Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c21.s3.t3: 2.3.3 Language:
Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c21.s3.t3
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2.3.3 Language:
c21.s3.t3.1
Krishna Sastri was the first to recognise the presence of the "Dravidian element" in the cave inscriptions. He could, however, notice only four or five words "apparently in Tamil" (e.g., *ūr*, *nāṭu*) and the "superfluous *y* after words ending in medial *-ai*" as part of the Dravidian element.⁵ On the other hand, the Prakrit element was, according him, " more or less clearly expressed" in the inscriptions.⁶
c21.s3.t3.2
⁵ Ibid. p. 346.
c21.s3.t3.3
⁶ Ibid. p. 347. For our present understanding of the true proportions of Dravidian and Indo-Aryan elements in the cave inscriptions, see sections 3.1.5.
c21.s3.t3.4
Apart from his failure to understand the orthographic peculiarities of the inscriptions and to identify the special Tamil characters for *ḷ*, *ṟ* and *ṉ*, Krishna Sastri's readings have also been affected by his reliance on the unsatisfactory estampages of weather-worn inscriptions.⁷
c21.s3.t3.5
⁷ There is internal evidence in his 1919 paper indicating his reliance on estampages and not on direct reading from the stone. His mixing up the estampages at Mangulam has already been referred to in section 1.2.1(ii). The sequence of his readings at Kongarpuliyankulam and Mettuppatti is also at variance with the order *in situ* (See Nos. *12* & *13* and *28* & *29*.) Direct reading from the stone would have produced more accurate texts in other cases also.