Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c20.s3.t2.1

c20.s3.t2.1

One of the better-known early cave inscriptions in Tamil Nadu is at Sittannavasal in Pudukkottai District. A large natural cave locally known as Ēḻaṭippaṭṭam (Fig. 1.⁷) is situated near the summit along the eastern face of the hill.⁹ Inside the cave is a large and smoothly polished stone bed. A Tamil-Brāhmī inscription is deeply engraved along two adjacent edges of the bed (Fig. 1.⁸). As the stone bed is inside the cave and the characters of the inscription have been carefully smoothened, this is the best preserved of the Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions discovered so far.¹⁰