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Early Tamil EpigraphyFrom the Earliest Times to the 6th

Century ADBy

Iravatham Mahadevan---

An Overview byS. Swaminathan

Early Tamil EpigraphyFrom the Earliest Times to the 6th Century

ADBy

Iravatham Mahadevan---

Published by Cre-A, India

&Harvard University, USA

2003

The book deals with development of two scripts of Tamil:Tamil-Brahmi and Early VaTTezhuttu

covering a period from the 3rd century BC till the 6th century

AD.

First, let me provide some background

information regarding the scripts discussed in the book

in order to follow ‘My Overview’

Brahmi, Tamil Brahmi,

VaTTezhuttu, Tamil and

Grantha

We would come across with five scripts in the book:

Short description of these scripts follows.

Brahmi is an ancient script of India.

The earliest writing in Brahmi is found in the edicts of Asoka dated to the 3rd

century BC. Brahmi is a general term and

there existed a number of regional variations, like Southern Brahmi, Sinhala-Brahmi etc.

Brahmi

Brahmi is the script from which

all other native Indian scripts,except the Harappan,

are derived.

BrahmiMother script of Indian Languages

Development of the letter N (ண)

in all Indian languages

starting from Brahmi, It may be noted

how the characters change drastically

over the centuries!

Development of latter k (க) inDevanagari, Tamil and other south Indian Scripts

BC-AD

Development of vowels of Tamilfrom Early Tamil-Brahmi

Developmentof consonants

of Tamilfrom

Early Tamil-Brahmi

Pallava Grantha, a derivative of Brahmi,

a script developed to writeSanskrit in the Tamil

countrywas the inspiration to most of the Asian scripts.

This happened through the political and the cultural

conquest by the Indian rulers starting from the Pallava-s

BrahmiMother script of many Asian

Languages

Development ofletter k (க)for the languages ofJava,SumatraBorneo, Thai,Laos,Khmer,Combodia, Vietnam, etcfrom the Grantha script

Tamil-Brahmi is the name of the script

in which the earliest inscriptionsin Tamil are found.

Tamil-Brahmi

Let us see how Tamil-Brahmi looks like

நா ழ û கெகா ü ற ó த ö ப [ளி] ö

The hermitage (is the gift) of koRRantai of nAzhaL

Tamil-Brahmi inscriptionKudumiyanmalai, 3rd century AD

VaTTezhuttu, a cursive style,

was derived from Tamil-Brahmi, andwas current all over the Tamil country

from the 5th century AD.

VaTTezhuttu

Tamil script that came into use from the 7th century displaced VaTTezhuttu. With the ascendancy of the Chozhas, and

the displacement was total by 13th century.However the script lingered on till the 19th century

in Kerala for writing Malayalam.

VaTTezhuttu

The Pulankurichchi inscriptions (5th century) are the earliest.

A number of hero-stones in the Dharmapuri district

have been found inscribed in Early VaTTezhuttu.

VaTTezhuttu

Let us see a specimen of VaTTEzhttu

ஐ ம் ப த் தேத ழ னai m pa t tE zha na

ச ன ந் தேநா ற் றca na n nO R Ra

ச ந் தி ர ந ந் திஆca na ti ra na n ti A

சி ரி க ரு நி சீ திகைகci ri ka ru ni cI ti kai ஐம்பத்தேதழு நாட்கள் உண்ணா §¿¡ýÒ

தேநாற்ற சந்திரநந்தி ஆசிரிகரு தவம் கெசய்த இடம்

The seat of penance of chantiramanti Acirikaru, who observed the fast (unto death) for fifty-seven days

Vattezhuttu inscriptionThirunatharkunru, 6th century AD

The Pallava rulers created the Tamil script out of the Grantha script by the 7th century,

adding necessary additional letters from VaTTezhuttu.

Tamil Script

This is the view of Mahadevan, and is not shared by some.

There are (according to Mahadevan) no inscriptions in the Tamil script before Mahendra Pallavan I (7th century

AD).

Tamil Script

There was a steep increase in inscriptions in Tamil

from the 9th century onwards.The classical phase of Tamil script starts

with the ascendancy of the Chozha-s from the middle of the 9th century.

From the 11th century onwards this became the main script for Tamilthroughout the Tamil country.

