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Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c25.s1: 5.1 Nomenclature

Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c25.s1

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5.1 Nomenclature

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Variants of the Brāhmī script are referred to in this study with the following connotations:

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**Brāhmī**: The general term referring to the earliest known stage of the script from which all other native Indian scripts (except the Harappan) are derived. The term Asokan Brāhmī is used when referring specifically to the script of the edicts; the term Mauryan Brāhmī has a somewhat wider significance and includes other inscriptions assigned to the Mauryan Age.¹

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¹ An enquiry into the origin of the Brāhmī script is not within the scope of the present study. For a good introduction to the subject, see S.P. Gupta and K.S. Ramachandran (eds.) 1979.

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**Northern Brāhmī**: Post-Mauryan Brāhmī of Northern India including north-western, central and north-eastern regions.

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**Southern Brāhmī**: Post-Mauryan Brāhmī of the Deccan including Western Deccan. The term 'Southern Brāhmī', as employed in this study, does not include the Bhattiprolu and Tamil-Brāhmī scripts.

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**Bhattiprolu script**: The unique variant of Brāhmī found only in the casket inscriptions at this site in Andhra Pradesh.

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**Sinhala-Brāhmī**: The variant of Brāhmī adapted to the Sinhala-Prakrit language of the cave inscriptions in Sri Lanka. The Sinhala-Brāhmī script has two rather sharply differentiated phases viz., Early Sinhala-Brāhmī (ca. 2-1 centuries B.C.) and Late Sinhala-Brāhmī (ca. 1-7 centuries A.D.).²

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² The dates are based on S. Karunaratne 1984. The recent claims for a much earlier date for pottery inscriptions in Brāhmī found at Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, are not considered in the present study. See S.U. Deraniyagala 1992: pp. 739-750; F.R. Allchin 1995: pp. 176-179; R.A.E. Coningham *et al.* 1996: pp. 73-97.

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**Tamil-Brāhmī**: The script of the earliest known Tamil inscriptions is referred to as Tamil-Brāhmī as it is an adaptation of Brāhmī for writing in Tamil.³ Unlike all other regional variants of Brāhmī, Tamil-Brāhmī is uniquely adapted for a non-Indo-Aryan, Dravidian language. This fact and the consequential palaeographic and orthographic modifications effected in the script entitle it to the status of a separate script.⁴ This has been recognised even in ancient times as attested by the names *dāmili* or *drāviḍī* found in the Jaina canonical texts *Paṇṇavaṇā-* *sutta* and *Samavāyāṅga-sutta*, and the name *drāviḍa-lipi* in the later Buddhist work *Lalitavistara*, which probably refer to different stages of the script.

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³ The term 'Tamil-Brāhmī' has been criticised by some scholars who object to the prefix 'Tamil-' as it offends against the 'imperial' unity of Brāhmī; and by others who object to the suffix '-Brāhmī' as they deny that the Tamil script is derived from Brāhmī.

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⁴ E.g., Greek from Phoenician, and Kharoṣṭhī from Aramaic. Scripts also acquire new names when their appearance is radically transformed in the course of evolution; e.g., Brāhmī evolving into Nāgarī and Tamil-Brāhmī into Vaṭṭeluttu. A separate script does not necessarily imply an independent origin.

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Bühler identified Drāviḍī with the variant of Brāhmī found at Bhattiprolu.¹ However, as the Bhattiprolu inscriptions are in Prakrit, it seems inapt to describe this script as 'Drāviḍī' except perhaps in the geographical sense. Attempts have also been made to revive the names Drāviḍī² and Dāmilī³ to refer to the script of the earliest Tamil inscriptions. However, the descriptive term Tamil-Brāhmī, which transparently indicates Tamil as the language and Brāhmī as the script, has gained wide acceptance. The evolution of the Tamil-Brāhmī script is divided into two broad periods viz., Early Tamil-Brāhmī (ca. 2nd century B.C.-1st century A.D.) and Late Tamil-Brāhmī (ca. 2nd-4th centuries A.D.).⁴

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¹ G. Bühler 1896 (1959 reprint): p. 31.

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² T.V. Mahalingam 1967: pp. 201-298. He introduces each inscription read by him as 'in Drāviḍī'.

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³ R. Nagaswamy 1972a: pp. 9-10. He has coined the name Tamiḻi (from Pkt. *dāmilī* ).

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⁴ For chronology of Tamil-Brāhmī, see discussion in section 2.16.

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**Early Vaṭṭeḻuttu:** Late Tamil-Brāhmī script evolved into Early Vaṭṭeḻuttu (ca. 5th-6th centuries A.D.). The later evolution of Vaṭṭeḻuttu is outside the scope of the present study.

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**Early Tamil inscriptions:** Tamil inscriptions in Tamil-Brāhmī and Early Vaṭṭeḻuttu up to the end of the 6th century A.D. are referred to as Early Tamil inscriptions in this study.

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**Tamil script** which begins to appear in the Pallava territory from the 7th century A.D. falls outside the chronological limits of the present study.⁵

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⁵ However, the palaeographic developments in Vaṭṭeḻuttu and Tamil scripts from the 7th century A.D. are briefly surveyed in the concluding sections 5.19 & 5.20 in this chapter.

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