Answer grom AI

Proto-Dravidian (~4500 years ago)

|

|------ Tulu branch separated (~1500 BCE) ← FIRST to diverge

|

|------ Tamil-Kannada branch

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|-- Tamil (oldest written record, ~300 BCE)

|-- Kannada (diverged ~300 BCE, inscriptions 450 CE)

|-- Malayalam (branched from Tamil ~9th century CE)

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|------ Telugu (South-Central branch, diverged ~2400 years ago)