Kannada script in the context of "Kodava language"

The Tulu language (Tuḷu Bāse, Tigalari script: 𑎡𑎻𑎳𑎻 𑎨𑎸𑎱𑏂, Kannada script: ತುಳು ಬಾಸೆ, Malayalam script: ത‍ുള‍ു ബാസെ; pronunciation in Tulu: [t̪uɭu baːsɛ]) is a Dravidian language whose speakers are concentrated in Dakshina Kannada and in the southern part of Udupi of Karnataka in south-western India and also in the northern parts of the Kasaragod district of Kerala. The native speakers of Tulu are referred to as Tuluva or Tulu people and the geographical area is unofficially called Tulu Nadu.

The Indian census of 2011 reported a total of 1,846,427 native Tulu speakers in India while the 2001 census had reported a total of 1,722,768 native speakers. There is some difficulty in counting Tulu speakers who have migrated from their native region as they are often counted as Kannada speakers in Indian census reports.

Kannada literature is the corpus of written forms of the Kannada language, which is spoken mainly in the Indian state of Karnataka and written in the Kannada script.

Attestations in literature span one and a half millennia,with some specific literary works surviving in rich manuscript traditions, extending from the 9th century to the present.The Kannada language is usually divided into three linguistic phases: Old (450–1200 CE), Middle (1200–1700 CE) and Modern (1700–present);and its literary characteristics are categorised as Jain, Lingayatism and Vaishnava—recognising the prominence of these three faiths in giving form to, and fostering, classical expression of the language, until the advent of the modern era.Although much of the literature prior to the 18th century was religious, some secular works were also committed to writing.