which is the oldest language telugu or kannada
Telugu-Kannada alphabet The Dravidian family comprising about 73 languages including Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam. Kannada abugida was developed between the 1st and 3rd centuries CE from Chalukya and Kadamba scripts, descendants of Brahmi. Old Kannada script is about 1800 years old, developed into Modern Telugu and Modern Kannada scripts. The Telugu script is closely related to Kannada, earliest known inscriptions dates back to the 6th century CE, poetry begins to appear in the 11th century. New written standard emerged in Telugu during the second half of the 20th century.[2]
Languages of India According to the Census of India of 2001, India has 122 major languages and 1599 other languages. However, figures from other sources vary, primarily due to differences in definition of the terms "language" and "dialect". The 2001 Census recorded 30 languages which were spoken by more than a million native speakers and 122 which were spoken by more than 10,000 people.[13] Two contact languages have played an important role in the history of India: Persian[14] and English.[15] Persian was the court language during the Mughal period in India. It reigned as an administrative language for several centuries until the era of British colonisation.[16] English continues to be an important language in India. It is used in higher education and in some areas of the Indian government. Hindi, the most commonly spoken language in India today, serves as the lingua franca across much of North and Central India.[17] However, there have been anti-Hindi agitations in South India, most notably in the state of Tamil Nadu.[18][19]