Old Malayalam

Old Malayalam
Old Malayalam
Early Malayalam
പഴയ മലയാളം; Paḻaya Malayāḷam
	Old Malayalam (Vattezhuthu script)
Region	Kerala (majority)
Era	Developed into Middle Malayalam by c. 13th century
Language family	Dravidian Southern Southern I Tamil–Kannada Tamil–Kota Tamil–Toda Tamil–Irula Tamil–Kodava–Urali Tamil–Malayalam Malayalamoid Old Malayalam; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Early form	Contemporary [medieval] Tamil
Writing system	Vatteluttu script (with Pallava/Southern Grantha characters)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	None

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).