The Codava National Council (CNC) has intensified its long-running campaign to secure official language status for Kodava Takk, the native language of the Kodava people, placing it on equal footing with Tulu in Karnataka.
In a strongly worded statement, the CNC emphasized that safeguarding indigenous languages strengthens national unity rather than weakens it. Giving preference to dominant languages and leaving out smaller native languages, the Council argued, harms cultural harmony and shared progress.
“Kodava Takk, spoken by a unique, mono-ethnic, animist warrior community, deserves the same constitutional protection and prominence as other regional languages,” the Council stated.
The CNC mentioned that linguists, including 19th century scholar Bishop Robert Caldwell, have long recognized Kodava Takk as an ancient and independent member of the Dravidian family with roots dating back approximately 4,500 years.
In 2003, the high-level committee chaired by Pandit Dr Sitakant Mahapatra, formed under the NDA government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, recommended adding Kodava Takk to the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution along with 37 other languages.
This recommendation gained further impetus when senior MP BK Hariprasad introduced a private member’s bill in 2016-17 seeking inclusion of both Kodava Takk and Tulu in the Eighth Schedule. During the debate, the then Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju reportedly assured Parliament that the government would incorporate the 38 languages named by the Mahapatra committee.
More recently, the Karnataka government has initiated proposals to recommend Kodava Takk, Tulu and Banjara for inclusion in the Eighth Schedule, a move the CNC found encouraging. In the recently concluded assembly session, lawmakers from the Tulu-speaking coastal zone, particularly Puttur MLA Ashok Rai, pushed for official status for Tulu. Kannada and Culture Minister Shivaraj Tangadagi responded positively in the House. The CNC expressed its gratitude but insisted that the same level of urgency and political will must be applied to Kodava Takk.
The council pointed to clear precedents. In November 2018, the HD Kumaraswamy government declared Konkani a state minority language; in 1994, the Veerappa Moily administration created academies to promote Kodava, Tulu and Konkani; and in 1992, under the central government of PV Narasimha Rao, Konkani was added to the eighth national level syllabus and later became the official language of Goa.
Despite these examples, the CNC noted that Tulu enjoys representation in the Karnataka and Maharashtra assemblies as well as in Parliament, while Kodava representation remains limited in the state legislature and absent at the national level. The Kodava community, though small in number, once ruled an independent and economically self-sufficient ‘C’ state until its merger with Mysore (now Karnataka) in 1956 under the States Reorganization Act.
The Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court’s December 2023 ruling on the special status of Jammu and Kashmir referred to Kodagu’s historic economic self-sufficiency as a relevant example. CNC maintained that post-merger policies have gradually marginalized Kodava aspirations through assimilation measures, amounting to linguistic suppression.
The council drew a cautionary parallel to Sri Lanka’s “Sinhala Only Act” of 1956, which declared Sinhala the only official language, sidelining Tamil speakers and fueling ethnic conflict. The leader of the opposition, Dr. Colvin R. de Silva, made his famous warning: “Do we want one free Ceylon or two Ceylons? One language, two nations; two languages, one nation.” The CNC warned that similar majoritarian approaches in Karnataka could endanger smaller linguistic communities like the Kodavas.
According to the CNC, UNESCO classified Kodava Takk as critically endangered in 2009, including it among approximately 180 threatened indigenous languages worldwide. For the past 36 years, CNC has sought recognition through peaceful and persistent advocacy.
The letter, signed by NU Nachappa Codava, a lawyer and president of the Codava National Council, concluded with an urgent appeal to the President of India, Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly R Ashok, Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, Legal Adviser to the Chief Minister AS Ponnanna, former Leader of Opposition BK Hariprasad and Madikeri MLA Mantar Gowda, to to take decisive measures to protect and promote Kodava Takk as an official
state language.