Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c21.s2.1

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: