Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c8.s3.t2.18

c8.s3.t2.18

(10) The Dravidian *ṟa* (plate VII, 45, XV, XVIII; 46, XVI; plate VIII, 47, II, III) [66] and *ḻa* (plate VII, 46, XV, XVIII; plate VIII, 49, II, V), which first appear in the 7th century. The first of them, *ṟa*, may possibly represent two round *ra*, and *ḻa* may be a modification of a *la* like that in plate VII, 40, XIV, XVI. The occurrence of these signs proves that the Kanarese language had a literature already in the 7th century.