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Old Kannada or Halegannada () is the Kannada language which transformed from Purvada halegannada or Pre-old Kannada during the reign of the Kadamba dynasty of Banavasi (ancient royal dynasty of Karnataka 345–525 CE).
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 the Republic of India and is the native language of approximately 65% of Karnataka's population.
In a report published by the Mysore Archaeological Department in 1936, Dr. M. H. Krishna, (the Director of Archaeology of the erstwhile Mysore state) who discovered the inscription in 1936 dated the inscription to 450 CE. This inscription in old-Kannada was found in Halmidi village near Hassan district. Many other inscriptions having Kannada words had been found like the Brahmagiri edict of 230 BCE by Ashoka. 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. This inscription is generally known as the Halmidi inscription and consists of sixteen lines carved on a sandstone pillar. It has been dated to 450 CE and demonstrates that Kannada was used as a language of administration at that time.K.V. Ramesh, Chalukyas of Vatapi, 1984, Agam Kala Prakashan, Delhi p10 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." The original inscription is kept in the Office of the Director of Archaeology and Museums, Govt. of Karnataka, Mysore, and a fibreglass replica has been installed in Halmidi. A mantapa to house a fibreglass 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.
Evidence from edicts during the time of Ashoka the Great suggests that the Kannada script and its literature were influenced by Buddhist literature. The Halmidi inscription, the earliest attested full-length inscription in the Kannada language and script, is dated to 450 CE while the earliest available literary work, the Kavirajamarga, has been dated to 850 CE. References made in the Kavirajamarga, however, prove that Kannada literature flourished in the Chattana, Beddande and Melvadu metres during earlier centuries.Narasimhacharya (1988), pp. 12, 17.
The 5th century Tamatekallu inscription of Chitradurga, and the Chikkamagaluru inscription of 500 CE are further examples.Narasimhacharya (1988), p6Rice (1921), p13Govinda Pai in Bhat (1993), p102
Other sound changes include the debuccalization of ಪ ⟨p⟩ to ಹ ⟨h⟩ (eg. ಬನ್ದಪೆನ್ bandapen “I come” > ಬನ್ದಹೆನ್ bandahen “id.” > ಬಂದೇನು bandēnu “I may come”), as well as the addition of an epenthetic vowel ⟨u⟩ following consonant-final words.
| +Old Kannada Consonants ! colspan="2" | !Labial consonant !Dental consonant !Alveolar !Retroflex !Palatal !Velar consonant !Glottal |
Pronouns had special oblique forms to be used in non-nominative cases.
| +Old Kannada Personal Pronouns ! !Nominative !Oblique |
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”).
| +Old Kannada Demonstrative and Interrogative Pronouns !colspan=2 rowspan=2 | !rowspan=2Proximal !rowspan=2 | Medial !rowspan=2 | Distal !colspan=2 | Interrogative |
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 as avandir “they” (< * aḥ-anṯ-ir) in lieu of avar “id.”
| + Old Kannada Declension |
| +Old Kannada Past Stem Formation !Class !Base !Gloss !Stem !Toda !Tamil |
†Class XI is erroneously listed as a past stem, although it is likely something else.
| +Old Kannada Future Stem Formation !Class !Base !Gloss !Stem !Tamil |
| +Old Kannada Finite Verb Forms !colspan=3 | !Past !Present !Future !Negative |
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 that there are not real 'adjectives' in Kannada, as these can be called moreover, nouns of quality.
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 of Epigraphia Carnatica, written by Benjamin L. Rice is dedicated to the inscriptions found here. The inscriptions that are scattered around the area of Shravanabelagola are in various Halegannada (Old Kannada) and Purvadahalegannada (Pre-Old Kannada) characters. Some of these inscriptions mention the rise to power of the Gangas, Rashtrakutas, Hoysalas, Vijayanagar empire and Mysore Wadiyar dynasty. 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.Gururaj Bhat in Kamath (2001), p97 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 under Old Kannada ( Halegannada). In this period Kannada showed a high level of maturity as a language of original literature.The earliest cultivators of Kannada literature were Jain scholars (Narasimhacharya 1988, p17) Mostly Jain and Saivite poets produced works in this period. This period saw the growth of Jain puranas and Virashaiva Vachana Sahitya or simply vachana, a unique and native form of literature which was the summary of contributions from all sections of society.More than two hundred contemporary Vachana poets have been recorded (Narasimhacharya 1988, p20)Sastri (1955), p361 Early Brahminical works also emerged from the 11th century.Durgasimha, who wrote the Panchatantra, and Chandraraja, who wrote the Madanakatilaka, were early Brahmin writers in the eleventh century under Western Chalukya King Jayasimha II (Narasimhacharya 1988, p19) By the 10th century, Kannada had seen its greatest poets, such as Adikavi Pampa, Sri Ponna and Ranna, and its great prose writings such as the Vaddaradhane of Shivakotiacharya, indicating that a considerable volume of classical prose and poetry in Kannada had come into existence a few centuries before Kavirajamarga (c.850).Sastri (1955), p355 Among existing landmarks in Kannada grammar, Nagavarma II's Karnataka-bhashabhushana (1145) and Kesiraja's Shabdamanidarpana (1260) are the oldest.Sastri (1955), p359Narasimhacharya (1988), p19
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 as Kadambas, Western Chalukyas, Hoysalas, Vijayanagar kings, Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan and the Wadiyars. The inscriptions found were mainly written in Kannada language but some have been found to be written in languages like Tamil language, Sanskrit, Telugu language, Urdu and even Persian language and have been preserved digitally as a CD-ROM in 2005.
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