MANGALORE: Tulu film Oriyardori Asal (one smarter than other) is still doing well in theatres across Mangalore after it was released a week ago. It has brought Tulu back in to public consciousness, something that had not happened even after the Vishwa Tulu Sammelan in December 2009.
'Tuluva pride', which has hit nadir, now sadly needs mediums such as films and festivals to remind people about Tuluvas's history, customs, culture and that its 'original script' is not receiving the kind of attention it deserves. This practice of neglecting everything about Tulu, including its original script, is not a recent phenomenon.
Lack of royal patronage throughout the evolution of Tuluwhich is more than 2,000 years oldand contempt shown to the language by teachers popularised a myth that Tulu language is a 'tribal language', without a script of its own.
The history
"Tulu is a protoDravidian [original] language," asserts Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy President Palthady Ramakrishna Achar. In fact, Tulu script is similar to Thigalaya script, which was one of the few earliest original scripts such as Persian and Latin.
Much before Devanagariwhen Brahmi script prevailed in north Indiait was Thigalaya down South. "From Thigalaya, evolved Tamil language," says Achar, quoting the book 'Comparative' grammar of the Dravidian or South Indian family of languages by linguist Robert Coldwell, which was published in 1856.
Quoting from published works of Malayalam linguist researchers Namboodripad, Padmanabha Kekunnaya and Venkatraj Punichinthaaya, Achar stresses that Tulu is the parent language of Malayalam. For most part of the century, south Kerala was under different dynasties such as Cheru dynasty, which patronised Tamil.
Priests from Tulunadu, a privileged few who had access to learning Tulu script in Gurukul system, went to Kerala to perform rituals, carrying mantras with them written in Tulu script.
Later on, Pottis and others popularised the script as Malayalam script. Around 95 per cent of Malayalis easily decipher Tulu script, describing it as "like Malayalam", says Academy Registrar B Chandrahasa Rai.
In fact, Malayalam dialect in north Kerala is referred to as TuluMalayalam dialect, Achar informs.
"(As) for the language, Brahuyie spoken on the border areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan is also similar to Tulu," says Achar.
He admits that while other Dravidian languages grew by leaps and bounds, Tulu's script is nearing the stage of extinction.
Tulu, mostly out of favour
Tulu never received any royal patronisation as was seen with other Dravidian languages such as Telugu, Tamil or Malayalam. Alupa dynastythis dynasty had the longest lineage, surpassing even the Roman Empire dynastypatronised Kannada but not Tulu.
Krishnadevaraya (15091529), whose parents hailed from Haaduhalli in Shimoga districtm was proud of his Tuluva lineage but did nothing to patronise Tulu language. A poet himself, Krishnadevaraya patronised arts and Telugu language, Dr Achar explains.
Until 16th century, there was no serious literature because literacy level was below four per cent. As only Brahmins could learn Tulu script in Gurukul system, all classic literatures were written in Brahmin dialect.
Lack of serious literature before 15th century now hampers Tulu's claim of being one of the legitimate south Indian languages.
Later, many classic Tulu works such as 'Bhaagavatho' poem (Vishhnu Thunga17th century), 'Mahabhaaratho' poem (Arunaabja13th century), 'Devi Mahaathme' prose (15th century) and others were written in Tulu scripts, inscribed on palm leaves.
From that period, talented poets such as Muddanna and Ratnakar avoided risk and got their literary works in Tulu published in Kannada script.
It was Basel Mission who set foot in Mangalore on an evangelical mission in 1824 and made significant contributions to Tulu literature. Mission's efforts to teach Tulu in schools came to a naught, following protests from parents who insisted on English.
Dying but
not dead yet
Highlighting the prevalence of Tulu script during the height of its popularity, Dakshina Kannada Sahitya Parishat President Pradeep Kumar says although Kannada is widely spoken in Kundapur, some of the old land records were written in Tulu script. He believes that Kannada replaced Tulu script in the beginning of 19th century.
NRI and 2009 Lok Sabha candidate Thirumala Raya Halemane justifies the need to teach the script in schools so that there remain people who can understand it.
Steps to revive original script
In phase I of implementation of Tulu script, Tulu Sahitya Academy introduced text books for students of sixth standard in Kannada script in the previous academic year.
"In the next academic year, there are plans to expose students in eigth standard to Tulu script," informs Academy President Achar. There will be a simple test to gauge the student's understanding of Tulu script.
Meanwhile, B S Shivakumar of Department of Tulu and Translation Studies, Dravidian University in Kuppam, Andhra Pradesh, has initiated efforts to develop a word net for Tulu as there exists for English, Hindi and other languages.