Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c21.s3.t1: 2.3.1 Script:
Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c21.s3.t1
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2.3.1 Script:
c21.s3.t1.1
Krishna Sastri noted for the first time the "purely southern characteristic" of the palaeography of the cave inscriptions comparing them with those of the Brāhmī inscriptions of Ceylon (Sri Lanka).⁵ The comparison was fruitful as it enabled him to identify the occurrence of the Dravidian *ḻ* in the Tamil cave inscriptions based on the earlier discovery of this character by Parker in the Brāhmī inscriptions of Sri Lanka.⁶ From the same source, he also identified *ī* which occurs earlier in the Tamil cave inscriptions when compared with the Brāhmī inscriptions elsewhere in the country.⁷ This was a valuable contribution by Krishna Sastri to the study of the Tamil-Brāhmī script. He also noticed the occurrence of three other unusual characters in the script which, however, he could not identify.⁸ Later, Subrahmanya Aiyer correctly identified them as the special Tamil characters for *l*, *r* and *ṉ*.⁹
c21.s3.t1.2
⁵ H. Krishna Sastri 1919: pp. 331-332, 347-348.
c21.s3.t1.3
⁶ Ibid. p. 334, n.4; pp. 347-348. H.W. Parker 1909: Nos. 26 & 27 at p. 429; No. 38 at p. 431.
c21.s3.t1.4
⁷ H. Krishna Sastri 1919: p. 348.
c21.s3.t1.5
⁸ Ibid.
c21.s3.t1.6
⁹ See section 2.4.2.