Transcript ppt - Indian Heritage
Early Tamil Epigraphy
From the Earliest Times to the 6
th By Iravatham Mahadevan
Century AD ---
An Overview by
S. Swaminathan
Early Tamil Epigraphy
From the Earliest Times to the 6 th By Century AD Iravatham Mahadevan -- Published by Cre-A, India & Harvard University, USA 2003
development of two scripts of Tamil: Tamil-Brahmi and Early VaTTezhuttu the 3 rd The book deals with covering a period from century BC till the 6 th century AD.
First, let me provide some background information regarding the scripts discussed in the book in order to follow ‘My Overview’
We would come across with five scripts in the book: Brahmi, Tamil Brahmi, VaTTezhuttu, Tamil and Grantha Short description of these scripts follows.
Brahmi
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. like Brahmi is a general term and there existed a number of regional variations, Southern Brahmi , Sinhala-Brahmi etc.
Brahmi
Mother script of Indian Languages Brahmi is the script from which all other native Indian scripts, except the Harappan , are derived.
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 ) in Devanagari, Tamil and other south Indian Scripts
BC-AD
Development of vowels of Tamil from Early Tamil-Brahmi
Development of consonants of Tamil from Early Tamil-Brahmi
Brahmi
Mother script of many Asian Languages Pallava Grantha , a derivative of Brahmi, a script developed to write Sanskrit in the Tamil country was 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
Development of letter k ( for the languages of Java, Sumatra Borneo, Thai, Laos, Khmer,
க
Combodia, Vietnam, etc from the Grantha ) script
Tamil-Brahmi
Tamil-Brahmi is the name of the script in which the earliest inscriptions in Tamil are found.
Let us see how Tamil-Brahmi looks like
Tamil-Brahmi inscription
Kudumiyanmalai, 3 rd century AD
நா ழ
[
ளி
] ö û
ககா
ü
ற
ó
த
The hermitage (is the gift) of
koRRantai
ö
ப
of
nAzhaL
VaTTezhuttu
VaTTezhuttu
, a cursive style, was derived from Tamil-Brahmi, and was 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
. Let us see a specimen of VaTTEzhttu
Vattezhuttu inscription
Thirunatharkunru, 6th century AD
ஐ ம் ப த் தத ழ ன
ai m pa t tE zha na
ச ன ந் தநா ற் ற
ca na n nO R Ra
ச ந் தி ர ந ந் தி ஆ
ca na ti ra na n ti A
சி ரி க ரு நி சீ தி கக
§¿¡ýÒ ci ri ka ru ni cI ti kai
சந்திரநந்தி ஆசிரிகரு தவம் கசய்த இடம்
The seat of penance of
chantiramanti Acirikaru,
who observed the fast (unto death) for fifty-seven days
Tamil Script
The Pallava rulers created the Tamil script out of the Grantha adding necessary additional letters from script by the 7th century,
VaTTezhuttu
. This is the view of Mahadevan, and is not shared by some.
Tamil Script
There are (according to Mahadevan) no inscriptions in the Tamil script before Mahendra Pallavan I (7 th 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 Tamil throughout the Tamil country.
Here is an example of Tamil script in the early stages
Tamil inscription
Parantaka Chozha, 10 th century AD In the 34 th year of Parantaka Chozha, Achchan mUrti, a minister, has given 2
kasu
Š வ Š தி ‚ ககோ ô பரககசரி ப ÷ ம svatiShrI kOpparakEsari parma ÷Ì நோ ìÌ யோ ம ó ñÎ 34 ðÎ Ó னிய திரி ó இவோ தை ஆ î ñÎ கோன Rku yANdu 34 ivANDu kAna ì Ì ச ள ý ã÷ò òÐ nATTu muniyantaik kuLattu தி அ ðÊ Kku manthiri Accan mUrti aTTi ன கோ Í 2 இர ñÎ கோசோ ஒ Õ -s for the renovation of the lake
Grantha Script
Grantha by the Pallava-s (6 th , was derived from the Southern Brahmi script of Prakrit characters century AD) to write Sanskrit in the Tamil country.
Let us see how Grantha script then looked like.
Grantha inscription
Mahendra Pallava, 7 th century AD ²¾¾ 3 É¢‰¼Áò 3 ÕÁÁ§Ä¡ EtadanishTamadrumamalO †Á…¤¾ 4 õ Å¢º¢òú¢ò§¾¿ Hamasudham vicitracittEna ¿¢÷Á¡À¢¾óÕ§À½ô 3 ˧Á nirmApitanRpRNabrahmE ‰ÅÃÅ¢‰ÏÄì„¢¾¡Â¾¿õ ShvaravishNulakshitAyatanam 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 19 th 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.
