Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c20.s14.t9.2

c20.s14.t9.2

The population of Jaffna, Sri Lanka, has been Tamil-speaking since time immemorial and it is not surprising that Tamil-Brāhmī pottery inscriptions occur there contemporaneously with the Tamil country. Several inscribed sherds have been discovered during exploration of villages in the Poonagari region of Jaffna.⁶ One of the inscriptions reads *vēḷāṉ*, a clan name related to *vēḷ*.⁷ Most of the other sherds are too fragmentary, but the occurrence of the diagnostic Tamil-Brāhmī letters *ḻ* *ḷ* *ṟ* and *ṉ* leaves no doubt that the language of the pottery inscription is Tamil.⁸ The sherds have been tentatively assigned to ca. 2nd century B.C. pending regular excavations of the sites.