Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c20.s5: 1.5 Revival of interest: fresh copying of inscriptions (1961-80)
Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c20.s5
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1.5 Revival of interest: fresh copying of inscriptions (1961-80)
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There was a revival of interest in the cave inscriptions in the sixties of the last century when the Government Epigraphist undertook fresh copying of the inscriptions discovered earlier.⁴ The exercise resulted in the discovery of eight additional cave inscriptions from five sites already known.⁵ Further, six new sites with a total of nine cave inscriptions,⁶ and two more inscriptions, one each from the earlier sites ⁷ of Kunnakkudi and Vikkiramangalam, were also discovered during this period by scholars outside the ASI.¹ Four of the inscriptions were illustrated with estampages in the *ARE* of the respective years.² While only very few inscriptions were discovered during this period (1961-80), much progress was made in reading and interpreting the inscriptions.³
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⁴ Unknowingly, I had a small part to play in this development. At my request, K. A. Nilakanta Sastri, the renowned historian, obtained a set of estampages of the inscriptions from the Government Epigraphist in 1961 for me to study. I struggled with them for a few months but made no progress at all. Nilakanta Sastri advised the Government Epigraphist to copy the cave inscriptions again, which was undertaken during 1963-64 (H.K. Narasimhaswamy 1968: p. 191).
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⁵ Mangulam: *ARE* B. 242/1963-64 = *No. 4* . Muttuppatti: *ARE* B. 243/1963-64 = *No. 56*. Alagarmalai: *ARE* B. 244 & 245 / 1963-64 = *Nos. 36 & 37*. Vikkiramangalam: *ARE* B. 285 & 286/1963-64 = *Nos. 19 & 23*. Pugalur: *ARE* B.296 & 297/1963-64 = *Nos. 65 & 62* respectively.
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⁶ Arachalur: *ARE* B. 280-282 / 1961-62 = *Nos. 85-87*. Tiruvadavur: *ARE* B. 275 & 276 /1965-66 = *Nos. 9 & 8*. Aiyarmalai: *ARE* B. 231/1973-74 = *No. 50*. Arittapatti: *ARE* B. 264/1978-79 = *No. 7*. Mudalaikulam: *ARE* B. 265/1978-79 = *No. 35*. Ammankoyilpatti: *ARE* B. 258/1979-80 = *No. 84* .
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⁷ Kunnakkudi: *Corpus of the Tamil-Brāhmī Inscriptions 1966* (1968), No. 70 = *No. 75*. Vikkiramangalam: G. Siromoney and E. Jebarajan 1978 = *No. 18*.
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¹ Arachalur was discovered by M.S. Venkataswamy and S. Raju; Kunnakkudi (No. *75*) and Tiruvadavur by I. Mahadevan; Aiyarmalai by M. Chandiramurthy (TNSA); Arittapatti by K.V. Raman and Y. Subbarayalu; Vikkiramangalam and Mudalaikulam by G. Siromoney and E. Jebarajan; and Ammankoyilpatti by P.B. Venkataraman.
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² Arachalur: *ARE* 1961-62 (B.280) = No. *85*. Pugalur: *ARE* 1963-64 (B. 297) = No. *62*. Tiruvadavur: *ARE* 1965-66 (B. 276) = No. *8*. Aiyarmalai: *ARE* 1973-74 (B. 231) = No. *50*.
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³ See Chapter 2 for details.
1.5.1 Arachalur: musical notations
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The other most outstanding discovery of the period comes from Arachalur. The musical notations in the Arachalur cave inscriptions,⁴ assigned to ca. 4th century A.D. on palaeographic grounds, are the earliest epigraphic evidence for the cultivation of music and dance in the Tamil country.⁵ The inscriptions are also important from the palaeographic point of view as they mark the end of the Tamil-Brāhmī period and anticipate the emergence of the Early Vaṭṭeḻuttu script from Tamil-Brāhmī during 5th-6th centuries A.D.
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⁴ *ARE* B. 280-282 / 1961-62 = *Nos. 85-87*. See also Fig. 8.41 (tracing) and Pls. 40 & 41 (estampages).
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⁵ The interpretation was first suggested by T.N. Ramachandran (1962), with further improvements by R. Nagaswamy (1972d) and K.G. Krishnan (1973-74b).