Topic summary
Old Malayalam

Old Malayalam, or Early Malayalam, the inscriptional variety found in Kerala from c. mid-9th to c. 13th century CE, is the earliest attested form of Malayalam language. The language was employed in several administrative records and transactions (at the level of the medieval Chera kings as well as the upper-caste village temples). Old Malayalam was mostly written in Vatteluttu script (with additional Pallava/Southern Grantha characters).