Tamil Script

Here is an example of Tamil script in the early stages

ŠவŠ ‚ தி கேகாô பரகேகசரி ப÷மsvatiShrI kOpparakEsari parma÷Ì யாñÎ 34 இவாñÎ கானRku yANdu 34 ivANDu kAnaநாðÎ Óனியóதைதì ÌளòÐnATTu muniyantaik kuLattuìÌ மó திரி ஆîசý ã÷ò தி அðÊKku manthiri Accan mUrti aTTi

ன காÍ 2 இரñÎ காசா ஒÕ காசாøNa kAcu 2 iraNDu kAcA oru kAcAl

Tamil inscription Parantaka Chozha, 10th century AD

In the 34th year of Parantaka Chozha, Achchan mUrti, a minister,has given 2 kasu-s for the renovation of the lake

Grantha, was derived from the Southern Brahmi script

of Prakrit characters by the Pallava-s (6th century AD)

to write Sanskrit in the Tamil country.

Grantha Script

Let us see how Grantha script then looked like.

²¾¾3É¢‰¼Áò3ÕÁÁ§Ä¡EtadanishTamadrumamalO†Á…¤¾4õ Å¢º¢òÃº¢ò§¾¿Hamasudham vicitracittEna¿¢÷Á¡À¢¾óÕ§À½ô3Ã‹§ÁnirmApitanRpRNabrahmE‰ÅÃÅ¢‰ÏÄì„¢¾¡Â¾¿õShvaravishNulakshitAyatanam

Grantha inscriptionMahendra Pallava, 7th century AD

The (cave) temple dedicated to Brahma, Siva and Vishnu was excavated by Vichitrachitta (Mahendra Pallava)

without using brick, timber, metal and mortar.

Discovery of inscriptions in the Tamil country has been

eventful

Discovery

Till the end of the 19th century only two scripts were known:

VaTTezhuttu of the Pandiya-s belonging to 8th century and

Tamil of the Pallava-s dated the 7th century

It was wondered why there should be two scripts for one language.

But their descent from Brahmi was inferred.

Discovery

The complete absence of written record of a great literary civilization of 2000 years vintage

was a puzzle.

This was solved when cave inscriptions, resembling closely the script of Asokan edicts, were found in Tamilnadu

around the end of the 19th century.

Discovery

The earliest finding of cave inscription is of Mangulamby Robert Sewell in 1882.

This is not only oldest finding, it is oldest lithic record in Tamilnadu andit is also of great historical significance.

Discovery

And a host of discoveries followed.

Until middle of the last century cave inscriptions were the only source

of early Tamil writing. Then it was presumed that Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions were

caused to be inscribed by Jaina and Buddhist monks who were not conversant with Tamil, and that these inscriptions did not represent

language of the day.

Discovery

With the finding of inscribed pottery in Arikkamedu during 1941-44 and later from many other sites

the view has changed.

Discovery

The pottery inscriptions made it possible to date inscriptions more accurately.

It looks that inscribing on pottery was given up after the 3rd century AD.

Discovery

Deciphering, the Tamil-Brahmi script

DecipheringDifficulties

Deciphering cave inscriptions posed a number of problems:Most of the inscriptions were in inaccessible locationsInscriptions were not bold and clearLanguage was mistaken for PrakritClues to a correct understanding of the script

were not found.

1906: Venkayya identified the script to be Brahmi.But he thought that the language was Pali.He read a line in Mettuppatti as anatai ariya,

attempted to seek Vedic roots for the words.

1914: Krishna Sastri attempted to readthe bold Sittannavasal inscription.

DecipheringMilestones


1919: Krishna Sastrifirst noted purely southern charactaristics, like

the occurrences of letter L [ள]which was identified earlier in Simhala-Brahmi.He also identified the presence of

three unusual characters,later identified as zh [ழ], R [ற] and n [ன].

He was the first to feel that some of the consonants must be basic (கெ$மö).


1924: KV Subramania Iyer pointed out the powerful misguiding factor that what was written in Brahmi must be in

Prakrit.


1924: KV Subramania Iyer found:- Soft consonants ( ग ज ड द ब) were absent

- sa (ஸ, स ) was occasionally used; but Sh (º, श) and sh (ஷ, ष) were absent.

- All vowels except ai , au, Ri (ऋ), Lr (ऌ), M (अ)ं and H (अः)

were used- Conjunct consonants (Üðகெ$டØòÐ)

were absent completely


1924: KV Subramania Iyer ruled out Indo-European language

and proved it is Tamil.He demonstrated convincingly presence of

Tamil grammatical elementslike pAkan (À¡¸ý), vaNikan (Å½¢¸ý), etc


1924: KV Subramania Iyer could not still read correctly because of his incorrect orthography (spelling),his overestimation of the Prakrit elements, etc


1938-9: Narayana Rao tried to put the clock back.He felt that the language was Prakrit,

and actually read the inscriptions fully!


