Which of the following was the first popular fruit in the Indian subcontinent? The humble jack fruit, in my opinion, was the most popular and possibly the earliest used fruit in the Indian subcontinent. The fruit was known as the ‘pela’ in Tulu, the ‘palas’ in Kannada, and the ‘phala’ in Sanskrit. Micheal Wizel (1999) concluded from a detailed analysis of the words used in Rigveda, the earliest Veda dated around 1700 BCE (early part of Rigveda), that it contains several extraneous words that do not belong to the Sanskrit word structure sensu stricto. The structure of Sanskrit words derived from Indo-European roots is distinct. The term ‘phala’ is among his extraneous words.

The extraneous Sanskrit word ‘phala’ in the Rigveda must have been derived from the Tulu words ‘pela’ or ‘pala,’ or the early Kannada word ‘palas.’ Because the borrowed Sanskrit word ‘phala’ (=fruit) stands for jack fruit, it should have been the most common fruit in those days and areas.

Both the ‘pela’ and ‘pala’ word versions are used in Tulu. The Tulu word palai (=wooden plank) is derived from the Tulu word pala or pela (=jack tree). The jack tree trunk was used to make wooden planks known as ‘palai.’

The borrowing of Tulu/ Kannada/Dravida words into Rigveda by early scholars of Vedic tribes suggests that all of these (Vedic, Tulu, and other Dravida) tribes were living together (coexisting) around 1700 BCE in the Pirak region, where early Vedas are thought to have been composed orally.