Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c25.s14.1

c25.s14.1

The *puḷḷi* (literally, a 'dot') is a diacritical mark placed over the consonant characters to indicate that the consonants are 'basic' and do not include the so-called 'inherent' medial vowel *-a*. The *puḷḷi* was also used to distinguish the short *e* and *o* from the respective long vowels both in initial and medial positions. The earliest description of the functions of the *puḷḷi* is found in *Tolkāppiyam* (*Eḻu.* 15-17). The *puḷḷi* is such a familiar device that its unusual function as a 'minus vowel-marker' is seldom noticed. Unlike all other medial signs which serve to add a medial vowel to a consonant to produce a consonant-vowel (*uyirmey*), the *puḷḷi* subtracts the inherent medial vowel *-a* from the unmarked consonant characters. The *puḷḷi* had to be invented in Tamil-Brāhmī to provide what the parent Brāhmī script lacked viz., markers for the basic consonants and the short vowels *e* and *o*. This explains its unusual function.