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Old Kannada orHalegannada (Kannada:ಹಳೆಗನ್ನಡ,romanized: Haḷegannaḍa) is theKannada language which transformed fromPurvada halegannada orPre-old Kannada during the reign of theKadambas ofBanavasi (ancient royal dynasty ofKarnataka 345–525 CE).^[1]

The Modern Kannada language has evolved in four phases over the years. From the Purva Halegannada in the 5th century (as per early epigraphic records), to the Halegannada (Old Kannada) between the 9th and 11th century, the Nadugannada (Middle Kannada) between the 12th and 17th century (as evidenced by Vachana literature), it has evolved to the present day Hosagannada (Modern Kannada) from 18th century to present. Hosagannada (Modern Kannada) is the official language of the state of Karnataka and is one of the 22 official national languages of theRepublic of India and is the native language of approximately 65% of Karnataka's population.^[2]

In Modern Kannada, the term used for Old Kannada ishaḷegannaḍa ಹಳೆಗನ್ನಡ. In this,haḷe, from Old Kannadapaḻe ಪೞೆ, means “old,” and gannaḍa is thesandhi form of Kannaḍa, the name of the language, presumablyderiving from a Sanskrit re-loan of a Dravidian word for “land of the black soil.” This is contrasts with[p/h]osagannaḍa “Modern [New] Kannada.”^{[citation needed]}

A 5th century copper coin was discovered at Banavasi with an inscription in theKannada script, one of the oldest such coins ever discovered.

In a report published by the Mysore Archaeological Department in 1936, Dr. M. H. Krishna, (the Director of Archaeology of the erstwhileMysore state) who discovered the inscription in 1936 dated the inscription to 450 CE. This inscription in old-Kannada was found inHalmidi village nearHassan district. Many other inscriptions having Kannada words had been found like the Brahmagiri edict of 230 BCE byAshoka. But this is the first full scale inscription in Kannada. Kannada was used in the inscriptions from the earliest times and the Halmidi inscription is considered to be the earliest epigraph written in Kannada.^[3][4] This inscription is generally known as theHalmidi inscription and consists of sixteen lines carved on asandstone pillar. It has been dated to 450 CE and demonstrates that Kannada was used as a language of administration at that time.^[5][6]Dr K.V.Ramesh has hypothesized that, compared to possibly contemporaneous Sanskrit inscriptions, "Halmidi inscription has letters which are unsettled and uncultivated, no doubt giving an impression, or rather an illusion, even to the trained eye, that it is, in date, later than the period to which it really belongs, namely the fifth century A.D."^[7] The original inscription is kept in the Office of the Director of Archaeology and Museums, Govt. of Karnataka, Mysore,^[8] and afibreglass replica has been installed in Halmidi. Amantapa to house afibreglass replica of the original inscription has been built at Halmidi village. The Government has begun to promote the village as a place of historical interest.^[9]

Evidence from edicts during the time ofAshoka the Great suggests that theKannada script and its literature were influenced by Buddhist literature. TheHalmidi inscription, the earliest attested full-length inscription in the Kannada language and script, is dated to 450 CE while the earliest available literary work, theKavirajamarga, has been dated to 850 CE. References made in the Kavirajamarga, however, prove that Kannada literature flourished in theChattana,Beddande andMelvadu metres during earlier centuries.^[10]

The 5th century Tamatekallu inscription of Chitradurga, and the Chikkamagaluru inscription of 500 CE are further examples.^[11][12][13]

Old Kannada’s phonology is slightly expanded compared to Modern Kannada, with two extra letters being commonly used: ೞ ⟨ḻ⟩ and ಱ ⟨ṟ⟩, which merge with ಳ ⟨ḷ⟩ and ರ ⟨r⟩, respectively. The Kannada orthography is clearly adapted from that of Sanskrit, and native grammarians split sounds into native Kannada sounds and those shared with Sanskrit. Although the two aforementioned sounds are native, theŚabdamaṇidarpaṇaṁ states that these sounds are commonly used in morphed loans from Sanskrit (i.e. tadbhava-s), as in ಪುರ್ಪpuṟpa for पुष्पpuṣpa- (“flower”) and ಗೞಿಗೆgaḻige for घटिकाgʰaṭikā- (“a period of twenty-four minutes”). Thevowels, however, mostly remain the same.

