For centuries, Tulu echoed through the agricultural fields of Tulunadu, resonated in the sacred chants of daiva kola, animated Yakshagana stages, and served as the everyday language of millions across Dakshina Kannada and Udupi. Yet, despite its rich literary, cultural and oral traditions stretching back over two millennia, it remained absent from the corridors of administration.
That changed when the Karnataka government declared Tulu as an additional administrative language in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts. The decision marks one of the most significant milestones in the language’s modern history -- not merely because government offices can now accept applications in Tulu, but because it transforms a people’s language into one that enjoys official recognition in governance.
The decision also carries symbolic significance. Unesco had previously classified Tulu as an endangered language, warning that the absence of institutional support could threaten its long-term survival. Karnataka’s move offers precisely the kind of state backing that language experts have long argued is necessary to preserve and promote indigenous languages. For the Tulu-speaking community, this is not the culmination of a struggle but the beginning of a new phase.
Older than kingdoms
Linguists regard Tulu as one of the five major Dravidian languages. Scholars including Robert Caldwell, in his landmark ‘Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Languages’ (1856), identified Tulu as an independent Dravidian language. Later linguistic studies have suggested that Tulu diverged from Proto-Dravidian nearly 2,000 years ago, making it one of the oldest living languages of southern India.
References to Tulu and Tulunadu appear in Ashokan-era inscriptions, Sangam literature and the writings of Greek and Portuguese travellers. The language possesses its own historical script and a substantial body of literature preserved on palm-leaf manuscripts dating back to the 14th century.
What makes Tulu remarkable is that it survived despite never becoming the principal language of administration. Successive rulers -- from the Alupas and Vijayanagara Empire to the regimes of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan -- used Kannada for official purposes. Yet Tulu continued to flourish through domestic use, folklore, rituals, theatre and oral traditions. Its resilience lay in its people rather than political patronage.
Survived sans state power
Unlike many regional languages whose growth depended on royal courts, Tulu was sustained by society itself. The language became the cultural glue of coastal Karnataka. It transcended caste, religion and community, with more than 40 communities, including Bunts, Billavas, Mogaveeras, Jains, Christians and several backward communities, identifying Tulu as their mother tongue. Even communities whose mother tongues are Beary, Konkani, Havyaka or Koraga commonly use Tulu as a link language, making it the everyday language of interaction across the region.
Its oral traditions remain among India’s richest. The legendary ‘Paddanas’, especially the Siri Epic, have drawn international scholarly attention for their extraordinary scale and cultural depth. Ritual performances such as ‘Bhuta Kola’, ‘Nagamandala’, Yakshagana, Kambala and numerous folk arts continue to rely heavily on Tulu.
The language also found expression through theatre, cinema, radio, television and literature. More recently, Tulu has established a digital presence through Unicode support, Tulu Wikipedia and online publications.
Ironically, until the early 1990s, many children in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi hesitated to speak Tulu inside classrooms. The social perception was that English and Kannada represented education and upward mobility, while Tulu belonged only to the home. Many students recall being discouraged, or even punished, for speaking Tulu in schools, a phenomenon comparable to the restrictions Kannada-speaking children sometimes faced in English-medium schools elsewhere in Karnataka.
Tulu Sahitya Academy
A major turning point came in 1994, when the government led by then Chief Minister M Veerappa Moily established the Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy. The academy institutionalised research, publications, awards, literary programmes and documentation of folklore.
Over the past three decades, it has published hundreds of books, produced documentaries and helped create an ecosystem where Tulu literature could thrive.
Educational reforms followed. Tulu was introduced as a third language in schools across Dakshina Kannada and Udupi. Today, around 800 to 1,000 students choose Tulu in the SSLC examination every year. Mangalore University later introduced Tulu as a second language for undergraduate students, followed by postgraduate and doctoral programmes.
Another symbolic breakthrough came when Speaker UT Khader permitted MLAs to speak in Tulu in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, a privilege denied decades earlier when legislator Vasanth Bangera had unsuccessfully sought to take the oath in Tulu. Each of these milestones gradually shifted Tulu from social hesitation to public pride.
Century-long movement
The present recognition is the outcome of nearly a century of sustained advocacy. The organised movement began in 1928, when freedom fighter and scholar Srinivasa Upadhya Paniyadi established the Tulu Mahasabhe, arguing that language formed the core identity of Tulunadu.
Later, organisations such as Tulu Koota, established in 1970, organised literary conferences beginning in 1974. Successive Tulu Sahitya Sammelanas kept alive the demand for official recognition.
The movement also extended to the political arena. Governments repeatedly urged the Centre to include Tulu in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, while Members of Parliament raised the issue on multiple occasions.
A significant administrative step came under the Siddaramaiah government, when a committee headed by KM Gayathri studied Andhra Pradesh’s model of recognising Urdu as an additional official language. Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy president Taranath Gatti Kapikad, who served on that committee, said the report provided the legal and administrative framework that has now culminated in Karnataka’s historic decision.
“This is not merely symbolic recognition. The study of Andhra Pradesh’s experience provided the government with a practical roadmap for implementing Tulu as an administrative language,” Kapikad said.
Administrative recognition
Official recognition changes the relationship between citizens and the state. Government offices in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi will now appoint translators, enabling citizens to submit petitions and applications in Tulu. Such applications cannot be rejected merely because they are written in the language.
This is expected to increase the use of Tulu in governance, encourage official translations, improve language documentation and create greater demand for Tulu in education, publishing and public communication. Perhaps more importantly, it sends a message that speaking Tulu is no longer confined to cultural celebrations but has legitimacy in public administration.
Kapikad believes the decision will also strengthen the campaign for constitutional recognition. “The recognition gives fresh momentum to our long-standing demand for inclusion of Tulu in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. It demonstrates that the language has administrative viability as well as cultural strength,” he said.
Reclaiming linguistic identity
According to the 2011 Census, India had 18.46 lakh Tulu speakers. However, language activists believe this figure grossly underestimates reality. Kapikad estimates that the global Tulu-speaking population is between 80 lakh and one crore, including migrants across India and abroad.
He argues that many Tulu-speaking families living outside coastal Karnataka identified Kannada or the dominant regional language as their mother tongue during previous censuses. “Many people hesitated to declare Tulu as their mother tongue because they believed it might affect educational or employment opportunities for their children.
With official recognition, people now have greater confidence in their linguistic identity. I expect the next Census to record at least twice the previous number of Tulu speakers,” he said.
Such an increase would strengthen the language’s case for greater national recognition.
The road ahead
Administrative recognition alone cannot guarantee the future of a language. Experts opine that its success will depend on effective implementation. Government departments must ensure that translation facilities are available. Public forms, citizen services and awareness campaigns need to accommodate Tulu.
Teacher training, expanded school curricula, university research, digitisation of manuscripts and modern technological tools, including artificial intelligence and language computing, will become increasingly important.
“Equally crucial is encouraging younger generations to speak, read and write Tulu with confidence. For a language that survived over two millennia without royal patronage or official power, Karnataka’s decision represents more than administrative reform,” added Kapikad.