1961: KG Krishnan identified pulli (ÒûÇ$ி), a device introduced ‘later’ to mark

the basic consonants (கெ$மö ±ØòÐ) and the short e (±) and o (´) vowels.

Later pulli was also identified in the 2nd century AD silver coin

of Satakarni.


1964: Kamil Zwelebil published the first formal study of cave inscriptions.

1967: TV Mahalingam published the first book-lengthstudy of cave inscriptions.

DecipheringMahadevan’s attempts

1961: Mahadevan took up study of inscriptions1962-66: First round of visits to the caves1966: Corpus of 74 Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions and

2 Early VaTTezhuttu inscriptionsfrom 21 sites published

1987: Mahadevan proposed a tentative model 1991-96: Second field expedition

2003: Publication of ‘Early Tamil Epigraphy’

DecipheringMahadevan’s attempts

Mahadevan made field visits to the sites andprepared tracings direct from stones

andmade use of computer enhancement of

photos.He made chronological classification.

Let us have a look at some important inscriptions

Mangulam inscription was discovered by Robert Sewell in 1882, and was rediscovered

by KV Subramania Iyer in 1906

Mangulam inscription

This Tamil-Brahmi inscription is important, becausethis is the earliest inscription to be found andin this inscription Nedunchezhiyan,

a Sangam king, is mentioned.


The inscription is in Tamil-Brahmi and is dated to the 2nd century BC


A line from the inscription is given to compare the Tamil script 2000 years ago

with the present day script.

க ணி ய் ந ந் த அ ஸி ரி ய் இka Ni y na n ta a si ri y i

It may be noted that a non-Tamil letter s (ஸ) is used


The text of the inscription is given along

with meaning in present day Tamil கணிய் நந்தஅஸிரிய்இ குவ்அன்தேக த3 ம்மம் இத்தாஅகெநடுஞ்சழியன்kaNiy nanta’asiriy’I kuv’ankE dammam ittA’a neTuncazhiyan

பணஅன் கடல்அன்வழுத்திய் கெகாட்டுபித்தஅ பளிஇய்paNa’an kaDal’an vazhuttiy koTuppitta’a paLiy


குரு நந்தஸிரி குவனுக்கு தர்மம் இது; கெநடுஞ்கெசழியனின்

பணியாள் கடலன் வழுதி கெசய்தளிக்கப்பட்டபடுக்கைக

This is the charity to nanta-siri kuvan, the kaNi; the bed was caused to be carved by kaTalan vazhuti, the servant of neTunchezhian.

Edakkal inscriptionInscription in Edakkal, Kerala

was discovered by Fawcett in 1894. He made careful drawing and took photos and

submitted to Hultzsch. Hultzsch took estampages and

published a brief note to Fawcett. Fawcett published a paper in 1901.

Hultzsch made an attempt to decipher, but could not.

For a century no further was action taken

Mahadevan made two expeditions in 1995 and 1996. Unfortunately, these Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions

have been obliterated due to graffiti by tourists

Edakkal inscription

During the 1996 expedition, Mahadevan found two other Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions

dated to the 3rd century AD.In one of them there was a mention of

kaTummiputa chEra, a ChEra king.This is also another important inscription

for it belongs to the age of a Sangam king

Edakkal inscription

In Pugalur, near Karur, the ancient Chera capitala number of inscriptions were discovered.

One of them is important for it is a record of a Chera king of the Irumporai line

which ruled from Karur in the Sangam age.

Pugalur inscription

Pugalur inscription

Ó தா அமñணý யாüê÷ கெசíகாயபý உகைறömutA amaNNan yARRUr senkAyapan uRaiy

தேகா ஆதý கெசøலிÕõ கெபாகைற மகýkO Atan cellirumpoRai makanகெபÕíகÎíதேகாý மகý{இ}ளíperunkaTunkOn makan (i)LanகÎíதேகா{இ}ளí தேகா ஆக அÚò த கøkaTunkO(i)LankO Aka aRutta kal

The text of the inscription

The abode of the senior Jaina monk, senkAyapan of yARRUr. The rock (shelter) was carved

when (i)LankaTunkO, the son of perunkaTunkOn,

the son of King Atan sel irumpoRai, became the heir apparent.

