Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c20.s16.1

c20.s16.1

An Indo-Japanese archaeological team led by Noboru Karashima toured Thailand in 1992-93. They visited a local museum in the ancient port city of Khuan Luk Pat on the Klong Thom river in the west coast of southern Thailand. There they saw a small oblong piece of polished stone inscribed in Tamil-Brāhmī with the legend *perum pataṉ kal* 'the (touch) stone of Perumpattaṉ'.¹ As *pattaṉ* in Tamil means a 'goldsmith', the inscribed stone has been identified as a touchstone (*uraikal*) for testing the fineness of gold. The inscription has been dated to ca. 3rd or 4th century A.D. on palaeographic evidence. This is one of the earliest Tamil inscriptions from South-east Asia attesting to the overseas trade of the Tamils with the Far East in ancient times.