Discovery
This was solved when cave inscriptions, resembling closely the script of Asokan edicts, were found in Tamilnadu around the end of the 19 th century.
Discovery
The earliest finding of cave inscription is of Mangulam by Robert Sewell in 1882.
This is not only oldest finding, it is oldest lithic record in Tamilnadu and it is also of great historical significance.
And a host of discoveries followed.
Discovery
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.
Deciphering, the Tamil-Brahmi script
Deciphering
Difficulties Deciphering cave inscriptions posed a number of problems: Most of the inscriptions were in inaccessible locations Inscriptions were not bold and clear Language was mistaken for Prakrit Clues to a correct understanding of the script were not found.
Deciphering
Milestones 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 read the bold Sittannavasal inscription.
Deciphering
Milestones 1919 : Krishna Sastri first 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 (
க ம
ö ) .
Deciphering
Milestones 1924 : KV Subramania Iyer pointed out the powerful misguiding factor that what was written in Brahmi must be in Prakrit .
Deciphering
Milestones 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 ( अं ) were used and H ( अः ) - Conjunct consonants ( Üð
க ட
ØòÐ ) were absent completely
Deciphering
Milestones 1924 : KV Subramania Iyer ruled out Indo-European language and proved it is Tamil .
He demonstrated convincingly presence of Tamil grammatical elements like pAkan ( À¡¸ý ), vaNikan ( Ž¢¸ý ), etc
Deciphering
Milestones 1924 : KV Subramania Iyer could not still read correctly because of his incorrect orthography (spelling), his overestimation of the Prakrit elements, etc
Deciphering
Milestones 1938-9 : Narayana Rao tried to put the clock back.
He felt that the language was Prakrit, and actually read the inscriptions fully !
Deciphering
Milestones 1961 : KG Krishnan identified pulli ( ÒûÇ
ி
) , a device introduced ‘later’ to mark the basic consonants ( the short e ( ± )
க ம
and ö ±ØòÐ o ( ´ ) ) and vowels.
Later
pulli
was also identified in the 2nd century AD silver coin of Satakarni.
Deciphering
Milestones 1964 : Kamil Zwelebil published the first formal study of cave inscriptions.
1967 : TV Mahalingam published the first book-length study of cave inscriptions.
Deciphering
Mahadevan’s attempts 1961 1966 : 1962-66: : 1987 : 1991-96 : Mahadevan took up study of inscriptions First round of visits to the caves Corpus of 74 Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions and 2 Early VaTTezhuttu inscriptions from 21 sites published Mahadevan proposed a tentative model Second field expedition 2003: Publication of ‘ Early Tamil Epigraphy ’
Deciphering
Mahadevan’s attempts Mahadevan made field visits to the sites and prepared tracings direct from stones and made use of computer enhancement of photos.
He made chronological classification.
Let us have a look at some important inscriptions
Mangulam inscription
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, because this is the earliest inscription to be found and in this inscription Nedunchezhiyan , a Sangam king, is mentioned.
Mangulam inscription
Mangulam inscription
The inscription is in Tamil-Brahmi and is dated to the 2 nd century BC
Mangulam inscription
A line from the inscription is given to compare the Tamil script 2000 years ago with the present day script.
க ணி ய் ய் ந ந் த அ ஸி ரி இ ka Ni y na n ta a si ri y i
It may be noted that a non-Tamil letter s (
ஸ
) is used
Mangulam inscription
The text of the inscription is given along with meaning in present day Tamil
கணிய் நந்தஅஸிரிய்இ குவ்அன்தக த
3
ம்மம் இத்தாஅ கநடுஞ்சழியன்
kaNiy nanta ’asiriy’I kuv’ankE dammam ittA’a neTuncazhiyan
பணஅன் கடல்அன் வழுத்திய் ககாட்டுபித்தஅ பளிஇய்
paNa
குரு நந்தஸிரி குவனுக்கு தர்மம் இது ; கநடுஞ்கசழியனின் பணியாள் கடலன் வழுதி கசய்தளிக்கப்பட்ட படுக்கக
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 inscription
Inscription 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
Edakkal inscription
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
Pugalur inscription
In Pugalur, near Karur, the ancient Chera capital a 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
The text of the inscription Ó
தா அம
ñ
ண
ý
யா
üê÷
கச
í
காயப
ý
உகற
ö mutA amaNNan yARRUr senkAyapan uRaiy
தகா ஆத
ý
கச
ø
லி
Õõ
கபாகற மக
ý kO Atan cellirumpoRai makan
கப
Õí
க
Îí
தகா
ý
மக
ý{
இ
}
ள
í perunkaTunkOn makan (i)Lan
க
Îí
தகா
{
இ
}
ள
í
தகா ஆக அ
Úò
த க
ø kaTunkO(i)LankO Aka aRutta kal
Pugalur inscription
The meaning 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.
