Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c25.s15.t3.11

c25.s15.t3.11

***The puḷḷi*: It is well-known that the *puḷḷi* occurs with the basic consonant *ṭ* in the expression *vāciṭṭi* (< Pkt. *vāsiṭṭhī*) in the legends on the reverse of the coins of Vāsiṣṭhīputra Puḷumāvī, and those of his successors with the same *gōtra* name except Vijaya Sātakarṇi (see clear examples in coins 2, 3 & 4 in Fig. 5.9). The employment of the *puḷḷi* to mark the basic consonant is known only to the Tamil grammatical tradition.³ The earliest occurrence of the *puḷḷi* in the Tamil-Brāhmī cave inscriptions is at Anaimalai (No. 60, ca. 2nd century a.d.). The occurrence of the *puḷḷi* confirms that the legends on the reverse of the Andhra coins are written in the Tamil-Brāhmī script as no other variant of Brāhmī employed this device.