Pugalur inscription

The meaning of the inscription

Inscription in Jambai, in Villuppuram district,is one among the most outstanding discoveries.

Dated to the 1st century AD the inscription records the grant of a cave shelter

by atiyan neTumAn anchi, identified as the famous chieftain of Takatur

(modern Dharmapuri), celebrated in Purananuru.

Jamabai inscription

ஸதியÒ தேதா அதியó கெநÎமாó அï சி ஈò த பÇ$ிsatiyaputO atiyan neTumAn anci Itta paLi

Jamabai inscription

The hermitage was given by atiyamaAn neTumAn añchi, the satiyaputta

The text of the inscription is given along

with its meaning

Atiyan neTumAn anchi, has the title of satiyapitO;a title found in the Second Rock edict of Asoka

along with Cheras, Chozhas and Pandyas, thus establishing conclusively Asoka’s connection

with the Tamil country.

Jamabai inscription

The identification of Satiyaputo with with Atiyaman was on the linguistic grounds by Sesha Iyer and

improved upon by Burrow.

Jamabai inscription

According to Burrow the developments are: satiya [ஸதிய] to atiya [அதிய]

(with the loss of the initial consonant), and

putO [Òதேதா] meaning ‘son’ [makan, மகý] then makan [மகý] to mAn [மாý]like chEramAn [தே$ºÃÁ$ாý]corresponding to kEraLaputO

[தே$கÃÇÒதே$தா].

Jamabai inscription

Now let us go through the contents of the book

Mahadevan’s book deals with Early Tamil-Brahmi

(2nd century BC to 1st century AD)Late Tamil Brahmi

(2nd to 4th centuries AD)Early Vattezhuththu

(5th & 6th centuries AD)and does not include

Later Vattezhuththu and Tamil (both from 7th century AD)

Mahadevan’s Book

Part One: Early Tamil InscriptionsPart Two: Studies in Early Tamil EpigraphyPart Three: Corpus of Early Tamil Inscriptions

Mahadevan’s BookContents

Part OneEarly Tamil Inscriptions

Discovering cave inscriptions have been uneven andthe book discusses important discoveries.

The contemporary inscriptions on potteries, coins, seals and rings are included in the appendix to this chapter.

Chapter 1 Discovery

The exciting story of deciphering is a very important chapter.The early attempts like the path-breaking paper by

KV Subramania Iyer in 1924,and the discovery of pulli, and important researches from 1970,

including Mahadevan’s work, and finally, a chronology of Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions that includes pottery and other inscriptions.

Chapter 2 Decipherment

This chapter discusses the unsolved problem of the language of the cave inscriptions:

how much and what kind of Tamil,explains the Dravidian and Indo-Aryan elements

Chapter 3Language

The chapter shows how cave inscriptions portray life in early Tamil society:state and administration;religion, particularly Jainism;society – agriculture, trade, professions,

social organisations, personal names,place names, flora & fauna and culture

Chapter 4Polity

Review of earlier theories,listing evidences to support his theory of origin of Tamil-Brahmi from Brahmi

supported by 8 palaeographic ChartsBrief discussion on other Brahmi variants.

Chapter 5 Palaeography (Study of ancient

writing)

Detailed discussion on palaeography of Tamil-Brahmi and early VaTTezhuttu:

vowels, consonants, the pulli, numeralspunctuation, symbols used in caves

Short discussion on evolution of VaTTezhuttuNotes on emergence of Tamil script

Chapter 5Palaeography (Study of ancient

writing)

The most important chapter.Different orthographic models studied,

especially for denoting medial vowels,which among other things, provides insight

into the relationship of Tamil-Brahmi and other Brahmi variants and

their relative chronology

Chapter 6Orthography (Study of spelling)

Orthographic peculiarities of inscriptionsEvolution of alternate models:

Tamil-Brahmi I, II and IIIMedial vowel notations

in cave and pottery inscriptionsAssimilation of loan-wordsVoicing of consonants

Chapter 6Orthography (Study of spelling)

Phonology (study of sounds) with detailed inventory ofvowels, consonants and consonant-vowelsand sound variations,

Morphophonemics, study of changes that occur, during Sandhi etc,

Morphology (study of forms of changes of words)in early Tamil and

Syntax (arrangement of words in a sentence)

Chapter 7Grammar

Part TwoCorpus of Early Tamil Inscriptions

Corpus of Early Tamil InscriptionsContents

InscriptionsEarly and late Tamil-BrahmiEarly vattazhuttuTracings and estampages

Commentary

Corpus of Early Tamil InscriptionsInscriptions

This is an authoritative Corpus for researchers.

