Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c20.s15.4

c20.s15.4

The appended catalogues of coins, seals, and rings with Tamil-Brāhmī legends (Tables 1.6 to 1.8 respectively) provide a brief description of the inscribed objects, references to the sources and also to the sections in this volume where they are discussed further in the context of the stone inscriptions. As the present study relates to epigraphy, the emphasis is on the palaeographic, orthographic and linguistic features of the inscriptions. Other numismatic data relating to the symbols and physical measurements and specifications will be found in the references cited in the Tables. Most of the legends are in Tamil written in Tamil-Brāhmī. A few of the legends are in Prakrit, and the legend on a unique gold ring from Karur (No. 11 in Table 1.8) appears to be in Pāli; in these cases the script is Southern Brāhmī. Select inscribed objects with Tamil-Brāhmī legends are illustrated in Figs. 1.22 to 1.24.