Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c21.s8: 2.8 Discovery of the puḷḷi in the Tamil-Brāhmī script
Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c21.s8
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2.8 Discovery of the puḷḷi in the Tamil-Brāhmī script
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The *puḷḷi* (literally, 'dot') is a diacritic device in the Tamil script to mark the basic consonants and (formerly) the short *e* and *o* vowels.¹ The occurrence of the *puḷḷi* in the cave inscriptions was not suspected for a long time. Krishna Sastri did notice the 'dots' in the Anaimalai cave inscription, but considered them to be the *anusvāra* of the Brāhmī script.² Even Subrahmanya Aiyer failed to notice the occurrence of the *puḷḷi* in this inscription which he discovered. In general, he assumed that "as in most Tamil inscriptions and palm-leaf manuscripts, it (the *puḷḷi*) has to be supplied by the reader".³ This assumption shows that he did not grasp the essence of the Bhattiprolu convention that the consonant symbol does not possess the so-called inherent *-a* medial vowel as pointed out by Bühler much earlier.⁴
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¹ See sections 5.14, 6.8 and 6.9.
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² H. Krishna Sastri 1919: p. 334, n.6.
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³ K.V. Subrahmanya Aiyer 1924: p. 287.
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⁴ G. Bühler 1894 b: pp. 323-329. See also section 6.6 in this vol.
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The Arachalur cave inscription discovered in 1961 has a clear dot placed inside the character for the vowel *e*.⁵ The significance of the dot as the *puḷḷi* indicating the short vowel *e* was first pointed out by Krishnan in 1973.⁶ The next find of a *puḷḷi* came from a wholly unexpected source, the Tamil-Brāhmī legend on the reverse of the silver portrait coin of Sātakarṇi (2nd century A.D.). The occurrence of the *puḷḷi* in the coin-legend was first pointed out by Sircar.⁷ This was soon followed by the discovery of the *puḷḷi* in the legend of the Andippatti Hoard of lead coins of Cēntaṉ (ca. 3rd century A.D.) by Mohandas.⁸ The next advance came when Jebarajan and Gift Siromoney identified the *puḷḷi* in the Anaimalai cave inscription, overlooked by the earlier investigators.⁹ It is now known that the earliest occurrence of the *puḷḷi* which can be dated is in the coin-legend on the silver portrait coin of Puḷumāvi issued towards the close of the 1st century A.D.¹⁰
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⁵ No. **85**.
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⁶ K.G. Krishnan 1973-74b: pp. 91-93.
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⁷ D.C. Sircar 1963-64b: pp. 247-252. See also Fig. 5.9 in this vol.
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⁸ P.N. Mohandas 1968, *The Hindu*, January 7. K.G. Krishnan 1973-74c: pp. 139-140.
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⁹ E. Jebarajan and Gift Siromoney 1978: pp. 1-10.
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¹⁰ I.K. Sarma 1980: p. 115; Pl. 9 & 9A. See also section 5.15 in this vol. for discussion on the coin-legends.