Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c21.s17: 2.17 Documentation
Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c21.s17
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Contents
- c21.s17.t1 2.17.1 Tracings — 2 parts
- c21.s17.t2 2.17.2 Estampages — 2 parts
- c21.s17.t3 2.17.3 Direct photographs — 6 parts
2.17 Documentation
2.17.1 Tracings
c21.s17.t1.1
Fresh tracings of the inscriptions were made during the second field expedition following the same procedure as on the previous occasion.⁴
c21.s17.t1.2
⁴ Tracings of the following inscriptions could not be made: Nos. *78*, *81* & *82* are no longer extant; No. *120* is partly submerged in water. The tracing of No. *71* has not been reproduced as the inscription is too fragmentary.
2.17.2 Estampages
c21.s17.t2.1
Our team did not take estampages of the inscriptions as it was decided to utilise the best of those already available with the ASI and the TNSA. I spent several months at Mysore during 1995-96 to examine all the available estampages of cave inscriptions in the office of the Director of Epigraphy, ASI. The best of the estampages were selected and photographed where negatives were not already available. In a few cases, photographs of estampages were supplied by the TNSA. The present Corpus is illustrated with photographs of estampages suitably enlarged to show as much detail as possible.¹
c21.s17.t2.2
¹ Estampages of five inscriptions have not been included in this volume: No. *71* (Pugalur) is too fragmentary; No. *75* (Kunnakkudi) is partly hidden by a later structure; No. *107* (Sittannavasal-B) has not been copied by the ASI and No. *108* (Tiruchirapalli-B) by the TNSA due to practical difficulties; No. *120* (Ezhuttukallu) is partly submerged in water.
2.17.3 Direct photographs
c21.s17.t3.1
A few direct photographs of inscriptions where circumstances were favourable for good photography have also been included. As the estampages of the historically important inscriptions at Mangulam (No. *1*) and Pugalur (No. *61*) are virtually illegible for technically irremediable reasons, special arrangements were made to secure good colour photographs ² direct from the stone and enhance their clarity by computer processing.³ By way of control, a photograph of the estampage of another inscription of Neṭuñceḻiyaṉ at Mangulam (No. *2*) has been similarly processed by computer.⁴ A unique direct photograph, taken in extreme dry weather of the Early Vaṭṭeḻuttu inscription (No. *120*) at Ezhuttukallu, Kerala, which is submerged in water for most of the year, has also been included after computer processing.⁵ If the results of the experiment are received favourably, a way would be open to document the other Early Tamil inscriptions also by colour photography and computer processing to preserve them for posterity.⁶
c21.s17.t3.2
² Colour photographs of the inscriptions at Mangulam (No. *1*) and Pugalur (No. *61*) were taken by V. Vedachalam.
c21.s17.t3.3
³ See Pls. 1 and 27 respectively.
c21.s17.t3.4
⁴ See Pl. 2. Photograph of the estampage from the Directorate of Epigraphy, ASI, Mysore.
c21.s17.t3.5
⁵ See Pl. 53. The photograph was taken by M.G.S. Narayanan in 1971.
c21.s17.t3.6
⁶ Computer processing of the direct photographs mentioned here was undertaken by R. Kalyanakrishnan at the Computer Sciences Department, Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, as part of the ongoing research in computerisation of Indian scripts.