Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c21.s2: 2.2 Venkayya's reading
Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c21.s2
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2.2 Venkayya's reading
c21.s2.1
Venkayya was the first to identify the script of the cave inscriptions as Brāhmī.⁵ His judgement that "the alphabet of the inscription(s) resembles that of the Asoka edicts and may be assigned roughly to the end of the 3rd and beginning of the 2nd century B.C."⁶ has stood the test of time. However, his assumptions, even before any of the inscriptions could be read, that "the language employed in them is Pāli" and that "it was understood in the Pāṇḍya country even at that early period"¹ proved to be incorrect and stalled his efforts to understand the inscriptions. He attempted to read the inscription on a stone bed at Mettuppatti² as follows:
c21.s2.2
⁵ *ARE 1906-07*: paragraphs 1-5; *1907-08*: paragraphs 1-7.
c21.s2.3
⁶ *ARE 1906-07*: paragraph 3.
c21.s2.4
¹ *ARE 1906-07*: paragraph 3.
c21.s2.5
² *ARE 45a / 1908* = No. *25*.
c21.s2.6
The writing on the first bed seems to be *anatai ariyā*. If my reading be correct, one would be tempted to take *anatai*, which occurs also in three other beds, as derivative of the Vedic root *an* 'to live'. If this be the correct derivation of *anatai*, it might mean *living*. The second word in the first bed is *ariyā* which is, perhaps, meant for *ariyānā* 'of the (Buddhist) saints' (?).³
c21.s2.7
³ *ARE 1907-08*: paragraph 7.
c21.s2.8
This very first attempt to read a cave inscription illustrates a major difficulty, namely, that even if the characters are read correctly with values as in the Brāhmī script, the text turns out to be unintelligible. It is interesting that Venkayya did not consider the possibility that the text, or at least part of it, could be in Tamil, the local language.⁴ In any case, Venkayya did not take his own reading too seriously and admitted that "we must wait for more allied inscriptions in good preservation before we can be sure about their interpretation".⁵
c21.s2.9
⁴ According to our present understanding, the inscription reads *antai ariyti* (the last letter *ti* being engraved on the next bed), where *antai* is a Tamil honorific and *ariyti* (< Pkt. *hariti*) a personal name. See Commentary.
c21.s2.10
⁵ *ARE 1907-08*: paragraph 7.