Jamabai 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 (modern Dharmapuri), celebrated in Purananuru.
, identified as the famous chieftain of Takatur
Jamabai inscription
The text of the inscription is given along with its meaning
ஸதிய
Ò
ததா அதிய
ó
கந
Î
மா
ó
அ
ï
சி ஈ
ò
த ப
Ç
ி
satiyaputO atiyan neTumAn anci Itta paLi The hermitage was given by atiyamaAn neTumAn a ñchi, the satiyaputta
Jamabai inscription
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 on the linguistic grounds by Sesha Iyer and was 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 [ Ò
ததா
then like ] meaning ‘son’ makan [
மக
ý ] to [ makan,
மக
ý ] mAn [ chEramAn [
த
ºÃÁ
ா
ý ]
மா
corresponding to kEraLaputO [
த க
ÃÇÒ
த தா
] . ý ]
Now let us go through the contents of the book
Mahadevan’s 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
Contents Part One: Part Two: Early Tamil Inscriptions Studies in Early Tamil Epigraphy Part Three: Corpus of Early Tamil Inscriptions
Part One
Early Tamil Inscriptions
Chapter 1
Discovery
Discovering cave inscriptions have been uneven and the book discusses important discoveries.
The contemporary inscriptions on potteries, coins, seals and rings are included in the appendix to this chapter.
Chapter 2
Decipherment
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 3
Language
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 4
Polity
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 5
Palaeography (Study of ancient writing)
Review of earlier theories, listing evidences to support his theory of origin of Tamil-Brahmi from Brahmi supported by 8 palaeographic Charts Brief 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, numerals punctuation, symbols used in caves Short discussion on evolution of VaTTezhuttu Notes on emergence of Tamil script
Chapter 6
Orthography (Study of spelling)
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 6
Orthography (Study of spelling)
Orthographic peculiarities of inscriptions Evolution of alternate models: Tamil-Brahmi I, II and III Medial vowel notations in cave and pottery inscriptions Assimilation of loan-words Voicing of consonants
Chapter 7
Grammar
Phonology (study of sounds) with detailed inventory of vowels, consonants and consonant-vowels and sound variations, Morphophonemics that occur, during Sandhi etc, Morphology , study of changes (study of forms of changes of words) in early Tamil and Syntax (arrangement of words in a sentence)
Part Two
Corpus of Early Tamil Inscriptions
Corpus of Early Tamil Inscriptions
Contents Inscriptions Early and late Tamil-Brahmi Early vattazhuttu Tracings and estampages Commentary
Corpus of Early Tamil Inscriptions
Inscriptions 110 inscriptions from 52 sites arranged chronologically, with text containing Literal transcript as engraved on stone, Text organised into words, Translation into English, Essential data specific to individual inscriptions, Date, Publication and most importantly, Notes This is an authoritative Corpus for researchers.
Part Three
Corpus of Early Tamil Inscriptions Commentary on 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 interpretation Grammatical notes Citations from literary and inscriptional parallels Loan words Contents, relating to the development of Tamil language and society
Let us follow some important discussions
Different Requirements of Prakrit and Tamil
Many Asokan edicts are in Prakrit and the script is Brahmi.
This Brahmi script cannot be used directly for Tamil, because there are no symbols to represent basic consonants short e and o and
Attempts to adapt Brahmi for Tamil
At least three different methods Tamil-Brahmi I, II and III were tried for medial vowel notation, that is, to represent basic consonants like (
ì
), consonants with medial – a, like (
¸
) and – A, like (
¸ ா
).
Pulli in Tamil-Brahmi
Pulli
came to be used in Tamil-Brahmi later as a negative vowel marker to provide what the parent Brahmi script lacked. to represent basic consonants (
ì
) , and to represent short e (
±
) and o (
´
) .
Pulli in Tamil-Brahmi
Pulli
occurs only from the 2nd century AD onwards But it is seldom found in the pottery inscriptions.
