Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c23.s27.t3.2

c23.s27.t3.2

The situation in the Tamil country during the early period was entirely different. The Tamil country was never a part of the Nanda-Maurya empires. The Tamil states, Cēra, Cōḻa and Pāṇḍiya, and even their feudatories like the (Satiyaputra) Atiyamāṉs maintained their political independence as acknowledged by Asoka himself in his second rock edict in which he refers to them as his 'borderers'. As a direct result of political independence, Tamil remained the language of administration, of learning and instruction, and of public discourse throughout the Tamil country. When writing became known to the Tamils, the Brāhmī script was adapted and modified to suit the Tamil phonetic system. That is, while the Brāhmī script was borrowed, the Prakrit language was not allowed to be imposed along with it from outside. When the Jaina and Buddhist monks entered the Tamil country, they found it expedient to learn Tamil in order to carry on their missionary activities effectively. An apt parallel is the case of the European Christian missionaries in India during the colonial period, who mastered the local languages to preach the gospel to the masses.