Elements of South-Indian Palæography, from the Fourth to the Seventeenth Century A.D. c5.s3.15

c5.s3.15

¹ The order I have given to the Vaṭṭeḻuttu corresponds with that of the Tamil alphabet, and is that of the Sanskritizing grammarians. There is, however, a sūtra in the Nannūl which appears to me to indicate that this was not the case when the grammarians began their labours. It runs: “*Śiṟappiṇum iṇattiṉuñ šĕrind’iṇd’ ammuḍaṇaḍattaṟāṉē muṟaiy āyum*” (ii., 18). *i. e.* “The series of letters beginning with ‘a’ (and) arranged according to their priority and relationship, is *here* their order”. iṇḍu=here (atra), *i. e.* in this grammar. If this order were the usual one, this explanation would have been unnecessary: I am unable to find any trace of this other arrangement of the Tamil alphabet. The Kuṟaḷ (i., 1) mentions ‘a’ as the first letter. The Nannūl (ii., 71) directs -ayaram for the names of consonants, -karam for short vowels, -kān for the foreign ai and au, and -kāram for the long vowels etc. This is clearly an imitation of the Sanskrit. Again the same work (ii., 43) mentions the tŏllai vaḍivu or ‘old forms’ of the letters.