Old Malayalam

Old Malayalam
Old Malayalam
പഴയ മലയാളം
	Old Malayalam (Vattezhuthu script)
Pronunciation	Paḻaya Malayāḷam
Region	Kerala
Era	Developed into Middle Malayalam by c. 13th century
Language family	Dravidian Southern Tamil–Kannada Old Tamil Middle Tamil Old Malayalam; ; ; ; ;
Writing system	Vatteluttu script (with Pallava/Southern Grantha characters)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	None

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]

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

[Narayanan2017-1] Cite error: The named reference Narayanan2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[:830-2] 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.

[:43-7] 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.

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