Other sound changes include thedebuccalization of ಪ ⟨p⟩ to ಹ ⟨h⟩ (eg. ಬನ್ದಪೆನ್bandapen “I come” > ಬನ್ದಹೆನ್bandahen “id.” > ಬಂದೇನುbandēnu “I may come”), as well as the addition of anepenthetic vowel ⟨u⟩ following consonant-final words.

Old Kannada has three classes of pronouns (sarvanāmaṅgaḷ ಸರ್ವನಾಮಂಗಳ್):personal,demonstrative, andinterrogative. There were no relative pronouns – relative clauses were formed using relative participles. The first and second person, as well as reflexives, were made up of personal pronouns, whereas the third person was made up of demonstrative pronouns. Demonstrative pronouns were composed of two morphemes: a spatialdeictic prefix and a person-number-gender termination, generally homophonous with the morph used in verbal agreement.

Pronouns had special oblique forms to be used in non-nominative cases.

As mentioned earlier, demonstrative pronouns could be formed by adding deictic prefixes to person-number-gender terminations. However, interrogative prefixes could also be used in place of the deictic prefixes. Aside from those interrogative pronouns built from the template, there were also interrogative pronouns that were underivable from Old Kannada prefixes (termed here as “general”).

Whereas most other South Dravidian languages attest the change in the masculine suffix wherein Proto-Dravidian *-anṯᵊ > *-an, Old Kannada retains the earlier form in some plurals, such asavandir “they” (< *aḥ-anṯ-ir) in lieu ofavar “id.”

Old Kannada nouns (nāmaṅgaḷ ನಾಮಂಗಳ್) can be inflected in seven cases: thenominative, theaccusative, theinstrumental, thedative, theablative, thegenitive, and thelocative.

Kittel (1903) classifies past stems into thirteen types and future stems into four types for all eras of the Kannada language. While this may be overclassified to some extent, it is the most comprehensive extant system for Old Kannada. Note that some verbs have multiple used tense stems. Some classes only appear in certain stages, which is why there are gaps in the table below:

^†Class XI is erroneously listed as a past stem, although it is likely something else.

Causative verbs were formed using ಚು, ಸು, ಇಚು, ಇಸು, ಪು, (ದು – obsolete, only present in very ancient forms). The first two and last were originally used only in the past tenses, the middle two in the non-past (i.e. present), and the penultimate one in the future. This reflects the Dravidian linguistic trait of causativity combined with time aspect. This trait was eventually lost.

Appellative verbs also existed, which were nouns used as verbs by suffixing personal terminations, e.g. ಅರಸನ್ (king) + ಎನ್ (personal termination for 'I') = ಅರಸನೆನ್ (I am the king)

Nouns were formed from verbal roots using suffixes and these nouns were usually neuter gender and abstract in meaning, e.g. suffixes ಕೆ, ಗೆ, ವು, ವಿ, ಪು, ಪಿ, ಮೆ, ಅಲ್; Root ಕಲ್ (To learn) + ಪಿ (Suffix) = ಕಲ್ಪಿ (Knowledge, learning)Also, negative nouns could be formed from negative verb-bases e.g. ಅಱಿಯ (Negative base of root ಅಱಿ, inferred meaning not-knowing, Literally: Yet-to-know) + ಮೆ (suffix) = ಅಱಿಯಮೆ (Lack of knowledge, Ignorance, Literally: Yet-to-know-ness)

Regarding adjectives, Kannada had and still has a few native words that can be classed as true adjectives. Apart from these, mentioned in 'Numbers and natural adjectives', Kannada used and uses the genitive of nouns and verbal derivatives as adjectives. e.g. ಚಿಕ್ಕದ ಕೂಸು – Small baby (literally: baby of smallness). It may be said^{[by whom?]} that there are not real 'adjectives' in Kannada, as these can be called moreover, nouns of quality.

