries earlier.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Budget basics: A glossary of terms used in Budget

Disinvestment Receipts The term refers to the money raised by the Government through disinvestment, or the sale of its equity stake in companies it owns. Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act The Act is an attempt to make the Government adhere to a phased plan to reduce fiscal deficit, which denotes an excess of expenditure over revenue. Dividend Distribution Tax This is a tax levied on companies that pay out dividends to its shareholders, i.e. share a portion of earnings with them. Venture Capital Funds These are funds that invest in startups, a financially riskier proposition than investing in established companies. Securities Transaction Tax It is a tax on all transactions done over the stock exchanges involving securities such as shares, derivatives, and equity-linked mutual funds. Wholesale Price Index (WPI) It is a measure of inflation, or price change, arrived at after regularly measuring the prices of a slew of wholesale goods. Consumer Price...

Indian Missile Systems and other developments 2015-16

#1. Defence Capability Enhancements   India’s biggest ship, aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, finally arrives source: NDTV.com INS Vikramaditya is a Kiev class aircraft carrier  which was commissioned by Russian Navy in 1987 under the name Baku. It was later renamed as Admiral Gorshkov and last sailed in 1995 in Russia, before being offered to India. India agreed to buy it in 2004 for $974 million. The cost kept shooting up as Russia delayed the delivery by over five years. INS Kolkata – Biggest warship ever to be built in India till date source: NDTV.com INS Kolkata is the lead ship of the Kolkata-class stealth guided-missile destroyers of the Indian Navy. She was constructed at Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL),  and was handed over to the navy on 10 July 2014.  A bit of an old news but mightier still! INS Kolkata, under the Project 15 Alpha, belongs to the destroyer class and is the first of three ships currently under construction Being wholly constructed...

Inland Waterways in India

Here are some key points you need to know: The bill seeks to add 106 inland waterways to the existing six National Waterways on the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture and comments of several state governments The bill will also look after the renovation and maintenance of the existing waterways Out of the 106 new waterways, 18 have already been identified. These include five waterways each from Karnataka and Meghalaya, three each from Maharashtra and Kerala, one each from Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan The bill also aims to help the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) to develop the feasible stretches for Shipping and Navigation. Let us look at the six existing National Waterways in India: National Waterway 1 (NW1) The National Waterway No. 1 uses a 1,620-kilometre stretch of the Ganges River. It was declared a national waterway in the year 1986 and runs from Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh to Haldia in West Bengal....