Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c25.s1.9

c25.s1.9

**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.