Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c21.s13.2

c21.s13.2

This is a Tamil version of the texts of the Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions (included in the *Corpus 1966*) with brief comments suggesting modifications in some of the readings and interpretations.² In particular, his reading and interpretation of the Arachalur musical inscriptions have superseded the earlier unsuccessful attempts by Mahalingam and myself.³ Another major improvement is the correction of my reading *mātavirai* 'great (Buddhist) nun' to *mātatirai* (> *matirai*) 'the city of Madurai', in an inscription from Alagarmalai, restoring the earlier reading by Krishna Sastri and interpretations by Subrahmanya Aiyer and Mahalingam.⁴ This is an important correction as it has done away with the only substantial evidence for associating the cave with the Buddhist faith. Nagaswamy also agreed with Mahalingam in reading *ivakuṉṟa-* 'elephant hill' in the Anaimalai cave inscription.⁵ He drew my attention to the occurrence of the *puḷḷi* in the stone-bed inscriptions at Pugalur.⁶ Another significant improvement due to Nagaswamy is the revised reading *perunta(c)caṉ* 'master mason' in the Early Vaṭṭeḻuttu inscription at Pillaiyarpatti, confirming that the excavation of the rock-cut shrine and the engraving of the inscription were coeval.⁷ This has helped in dating Pillaiyarpatti, the earliest of the rock-cut shrines in the Pāṇṭiya country, in the 6th century A.D. on palaeographic evidence. I have incorporated these and a few other minor improvements suggested by Nagaswamy in the present *Corpus*.