In June 2021, several organisations initiated a Twitter campaign demanding official language status to Tulu in Karnataka and Kerala. The campaign received an enormous response and witnessed more than 2.5 lakh tweets in favour. In 2020 also, an organisation, ‘Jai Tulunad’ conducted an online campaign demanding the inclusion of Tulu in the new National Education Policy (NEP). The organisation started a ‘Tweet Tulunad’ campaign with the hashtag #EducationInTulu.
Tulu language was introduced in schools by the Karnataka government a few years ago.
Tulu Language
Tulu is a Dravidian language spoken mainly in two coastal districts of Karnataka, Dakshina Kannada and Udupi, and Kasaragod district of Kerala. There are 18,46,427 Tulu-speaking people in India (2011 Census). According to some scholars, Tulu is among the earliest Dravidian languages with a history of 2,000 years. Despite being considered one of the five prominent languages of South India, It is not included in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution as an official language. the other four Dravidian languages—Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Telugu—are recognised by the Constitution.
The native speakers of Tulu are referred to as Tuluva or Tulu people and the geographical area is unofficially called Tulu Nadu. Tulu Nadu consists of coastal Karnataka and parts of Kerala. Separated early from Proto-South Dravidian, Tulu has several features that are not found in Tamil and Kannada. For instance, it has the pluperfect and the future perfect, like European languages French and Spanish.
According to Robert Caldwell (1814–1891), Tulu is “one of the most highly developed languages of the Dravidian family” (A ComparativeGrammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian Family of Languages). However, according to the Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, published by UNESCO, Tulu is now considered a vulnerable language.
There are four dialects of Tulu language which are more or less similar with minute variations. These are—Common Tulu, Brahmin Tulu, Jain Dialect, and Girijan Dialect.
Tulu Literature
Some historical inscriptions of Tulu, found around Barkur and Kundapura, are in the Tigalari script. Brahmins of Tulu Nadu used the Tigalari script to write Vedas and other Sanskrit works. However, very few works written in vernacular languages like Kannada and Tulu are available.
This script was mainly used to write religious and literary works in Sanskrit. Even today the official script of the eight Tulu monasteries, namely, Ashta Mathas of Udupi founded by Madhvacharya in Udupi is Tulu. The pontiffs of the monasteries write their names using this script when they are appointed.
The literature of Tulu is not as vast as the literature of other literary Dravidian languages such as Tamil. The earliest available Tulu literature that survives to this date is the Tulu translation of the great Sanskrit epic of Mahabharata, called Mahabharato. It was written by Arunabja (1657 AD), a poet who lived in Kodavur near Udupi around late 14th to early 15th century AD. Other important literary works in Tulu include DeviMahatmyam’s (1200 AD), Kaveri (1391 AD), and Sri Bhagavat.
The Tulu language is also known for its oral literature in the form of epic poems called Paddana. The Epic of Siri and the legend of Koti and Chenneyya also belong to Tulu literature.
Modern-day Tulu literature is written using the Kannada script. For example, Mandara Ramayana is the most notable piece of modern Tulu literature, written by Mandara Keshava Bhatt, which received the Sahitya Academy award for best poetry (Tulu will get recognition from the Sahitya Academy, if it is included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution).
Madipu, Mogaveera, Saphala, and Samparka are popular Tulu periodicals, published from Mangalore. The Tulu Sahitya Academy, established by the government of Karnataka in 1994, as also the Kerala Tulu Academy established by the government of Kerala in Manjeshwaram in 2007, are important governmental organisations that promote Tulu literature. Moreover, there are numerous organisations spread all over the world with significant Tulu-migrated populations that contribute to Tulu literature. Some notable contributors to Tulu literature are Kayyar Kinhanna Rai, MK Seetharam Kulal, Amruta Someshwara, BA Viveka Rai, Kedambadi Jattappa Rai, Venkataraja Puninchattaya, Paltadi Ramakrishna Achar, Dr Sunitha M Shetty, Dr Vamana Nandavara, Sri Balakrishna Shetty Polali, etc.
Other Art Forms
The traditional folk theatre, Yakshagana. is conducted is Tulu language in coastal Karnataka and northern Kerala. It represents the finer aspects of the Tulu languages. Many Yakshagana groups are attached to temples, so it is also a form of temple art. The language also has an active tradition of cinema with around 5 to 7 Tulu language movies, produced a year, which are being screened every day in Mangaluru and Udupi in at least one theatre.
Tulu was predominately a spoken language, but the practice of writing Tulu in Kannada became common as Kannada is taught from a very young age. Very few in the Tulunadu region can read or write in the Tulu script. However, attempts are being made to revive and standardise the Tulu script. A Tulu script keyboard has also been created to make writing Tulu on the computer easier.
Demand for Separate Statehood
Apart from the demand of making Tulu an official language, the Tulu-speaking population also aspires for separate statehood of Tulu Nadu. This demand arose after the Election Commission of India gave recognition to the political party ‘Tuluvere Paksha’ in 2021, under Section 29A of Representation of the People Act 1951. According to central committee president of ‘Tuluvere Paksha,’ Shailesh RJ, “When the country was reorganised based on languages, Tulu Nadu was partly shared among Kerala and Karnataka. When there was a separate state for Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada-speaking people, why there cannot be a separate state for Tulu Nadu”?
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