Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c25.s12.t1.24

c25.s12.t1.24

A unique feature of the pottery inscriptions from Kodumanal³ is the apparent use of the Brāhmī letter *ḍ* to represent the sound *ḻ*. Apart from the forms of Tamil-Brāhmī *ḻ* with the circular top,⁴ there are five occurrences of *ḍ*,⁵ a letter which is not attested elsewhere in Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions. Even though the pottery inscriptions are too fragmentary, it seems unlikely that inscriptions with the letter *ḍ* are in Prakrit, as almost all the inscriptions at this site are in Tamil. It is also unlikely that -*ḍ*- represents the voicing of -*ṭ*- in medial positions as such a usage is unknown in Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions at this site⁶ or elsewhere.⁷ The conclusion, therefore, appears inescapable that there was a unique innovation in the pottery inscriptions at this site, which permitted the employment of the Brāhmī *ḍ* to represent the Tamil sound *ḻ*. A plausible example is the word ...*toḷut*[*t*]*ai* 'slave woman, servant maid' (*TL*), where *ḍu* seems to have the value *ḻu* (Fig. 5.³).¹ This tentative suggestion is supported by the evidence regarding the use of the reversed *ḍ* to represent *ḻ* at Arikamedu and in the loanwords in the cave inscriptions of Sri Lanka, which we shall consider next.