Even later, it was avoided in palm leaf writing
A short summary of Mahadevan’s findings
Mahadevan’s findings
Stages of Development According to Mahadevan there were three stages of development of medial vowel notation Tamil-Brahmi I - 2 nd century BC to 1 st century BC Tamil-Brahmi II - 1 st century BC to 5 th century AD Tamil-Brahmi III - 2 nd century AD to 6 th century AD
Mahadevan’s findings
Stages 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.
சாத
சை சோை ó ó Alternate readings ó சைோ ó சோைோ ó
Mahadevan’s findings
Stages of Development º
ாதந
cannot write சோை ó
சாத
சோ ò ó Alternate readings ந சோ òó சோைந
சாத
ó No alternate reading
Mahadevan’s findings
Stages of Development In the light of finding TB-II style of writing in the Arikamedu potteries dated to 2 nd century BC, Mahadevan is expresses his inability to explain how ‘ two parallel, mutually exclusive, competing systems ’ appear at the same time, and within a small, homogenous linguistic community ’ .
Mahadevan’s findings
Stages of Development 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 3 rd century BC, and then spread to other parts of the Tamil country
Mahadevan’s findings
Language The language is Old Tamil , not materially different from the language of later Tamil inscriptions even literary texts , in its basic phonological , morphological and syntactical features .
or
Mahadevan’s findings
Language All loan-words are nouns.
Most of the loan-words are adapted to the Tamil phonetic pattern: gaNaka to kaNaka gOpa to kOpan rAjA to irAsar dAnam to tAnam adhiTThAna to atiTTAnam
Mahadevan’s findings
Comparison with Situation in Upper South India 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 findings
Comparison 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 findings
Widespread literacy in Tamilnadu Literacy in the Tamil country when 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 findings
Widespread literacy in Tamilnadu Literacy in the Tamil Country seems 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.
Mahadevan’s findings
Widespread literacy in Tamilnadu 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.
Mahadevan’s findings
Widespread literacy in Tamilnadu It had the presence of a strong bardic tradition Priestly hierarchy that could have vested interest in maintaining oral tradition or discouraging writing after its advent was not present
Mahadevan’s findings
Widespread literacy in Tamilnadu A strong tradition of local autonomy, through self-governing villages councils and merchant guilds.
The spread of Jainism and Buddhism and extensive foreign trade.
Mahadevan’s findings
Origin of Tamil-Brahmi 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.
Vowels
Brahmi Tamil-Brahmi
Consonants
Brahmi Tamil-Brahmi
Medial vowel signs
Medial vowel signs are identical along with phonetic values.
Brahmi Tamil-Brahmi
Development of additional letters
The additional letters, zh,
ழ
L,
ள
R n
ற ன
and were adapted from letters with the nearest phonetic value in Brahmi.
ड ल ट न
Development of additional letters
ழ ள ற ன
Mahadevan’s findings
Evolution and Chronology of South Indian Scripts
3 rd century BC 2 nd century BC 1 st century BC 5 th century AD 6 th century AD 7 th century AD 14 th century AD
Mahadevan’s findings
Origin of Tamil-Brahmi 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.
Possible issues for discussion in the future
Issues
Which came first – Brahmi or Tamil-Brahmi?
Mu Va (1972) says that the 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, and came to be adapted all over India with regional modifications. Mahadevan says Tamil-Brahmi is a derivative of Brahmi.
Issues
Was there a script for Tamil before?
Mayilai Seeni Venkatasamy (1981) says that there was one in which classical works were written and was supplanted by Tamil-Brahmi.
Mahadevan says that Tamil was not written before.
Issues
What kind of Tamil?
Mayilai Seeni Venkatasamy (1981) says the inscriptions are full of errors engraved by people with inadequate knowledge of Tamil.
Mahadevan says it is Old Tamil, not very different from contemporary literary Tamil.
Issues
Dating Tolkappiyam Mahadevan says that Tolkappiyam must have been composed not earlier than 2nd century AD for it describes the use of
puLLi
to denote basic consonants, and to denote short vowels e and o
Issues
Voicing in Tamil Today we write k murukan is called unvoiced and read it as murugan 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) follows the nasal consonant (mangai) or 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.
Issues
Voicing in Tamil Mahadevan says There 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.
Issues
Voicing in Tamil 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: kiTumpikan nanda ), (PKT: kuTumbika ) etc.
Issues
Voicing in Tamil Mahadevan continues: There is negative evidence in Tolkappiyam, which devotes a whole chapter to articulatory phonetics (±Øò
தததிகார
õ -
பிற
ô
பிய
ø ) 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 study of the development of Tamil scripts.