Kannada (also known as Canarese) is one among the few great living Indian literary languages that have received the status of ¿classical language¿ from the Government of India on account of their historical importance and literary richness It is spoken by roughly 65 million people and is the sole official language of the south Indian state of Karnataka. This manual was especially written for the teaching of this Dravidian language in an academic setting, but is also suitable for private self-learning.