110 inscriptions from 52 sitesarranged chronologically,with text containingLiteral transcript as engraved on stone,Text organised into words, Translation into English, Essential data specific to individual inscriptions,Date, Publication and most importantly, Notes

Part ThreeCorpus of Early Tamil

Inscriptions Commentary on Inscriptions

A detailed word-by-word study of inscriptions,with a view to situate them

in the main stream of Indian epigraphy:deals with

Meaning, literal and interpretationGrammatical notesCitations from literary and inscriptional parallelsLoan wordsContents, relating to the development of

Tamil language and society

Commentary on Inscriptions

Let us follow some important discussions

Many Asokan edicts are in Prakrit and the script is Brahmi.

This Brahmi script cannot be used directly for Tamil,because there are no symbolsto represent basic consonants and

short e and o

Different Requirements of Prakrit and Tamil

At least three different methods Tamil-Brahmi I, II and III were triedfor medial vowel notation, that is,to represent

basic consonants like (ì), consonants with medial –a, like (¸) and –A, like (¸$ா).

Attempts to adapt Brahmi for Tamil

Pulli came to be used in Tamil-Brahmi lateras a negative vowel markerto provide what the parent Brahmi script lacked.

to represent basic consonants (ì), andto represent short e (±) and o (´).

Pulli in Tamil-Brahmi

Pulli occurs only from the 2nd century AD onwardsBut it is seldom found in the pottery inscriptions.Even later, it was avoided in palm leaf writing

Pulli in Tamil-Brahmi

A short summary of Mahadevan’s findings

According to Mahadevan there were three stages of development of medial vowel notation

Tamil-Brahmi I - 2nd century BC to 1st century BCTamil-Brahmi II - 1st century BC to 5th century ADTamil-Brahmi III - 2nd century AD to 6th century AD

Mahadevan’s findingsStages of Development

The figure that follows attempts to show,through an example, the basic consonants and medial vowel notations

as depicted in these stages.Possible ambiguity is indicated by

pointing out alternate readings.


Mahadevan’s findingsStages of Developmentº$ாதந

cannot write சாதó

சாதóAlternatereadingsசதóசாதóசதாóசாதாó

சாதóAlternatereadingsசாòநசாòóசாதந

சாதóNo

alternatereading


In the light of finding TB-II style of writingin the Arikamedu potteries dated to 2nd century BC,

Mahadevan is expresses his inability to explain how‘two parallel, mutually exclusive, competing systems’ appear at the same time, andwithin a small, homogenous linguistic community’.


Since most of the Early Brahmi inscriptions are found near Madurai,Tamil-Brahmi script must have been created

in the Pandya kingdom around the end of 3rd century BC,

and then spread to other parts of the Tamil country

Mahadevan’s findingsLanguage

The language is Old Tamil, not materially different from

the language of later Tamil inscriptions or even literary texts,

in its basic phonological, morphological and syntactical features.

Mahadevan’s findingsLanguage

All loan-words are nouns.Most of the loan-words are adapted

to the Tamil phonetic pattern:gaNaka to kaNakagOpa to kOpanrAjA to irAsardAnam to tAnam adhiTThAna to atiTTAnam

The earliest Tamil inscriptions are from 3rd century BC, whereas of Kannada-Telugu appear 8 centuries later.

Sangam literature is dated to the beginning of Christian era while literature of Kannada and Telugu

appear a millennium later.

Mahadevan’s findingsComparison with Situation in Upper

South India

The earliest inscriptions in the Tamil country are almost exclusively in Tamil.

In contrast, for the same period, inscriptions in stone, seals, pottery etc,

in the Upper South India are exclusively in Prakrit.

Mahadevan’s findingsComparison with Situation in Upper

South India

Literacy in the Tamil countrywhen compared with the situation

in contemporary Upper South India,commenced much earlier.

Tamil, the local language, was used for all purposes from the beginning; democratic character in society existed.

Mahadevan’s findingsWidespread literacy in Tamilnadu

Literacy in the Tamil Countryseems to have been widespread in all the regions in the Tamil country, both in urban and rural areas,

in all strata of Tamil society. Primary evidence for this comes from

inscribed pottery.


A number of reasons are contributed to this:In Upper South India the spoken languages

were Kannada and Telugu, but Prakrit was the language of the rulers.

