Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c21.s15.t2: 2.15.2 Special studies

Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c21.s15.t2

Language: English

2.15.2 Special studies

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The following problem-oriented studies were also undertaken by our team during this expedition.

The *puḷḷi* cannot be easily located on the rough, uneven rock surfaces. It is virtually impossible to detect the *puḷḷi* from estampages or photographs. The discovery of the *puḷḷi* in the Anaimalai cave inscription by Jebarajan and Gift Siromoney in 1978 called for a response to try and locate its possible occurrence in other cave inscriptions also. The search undertaken by our team confirmed the existence of the *puḷḷi* already known at Anaimalai (No. ***60*** in the present Corpus) and Arachalur (No. ***85***), and led to the discovery of more occurrences in the Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions at Pugalur (Nos. ***67 & 69***), Kunnakkudi (No. ***74***), Tondur (No. ***76***) and Kudumiyamalai (No. ***77***).¹ Most of the Early Vaṭṭeḻuttu inscriptions included in the present Corpus depict the *puḷḷi*; but we were surprised to find them in the Tirunatharkunru and Pillaiyarpatti inscriptions published much earlier without noticing the *puḷḷi* in them. The *puḷḷi* marks at Tirunatharkunru (No. ***116***) were detected by our team by observing the inscription in oblique lighting at sunrise and again at sunset; those at Pillaiyarpatti (No. ***117***) were brought to light by scraping off the thick layer of sandal paste over the inscription on the pilaster. A preliminary report on our fieldwork to locate the *puḷḷi* in the cave inscriptions was published by me in 1992² and has been further updated in this volume.³

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¹ The occurrence of the *puḷḷi* at Nekanurpatti (No. ***83***) was discovered by S. Rajavelu (1995a: pp. 7-8 with eye copy).

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² I. Mahadevan 1992: pp. 141-167.

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³ See sections 2.8, 5.14, 6.8 & 6.9.

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(b) ***Direction of writing***

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Almost all the cave inscriptions follow the normal direction of writing from left to right. There are, however, exceptions where the inscriptions have been engraved from the right and/or with the letters turned upside down. These exceptional cases occur at Kilavalavu (No. ***10***), Tirupparankunram (Nos. ***53 & 54***), Muttuppatti (No. ***56***) and Kunnakkudi (No. ***74***). A special effort was made by our team to establish the correct texts and to ascertain the reason for the unusual mode of engraving in these cases. The results of our study of the unusual mode of engraving are reported in Chapter 5 in this volume.⁴

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⁴ See section 5.8.