Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c21.s6.7

c21.s6.7

Subramanian also noted that the characteristic *-ā* medial sign of Bhattiprolu does not occur in the Tamil cave inscriptions.⁵ He was, however, uncomfortable, like Subrahmanya Aiyer before him, with the idea that the same sign could represent either *-a* or*-ā* medial vowels according to the context. This explains his search for yet another alternative solution and his claim that the medial **-ā** was sometimes represented by two horizontal strokes attached to the consonantal symbol.¹ The claim is not borne out by actual evidence *in situ*.²