But the Tamil country was politically independent and

the rulers were Tamils.


It had the presence of a strong bardic traditionPriestly hierarchy that could have vested interest

in maintaining oral tradition or discouraging writing after its advent

was not present


A strong tradition of local autonomy, through self-governing villages councils and

merchant guilds.The spread of Jainism and Buddhism and

extensive foreign trade.


Tamil-Brahmi was derived from Brahmi:All but 4 of the 26 letters in Tamil-Brahmi are

identical or nearly so with the corresponding Brahmi letter and

have the same phonetic value.

Mahadevan’s findingsOrigin of Tamil-Brahmi

Vowels

Brahmi

Tamil-Brahmi

Brahmi Tamil-Brahmi

Consonants

Medial vowel signs are identical along with phonetic values.

Brahmi

Tamil-Brahmi

Medial vowel signs

The additional letters, zh, ழL, ள R ற and n னwere adapted from letters with the nearest phonetic

value in Brahmi.

Development of additional letters

ழ

ள

ற

ன

ड

ल

ट

न

Development of additional letters

Mahadevan’s findingsEvolution and Chronology of South

Indian Scripts 3rd century BC

2nd century BC

1st century BC

5th century AD

6th century AD

7th century AD

14th century AD

Tolkappiyam places the four letters zh [ழ], L [ள],R [ற] and n [ன]at the end of the series of stops, nasals and liquids.

This arrangement deviates from the order based on articulatory phonetics.

This small, but significant detail, indicates that the four special letters were originally regarded as additions to the alphabet taken from Brahmi.

Mahadevan’s findingsOrigin of Tamil-Brahmi

Possible issues for discussion in the future

Mu Va (1972) says thatthe Tamils used a script of their own, and

Tamil-Brahmi has developed under the influence of VaTTezhuttu.

TN Subramanian (1957), KG Krishnan (1981)and a few others argue

that Brahmi was a Tamil creation, andcame to be adapted all over Indiawith regional modifications.

Mahadevan says Tamil-Brahmi is a derivative of Brahmi.

IssuesWhich came first – Brahmi or Tamil-

Brahmi?

Mayilai Seeni Venkatasamy (1981) says thatthere was one in which classical works were written andwas supplanted by Tamil-Brahmi.

Mahadevan says that Tamil was not written before.

Issues Was there a script for Tamil before?

Mayilai Seeni Venkatasamy (1981) says the inscriptions are full of errors engraved by people with inadequate knowledge of

Tamil.

Issues What kind of Tamil?

Mahadevan says it is Old Tamil,not very different from contemporary literary Tamil.

Mahadevan says thatTolkappiyam must have been composed

not earlier than 2nd century ADfor it describes the use of puLLi

to denote basic consonants, andto denote short vowels e and o

Issues Dating Tolkappiyam

Today we write murukan and read it as murugank is called unvoiced and g as voiced.

The present use follows Caldwell law of convertibility:It is K in the beginning (KaN) and

when doubled (makkaL), and it is G when it occurs in the middle (murugan) or

follows the nasal consonant (mangai)There has been controversy whether

in the past also it was so in the past too.

Issues Voicing in Tamil

One view is: Voicing existed from the beginning

from the pre-Tamil stage.It is present in all Dravidian languages.Hence must have existed in early Tamil also

but not provided for in the spelling.Originators were aware

of the principle of phoneme, and did not feel necessary to borrow

voiced consonants from Brahmi.


Mahadevan saysThere was no voicing in Tamil, in early Tamil. If voicing was present the adaptors of the script

for Tamil from Brahmi would have borrowed the corresponding letter.


Mahadevan continues:Even in the loanwords from Prakrit

voicing has been systematically replaced by the corresponding unvoiced consonants like,

kaNi (PKT: gani), utayana (PKT: udayana), nanta (PKT: nanda), kiTumpikan (PKT: kuTumbika) etc.


Mahadevan continues:There is negative evidence in Tolkappiyam,

which devotes a whole chapter to articulatory phonetics (±Øòதததிகாரõ - பிறôபியø)

would have dealt with voicing if the feature was present in the language.


Mahadevan does not discuss

The origin of Brahmi.His research on the Indus script and

the possibility of Brahmi originating from it.Effect of writing medium and tools

on the development of scripts.Reason for the disappearance of VaTTezhuttu.

Now the stage is set for a serious studyof the development of Tamil scripts.

Thank you

S. Swaminathan

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