Original: Kannada has 38 million and was awarded the status of classical language in 2008 [ ], while Malayalam is considered to have begun as a dialect of old Tamil, had 33 million native speakers.
Simplified: Tamil was accorded the status of classical language by the Government of India in 2002 and had about 60 million native speakers. Kannada had 38 million, while Malayalam had 33 million native speakers.