Editing Kannada (section)

===Epigraphy===
The earliest examples of a full-length Kannada language stone inscription (''śilāśāsana'') containing [[Brahmi]] characters with characteristics attributed to those of [[Halegannada|proto-Kannada]] in ''Haḷe Kannaḍa'' (''lit'' Old Kannada) script can be found in the [[Halmidi inscription]], usually dated {{Circa|450&nbsp;AD}}, indicating that Kannada had become an administrative language at that time. The Halmidi inscription provides invaluable information about the history and culture of Karnataka.<ref name="admin">K. V. Ramesh (1984), p. 10, 55</ref><ref name="hal">Encyclopaedia of Indian literature vol. 2, Sahitya Akademi (1988), pp. 1717, 1474</ref><ref name="Oldest inscription">A report on Halmidi inscription, {{cite news |title=Halmidi village finally on the road to recognition |url=http://www.hindu.com/2003/11/03/stories/2003110304550500.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031124063238/http://www.hindu.com/2003/11/03/stories/2003110304550500.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 November 2003 |author=Muralidhara Khajane |access-date=25 November 2006 |location=Chennai, India |work=[[The Hindu]] |date=3 November 2003}}</ref><ref name="ind">Kamath (2001), p. 10</ref> A set of five copper plate inscriptions discovered in Mudiyanur, though in the [[Sanskrit]] language, is in the Pre-[[Old Kannada script]] older than the Halmidi edict date of 450&nbsp;AD, as per palaeographers.

Followed by [[B. Lewis Rice|B. L. Rice]], leading epigrapher and historian, K. R. Narasimhan following a detailed study and comparison, declared that the plates belong to the 4th century, i.e., 338&nbsp;AD.<ref>{{Cite web |date=30 October 2021 |title=When ancient copper plates came to Kannada's rescue |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/spectrum/spectrum-statescan/when-ancient-copper-plates-came-to-kannadas-rescue-1045565.html |access-date=15 April 2022 |website=Deccan Herald |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rice |first=Lewis Benjamin |url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.213548 |title=Epigraphia Carnatica Inscription In Kolar District Vol.10 |year=1912 |pages=111–114}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rice |first=B. Lewis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8kIwswEACAAJ |title=Epigraphia Carnatica, Vol. 10: Inscriptions in the Kolar District (Classic Reprint) |date=10 February 2018 |publisher=1kg Limited |isbn=978-0-656-23957-3 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rice |first=Benjamin Lewis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gKUDwQEACAAJ |title=Epigraphia Carnatica: [pt. 2]. Inscriptions in the Kolar district [Kannada text |year=1886 |publisher=Mysore Government Central Press |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Vagarnal |first=Avinasha |date=28 December 2021 |title=Ancient copper plates of Kannada older than Halmidi inscription are in Kolar – ಕೋಲಾರದಲ್ಲಿದೆ ಹಲ್ಮಿಡಿ ಶಾಸನಕ್ಕಿಂತಲೂ ಪ್ರಾಚೀನವಾದ ಕನ್ನಡ ಭಾಷೆಯ ತಾಮ್ರದ ಪತ್ರ! |url=https://vijaykarnataka.com/news/kolar/ancient-copper-plates-of-kannada-older-than-halmidi-inscription-are-in-kolar/videoshow/88542760.cms |access-date=15 April 2022 |website=Vijay Karnataka |language=kn}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rice |first=Benjamin Lewis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sscUAAAAYAAJ |title=Epigraphia Carnatica: Inscriptions in the Kolar District |publisher=Mysore Government Central Press |year=1905 |pages=111–113 |language=en}}</ref> The Kannada Lion balustrade inscription excavated at the Pranaveshwara temple complex at Talagunda near Shiralakoppa of Shivamogga district, dated to 370&nbsp;AD is now considered the earliest Kannada inscriptions replacing the Halmidi inscription of 450&nbsp;AD.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.deccanherald.com/content/591046/kannada-inscription-talagunda-may-replace.html|title=Kannada inscription at Talagunda of 370 CE may replace Halmidi inscription as the oldest|work=Deccan Herald}}</ref> The 5th century poetic Tamatekallu inscription of [[Chitradurga]] and the Siragunda inscription from [[Chikkamagaluru]] Taluk of 500&nbsp;AD are further examples.<ref name="chikka">R. Narasimhacharya (1988), p. 6</ref><ref name="rice">Rice E. P. (1921), p. 13</ref><ref name="tamate">[[Govinda Pai]] in Bhat (1993), p. 102</ref> Recent reports indicate that the [[Halegannada|Old Kannada]] ''Gunabhushitana'' ''Nishadi'' inscription discovered on the Chandragiri hill, [[Shravanabelagola]], is older than Halmidi inscription by about fifty to hundred years and may belong to the period AD 350–400.<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://hindu.com/2008/09/20/stories/2008092054690500.htm
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080922145102/http://www.hindu.com/2008/09/20/stories/2008092054690500.htm
|url-status=dead
|archive-date=22 September 2008
|title= Mysore scholar deciphers Chandragiri inscription |access-date=20 September 2008
|location=Chennai, India
|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]
|date=20 September 2008
}}</ref>