While Kannada is attested epigraphically from the mid-1st millennium CE asHalmidi script of Purvada HaleGannada (Pre-old Kannada), and literary Old Kannada Halekannada flourished in the 9th to 10th century Rashtrakuta Dynasty.^[14]

More than 800 inscriptions are found at Shravanabelagola dating from various points during the period from 600 to 1830 CE. A large number of these are found at Chandragiri, and the rest can be seen at Indragiri. Most of the inscriptions at Chandragiri date back to before the 10th century. The inscriptions include text in the Kannada, Sanskrit, Tamil, Marathi, Marwari and Mahajani languages. The second volume ofEpigraphia Carnatica, written byBenjamin L. Rice is dedicated to the inscriptions found here. The inscriptions that are scattered around the area of Shravanabelagola are in variousHalegannada (Old Kannada) andPurvadahalegannada (Pre-Old Kannada) characters. Some of these inscriptions mention the rise to power of theGangas,Rashtrakutas,Hoysalas,Vijayanagar empire andMysoreWodeyars. These inscriptions have immensely helped modern scholars in properly understanding the nature, growth and development of the Kannada language and its literature.

The earliest full-length Kannada copper plates in Old Kannada script (early 8th century) belongs to the Alupa King Aluvarasa II from Belmannu, South Kanara district and displays the double crested fish, his royal emblem.^[15] The oldest well-preserved palm leaf manuscript is in Old Kannada and is that of Dhavala, dated to around the 9th century, preserved in the Jain Bhandar, Mudbidri, Dakshina Kannada district.[26] The manuscript contains 1478 leaves written using ink.

The written Kannada language has come under various religious and social influences in its 1600 years of known existence. Linguists generally divide the written form into four broad phases.

From the 9th to the 14th centuries, Kannada works were classified underOld Kannada (Halegannada). In this period Kannada showed a high level of maturity as a language of original literature.^[16] MostlyJain andSaivite poets produced works in this period. This period saw the growth of Jainpuranas andVirashaivaVachana Sahitya or simplyvachana, a unique and native form of literature which was the summary of contributions from all sections of society.^[17][18] Early Brahminical works also emerged from the 11th century.^[19] By the 10th century, Kannada had seen its greatest poets, such asPampa,Sri Ponna andRanna, and its great prose writings such as theVaddaradhane ofShivakotiacharya, indicating that a considerable volume of classical prose and poetry in Kannada had come into existence a few centuries beforeKavirajamarga (c.850).^[20] Among existing landmarks inKannada grammar,Nagavarma II'sKarnataka-bhashabhushana (1145) andKesiraja'sShabdamanidarpana (1260) are the oldest.^[21][22]

Epigraphia Carnatica by B.L.Rice published by the Mysore Archeology department in 12 volumes contains a study of inscriptions from 3rd century until the 19th century. These inscriptions belonged to different dynasties that ruled this region such asKadambas,Western Chalukyas,Hoysalas,Vijayanagar kings,Hyder Ali and his sonTipu Sultan and theWadiyars. The inscriptions found were mainly written inKannada language but some have been found to be written in languages likeTamil,Sanskrit,Telugu,Urdu and evenPersian and have been preserved digitally as a CD-ROM in 2005.^[23]

In 2008, Kannada was recognised as aClassical language of India by theCentral Institute of Indian Languages.^[24] Their decision was based on fulfillment of four criteria:

• High antiquity of its early texts/recorded history over a period of 1500-2000 years.
• body of ancient literature/texts, which is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers.
• The literary tradition be original and not borrowed from another speech community.
• The classical language and literature being distinct from modern, there may also be a discontinuity between the classical language and its later forms or its offshoots.^[25]

• Telugu-Kannada script
• Kadamba script
• Kannada language
• Kannada literature

1. The Expert Committee Report of the Government of Karnataka titled "Experts Report submitted to the Government of Karnataka on the subject of the recognition of Kannada as a classical Language" published in February 2007 by Kannada Pustaka Pradhikara of The Department of Kannada and Culture, Government of Karnataka, M.S. Building, Bangalore.
2. Government of India Notification No 2-16-/2004-Akademics dated 31 October 2008.

• Epigraphia Carnatica, online copy of the 1898 edition. (archive.org)

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