Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c23.s6.t1.9

c23.s6.t1.9

The title *satiyaputō* occurs in Asoka's second rock edict at Girnar⁶ (and with slight variations at other sites). As the discovery of the Tamil-Brāhmī inscription at Jambai has finally settled the question who the Satiyaputras were,⁷ it is not necessary to go into the details of this long debate here, except to mention the remarkably accurate identification made on purely linguistic grounds by Sesha Iyer and improved upon by Burrow.⁸ According to Burrow, the linguistic developments are *atiya* < *satiya* (*\*catiya*) with the loss of the initial palatal, and *māṉ* < *makaṉ*, shortened as in *cēramāṉ* corresponding to *kēralaputō*. The Jambai inscription which has, side by side, both the Prakrit and Tamil forms *satiyaputō* and *atiyan*, furnishes conclusive evidence for the correctness of this identification. Cf. *kaṭummiputa cēra* for an interesting parallel from the Edakal inscription (**No. 80**).