Kannada

One of the four Dravidian languages,
along with Tamil, Telegu, and
Malayalam; all four languages are spoken in southern India. Kannada is the
predominant language in modern
Karnataka, one of the “linguistic” states,
formed after Indian independence in
1947 to unite people with a common
language and culture under one state
government. Despite its recent political
significance, Kannada has a long history
as a literary and cultural language and is
particularly important as the language
for the devotional (bhakti) poetry of the
Lingayat religious community. See also
Tamil language.