Passive sentences in Classical (Old) Tamil, Old Kannada and Old Telugu

[Radhakrishna Warrier]

See the following sentences in Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada:

1. രാമൻ രാവണനെ കൊന്നു.

Rāmaṉ Rāvaṇaṉe konnu

 2. രാവണൻ രാമനാൽ കൊല്ലപ്പെട്ടു

Rāvaṇaṉ Rāmaṉāl kollappeṭṭu.

1. இராமன் இராவணனை கொன்றான்

Irāmaṉ irāvaṇaṉai koṉṟāṉ

2. இராவணன் இராமனால் கொல்லப்பட்டான்

Irāvaṇaṉ Irāmaṉāl kollappaṭṭāṉ

1. ರಾಮನು ರಾವಣನನ್ನು ಕೊಂದನು

Rāmanu rāvaṇanannu kondanu

2. ರಾವಣನು ರಾಮನಿಂದ ಕೊಲ್ಲಲ್ಪಟ್ಟನು

Rāvaṇanu rāmaninda kollalpaṭṭanu

The first sentence in each language is active - Rama killed Ravana.  The second sentence is passive - Ravana was killed by Rama.  In all these three languages, the passive is formed with the help of the auxiliary verb peṭu / paṭu which I believe has the meaning “to happen”, and the Sanskrit equivalent could be “bhava”.

(konnu-kollappeṭṭu, koṉṟāṉ-kollappaṭṭāṉ, kondanu-kollalpaṭṭanu; killed-was killed.)

I don’t know how passive is constructed in Telugu.  Perhaps Telugu too would have an equivalent of peṭu / paṭu. 

My suspicion is that passive is not natural to languages of the Dravidian family.  Perhaps the passive came about because of the influence of Sanskrit.  In modern times, Malayalam has a good amount of artificial passive sentences because journalists attempt literal translation of English.   For example, they tend to translate “10 people killed in floods” as “praḷayattil pattu pēr kollappeṭṭu”, instead of the more natural “pralayattil pattu pēr mariccu”.

My question is, are there examples of passive sentences used in Classical Tamil, Old Kannada and Old Telugu? Or is the passive totally absent?

Regards,

Radhakrishna Warrier