Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c25.s15.t3.3

c25.s15.t3.3

***m:*** It is noteworthy that the bilingual legends employ the Southern Brāhmī form of *m* in the Prakrit legends on the obverse and the Tamil-Brāhmī form of the same letter in the Tamil legends on the reverse. The letter actually seen on the coins is the later Tamil-Brāhmī form of *m* in which the horizontal 'crossbar' first moves away from the left side of the 'tube' and later projects a little outside to the right (see coins 3 & 4 in Fig. 5.9 for clear examples).¹ This form is attested in the later cave inscriptions from ca. 4th century A.D. (e.g., Nos. *85*, *101*, *108*, *112*, *115*). The evidence of the cave inscriptions indicates that the correct reading of the form seen in the coin-legends is *ma* and not *mā* as read earlier.