The Malayalam script is a Southern Brahmic writing system primarily used to represent Malayalam, a South Dravidian language, the official language of the Indian state of Kerala, spoken by around 35 million people. It is also used to write Konkani and indigenous languages like Paniya. The script is closely related to the Tulu (Tigalari) script, and retains mutual intelligibility with it. Both are descendants of the classical Grantha script, used to write Sanskrit and Old Tamil. Two orthographies of Malayalam – traditional and reformed – exist in parallel, with differences in diacritic forms and conjunct formation rules. Read this extended article about the tradition of Malayalam script and its evolution in the face of modern technologies.