Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c21.s17.t3: 2.17.3 Direct photographs
Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c21.s17.t3
- Language
- English
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.