Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c25.s10.16

c25.s10.16

***u* / *ū*:** The letter *ū* does not occur in Asokan Brāhmī presumably on account of its rarity in the language of the edicts. However, the letter is attested in its primitive form in Tamil-Brāhmī ³ from the earliest times (Chart 4: *ū*:*9*). The forms of *u* and *ū* remain stable in Tamil-Brāhmī and Early Vaṭṭeḻuttu. The employment of the letter *ū* for the sound *u* in the Early Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions is an orthographic feature which is discussed in Chapter 6.⁴