Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c25.s12.t3: 5.12.3 Tamil-Brāhmī ṟ

Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c25.s12.t3

Language: English

5.12.3 Tamil-Brāhmī ṟ

The Dravidian sound *ṟ* (<PDr *\* ṯ*) was originally an alveolar stop which later developed into a trill in Tamil (except in the Jaffna dialect).⁶ It has become almost indistinguishable from *r* in modern spoken Tamil. However, it is described as a *valliṉam* (stop) in Tamil grammatical tradition (*Tol. Eḻu.* 19) and, like other stops (and unlike *r*), cannot occur word-finally.

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⁶ Kamil Zvelebil 1970: p. 96.

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The Tamil-Brāhmī letter *ṟ* is formed from *ṭ* (Chart 3:III.¹) to which a short vertical line is added at the bottom (ibid. III.²) to support the angular attachment added to the left or right of the vertical (ibid. III. 3 & 4). The choice of *ṭ* to derive the Tamil-Brāhmī *ṟ* is significant as it indicates that the sound *ṟ* was still an alveolar stop (nearer to *ṭ* than to *r*) in the language of the cave inscriptions.⁷

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¹ All early cave inscriptions in the Peninsula to the south of this site are in Tamil written in Tamil-Brāhmī.

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² The Aruvāḷar are mentioned in Caṅkam literature as the Tamil tribe which inhabited the northern border regions of ancient Tamil country, cf. *Paṭṭiṉa.* 275; *Tol. Pāyiram*, comm. Nacc.

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⁷ It is significant that there is no instance of *r* occurring in the place of *ṟ* or *vice versa* in the Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions included in the Corpus.

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Dani's hypothetical derivation⁸ of *ṟ* from *ḷ* at Sanchi ignores the phonetic distinction between the two sounds and is based on a relatively later form of *ṟ*. He is unable to recognise the earlier forms of *ṟ* which he misreads as *ṭu* or *ṭū*.⁹

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⁸ A. H. Dani 1963 (Indian edition 1986): pp. 70-71, Fig. 7 (ix).

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⁹ Ibid. Pl. VII a, Nos. 7 & 9.

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According to Meenakshisundaran¹ and Nagaswamy,² the letter *ṟ* is formed by combining the letters *ṭ* and *t*. However, the form of *ṟ* illustrated by Nagaswamy is a later one. Further, Tamil-Brāhmī has no ligatures and it is very doubtful whether in this script a simple consonant would be derived from a ligature of two other consonants. A comparison with the mode of formation of the other three additional letters (*ḻ*, *ḷ* and *ṉ*) clearly indicates a similar derivation for *ṟ* also by the addition of a simple diacritic-like attachment.

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¹ T. P. Meenakshimsundaran 1965: p. 41.

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² R. Nagaswamy 1979: pp. 74-75.

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(b) Evolution of ṟ

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In the earliest forms of *ṟ* (Chart 3: III. 3 & 4), the constituent parts viz., the basic letter *ṭ*, the lower vertical and the angular attachment are all distinctly seen. Later, however, the vertical slants to the left and the angular attachment is abbreviated to a single stroke slanting to the right with the result that the two elements together look like the letter *t* joined to the letter *ṭ* (ibid. III.⁵).³ In another parallel development seen in the pottery inscriptions at Kodumanal, the lower vertical alone survives without the angular attachment or additional stroke (Chart 7: KDM 120 & 89). It is this form which leads to the more cursive shape seen in Early Vaṭṭeḻuttu (Chart 3: III.⁶). See also charts 5B and 6 to 8 for attested forms.

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³ It is this late form which led to the suggestion that the letter *ṟ* is a combination of *ṭ* and *t* as discussed above.

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Pushparatnam,⁴ has recently located the occurrence of the Tamil-Brāhmī letter *ṟ* in one of the Sinhala-Brāhmī inscriptions published by Paranavitana (detail in Fig. 5.7).⁵ The letter occurs in the expression *maṟa(ru)makaṉ* (read by Paranavitana as *marumakana-*).⁶

Linked texts (1)

Paṭṭiṉappālai — Kaṭiyalūr Uruttiraṅkaṇṇaṉār, Tamil