Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c8.s1.22

c8.s1.22

The Tamil alphabet of the same districts and of the western coast of Madras (Malabar) probably is derived from a northern script, imported in the 4th or 5th century, but greatly modified by the influence of the Grantha. A cursive variety of the Tamil alphabet is found in the Vaṭṭeḷuttu (the "round-hand," Burnell) or Cera-Pāṇḍya (Hultzsch),² which is known through inscriptions from the western coast and the extreme south of the -Peninsula, and according to Burnell [**61**] has fallen into disuse only in recent times.³ Though these two alphabets come from a different source, they have been included in this chapter, because they occur in the same districts as the other five.