Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c25.s14.3

c25.s14.3

The *puḷḷi* does not occur in the Early Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions included in the Corpus. It occurs for the first time in the Late Tamil-Brāhmī inscription at Anaimalai (No. *60*, ca. 2nd century A.D.). However, its use is rare in the Late Period. The frequency of the *puḷḷi* gradually increases until it occurs almost without exception with all the basic consonants in the Early Vaṭṭeḻuttu Period. The *puḷḷi* is, however, seldom found in the pottery inscriptions.¹ It may also be noted that, when compared with its occurrence with the basic consonants, the *puḷḷi* occurs relatively much less with the short vowels *e* and *o* (initial and medial) even in the Early Vaṭṭeḻuttu Period (see Table 5.1 for statistics ).¹ The *puḷḷi* marks an important stage in the development of Early Tamil orthography. The orthographic aspects of the *puḷḷi* are discussed in Chapter 6.²