Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c25.s15.t3.8

c25.s15.t3.8

***ṉ*: A closer examination of the legends on the reverse of these coins has revealed that the Tamil words *aracaṉ* 'king', and *makaṉ* 'son' are sometimes written with the alveolar *ṉ* of the Tamil-Brāhmī script earlier misread as *ṇ*. In the best-preserved specimens (see coins 2 to 4 in Fig. 5.9), the top horizontal line of the letter, unlike the bottom horizontal line, does not extend to the left of the vertical as in *ṇ*. The form is also unlikely to be Brāhmī *nā* which does not suit the context. The form is most probably a variant of the Tamil-Brāhmī alveolar *ṉ*, the difference being the absence of the downward stroke at the top right.² The occurrence of the alveolar nasal *ṉ* in the coin-legends is conclusive evidence of the language being Tamil and the script Tamil-Brāhmī, as this character and its sound do not occur in any other script. The word-final consonant *ṉ* in *aracaṉ* and *makaṉ* has to be read as basic in accordance with the orthographic convention in the Tamil-Brāhmī script and not as *ṉa*.