Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c20.s8.t6.7

c20.s8.t6.7

I visited the site in October 1995 with an expert team⁸ to study the inscription *in situ*. Unfortunately, the water level in the stream was high; the lower line with just two characters was submerged (Fig. 1.18), but could be made out as the water was crystal-clear. The inscription is in Tamil written in the Early Vaṭṭeluttu characters of about the 5th century a.d. It records the existence of a dam (*aṇa*) across the stream at the place called Mācakōṭu.¹