Dates from the pre-modern period are reconstructed from inscriptions, palm-leaf manuscripts, and comparative linguistics — not birth certificates. Where sources disagree, both figures are given.
~4,000–4,500 years ago
Proto-Dravidian, the shared ancestor
Historical linguists place the common root of the Dravidian language family — which includes Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, and Tulu — at roughly this age, based on comparative and phylogenetic analysis. Tulu belongs to the southern branch, and by most accounts split off from the Tamil–Kannada line early, which is why it retains some archaic sounds and word-forms not found in its closest relatives.
Estimate — not a fixed date
7th–8th century CE
Possible earliest written traces
Some sources point to early inscriptions found around Barkur and Kundapura (coastal Karnataka) from this period as the earliest attestation of Tulu in writing.
Disputed dating
1159 CE
The Kulashekara stone inscription
A stone inscription at the Sri Veeranarayana Temple in Kulashekara, near Mangaluru, is the piece of evidence researchers most often point to as clear, datable early Tulu — and the one usually cited as the "oldest known inscription" when a single date is wanted.
12th–14th century CE
The Tigalari script develops
Tulu's own script — called Tigalari, or Tulu Lipi by Tulu speakers — evolved out of the Grantha script, the same root that produced the Malayalam script. It was used mainly by Brahmin communities, largely for Sanskrit religious and Vedic texts, and only partly for everyday Tulu.
15th century CE
Tulu inscriptions in Tigalari become more common
Multiple medieval inscriptions from this period, written in the Tigalari script, survive and are used by researchers to trace the language's development under local rulers such as the Alupa dynasty.
17th century CE
Sri Bhagavato and Kaveri
These two works are considered the earliest surviving independent literary compositions in Tulu, written in the Tigalari script. They sit alongside a much older oral tradition — epic ballads called paddana, including the Epic of Siri and the legend of Koti and Chennayya — which were passed down by voice long before anything was written.
1841
Kannada script standardized for print
The Basel Mission Press in Mangaluru standardized the modern Kannada script for printing. It used this same script to print Tulu (and Kodava) material — practical for the printing press, but it sidelined the Tigalari script, which fell out of everyday use over the following century.
19th century
Early outside recognition
The linguist Robert Caldwell, in his comparative study of the Dravidian language family, singled out Tulu as one of its most grammatically developed members — an early acknowledgment from outside the community of the language's depth.
Today
A living, vulnerable language
About 1.85 million people reported Tulu as their native language in the 2011 Census, with estimates of 3–5 million speakers worldwide including the diaspora. Tulu is taught as an optional subject in some Karnataka schools, has an active regional film industry, and UNESCO lists it as a vulnerable language. Community groups continue to campaign for Tulu's inclusion in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, which would bring official recognition, Sahitya Akademi support, and the right to use Tulu in competitive exams and state assemblies — none of which it currently has.
About the "2,500-year-old language" claim
You'll often see Tulu described in community and political statements as a "2,500-year-old language," sometimes tied to its status as one of the five classical Pancha Dravida languages alongside Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam. That figure reflects real and justified pride in Tulu's antiquity, but it's a round, rhetorical number rather than a specific academic dating — you won't find it in linguistic papers the way you will the Dravidian-family estimate above.
The layered, source-by-source answer on this page — old as a spoken language, much younger as a written and documented one — is the more accurate picture.