The noted archaeologist and art historian S. Shettar is of the opinion that an inscription of the [[Western Ganga Dynasty|Western Ganga]] King Kongunivarma Madhava ({{Circa|350}}–370) found at Tagarthi (Tyagarthi) in Shikaripura taluk of Shimoga district is of 350&nbsp;AD and is also older than the Halmidi inscription.<ref name="konga">{{cite web|title=HALMIDI INSCRIPTION|url=http://www.classicalkannada.org/DataBase/KannwordHTMLS/CLASSICAL%20KANNADA%20INSCRIPTIONS%20HTML/HALMIDI%20INSCRIPTION%20HTML.htm|publisher=Central Institute for Indian Languages|work=Centre for classical Kannada|access-date=25 March 2012|archive-date=6 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130506055912/http://www.classicalkannada.org/DataBase/KannwordHTMLS/CLASSICAL%20KANNADA%20INSCRIPTIONS%20HTML/HALMIDI%20INSCRIPTION%20HTML.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.bangaloremirror.com/bangalore/cover-story/Historians-study-pushes-earliest-record-of-Kannada-writing-back-by-a-century/articleshow/21220551.cms|title=HISTORIAN'S STUDY PUSHES EARLIEST RECORD OF KANNADA WRITING BACK BY A CENTURY|date=10 March 2013|work=The antiquity of Kannada}}</ref>

Current estimates of the total number of existing [[Epigraphy|epigraph]]s written in Kannada range from 30,000 by the scholar [[Sheldon Pollock]] to over 35,000 by Amaresh Datta of the [[Sahitya Akademi]].<ref name="current">Datta, Amaresh; ''Encyclopaedia of Indian literature – vol. 2'', p. 1717, 1988, Sahitya Akademi, {{ISBN|81-260-1194-7}}</ref><ref name="dense">Sheldon Pollock in Dehejia, Vidya; ''The Body Adorned: Sacred and Profane in Indian Art'', p.5, chapter:''The body as Leitmotif'', 2013, Columbia University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-231-14028-7}}</ref> Prior to the Halmidi inscription, there is an abundance of inscriptions containing Kannada words, phrases and sentences, proving its antiquity. The 543&nbsp;AD Badami cliff inscription of [[Pulakesi I]] is an example of a Sanskrit inscription in old Kannada script.<ref name="cliff">Kamath (2001), p58</ref><ref name="cliff1">{{cite web |title=Badami: Chalukyans' magical transformation |url=http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/jul262005/spectrum1422512005725.asp |author=Azmathulla Shariff |work=Deccan Herald |access-date=25 November 2006 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061007040120/http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/jul262005/spectrum1422512005725.asp <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 7 October 2006|date=14 February 2018 }}</ref>

Kannada inscriptions are discovered in [[Andhra Pradesh]] and [[Telangana]], [[Maharashtra]], [[Tamil Nadu]], [[Madhya Pradesh]] and [[Gujarat]] in addition to [[Karnataka]]. This indicates the spread of the influence of the language over the ages, especially during the rule of large Kannada empires.<ref name="jura">Kamath (2001), p83</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Sircar 1965|pages=202–4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Luce 1985|pages=62, n.16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.siamese-heritage.org/jsspdf/1991/JSS_085_0g_Guy_WarriorRulerSteleFromSriKsetra.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.siamese-heritage.org/jsspdf/1991/JSS_085_0g_Guy_WarriorRulerSteleFromSriKsetra.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live|title=A WARRIOR-RULER STELE FROM SRI KSETRA, PYU, BURMA|last=Guy|first=John|year=1996|website=Journal of The Siam Society – Siamese Heritage|publisher=Journal of The Siam Society}}</ref>

The earliest copper plates inscribed in Old Kannada script and language, dated to the early 8th century AD, are associated with [[Alupas|Alupa]] King Aluvarasa II from Belmannu (the Dakshina Kannada district), and display the double crested fish, his royal emblem.<ref name="Kannada copperplate">Gururaj Bhat in Kamath (2001), p97</ref> The oldest well-preserved palm leaf manuscript in ''Old Kannada'' is that of ''Dhavala''. It dates to around the 9th century and is preserved in the Jain Bhandar, Mudbidri, [[Dakshina Kannada]] district.<ref name="Palm leaf manuscript">{{cite web |title=Preserving voices from the past  |url=http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/aug212005/sundayherald101012005820.asp|author=Mukerjee, Shruba|work=Sunday Herald |date=21 August 2005|access-date=11 April 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061022233151/http://deccanherald.com/deccanherald/aug212005/sundayherald101012005820.asp <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 22 October 2006}}</ref> The manuscript contains 1478 leaves written using ink.<ref name="Palm leaf manuscript" />