Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c25.s2: 5.2 Palaeographic Charts

Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c25.s2

Language: English

5.2 Palaeographic Charts

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The discussion on palaeography is illustrated by a set of eight palaeographic charts appended to this chapter. Their format is described below:

Chart 1. **The Brāhmī script:** The chart illustrates the earliest known forms of the letters of the Brāhmī script. These are based on the neat monumental forms of the Asokan Pillar Edicts; the few letters not found in the edicts are taken from the earliest available sources.⁶

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⁶ The primary source for Asokan Brāhmī is E. Hultzsch, *CII*. I (1991 reprint). I have also consulted C.S. Upasak 1960. For the post-Asokan palaeography, the following sources have been consulted: G. Bühler 1896 (1959 reprint); G.H. Ojha 1918 (1993 reprint); A.H. Dani 1963 (Indian edition 1986) and C. Sivaramamurti 1952.

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Chart 2. **The Tamil-Brāhmī script:** The chart presents in a normalised form the earliest known occurrences of the letters of the Tamil-Brāhmī script as found in the cave inscriptions.

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Chart 3. **Origin and evolution of additional letters in Tamil-Brāhmī:** The chart¹ illustrates the origin of the four additional letters viz., *ḻ*, *ḷ*, *ṟ* and *ṉ* in Tamil-Brāhmī. The forms are normalised to show the mode of formation from Brāhmī and the main stages in the evolution of the letters.

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¹ This is a revised and updated version of the chart published by me earlier (I. Mahadevan 1971: p. 102).

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Chart 4. **Evolution of vowels**

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Charts 5A & B. **Evolution of consonants**

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Chart 6. **Evolution of medial vowel signs**

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Charts 4 to 6 are each divided into three periods viz., Early Tamil-Brāhmī (ca. 2nd century B.C.-1st century A.D.), Late Tamil-Brāhmī (ca. 2nd-4th centuries A.D.) and Early Vaṭṭeḻuttu (ca. 5th and 6th centuries A.D.). The letters included in Charts 4 to 6 have been assembled by computer from direct tracings of the inscriptions in the Corpus. The numbers in italics printed below the letters refer to the inscriptions where the forms occur. Illustrations of the inscriptions may be referred to in case of forms not included in the charts.

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Chart 7. **Tamil-Brāhmī: special forms from pottery inscriptions:** Special forms of the Tamil-Brāhmī letters found in the pottery inscriptions, which occur rarely or not at all in the stone inscriptions, are illustrated in this chart from the following sources:

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Arikamedu: R.E.M. Wheeler *et al.* 1946: Figs. 46 & 47; Pl. XLI. (abbr. AKW). Vimala Begley *et al.* 1996: Figs. in chapter 5. (abbr. AKB).

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Kodumanal: Y. Subbarayalu, Catalogue of Pottery Inscriptions from Kodumanal 1996 (unpublished). (abbr. KDM).

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Other Sites: Natana Kasinathan, *JESI* 23 (1997): Pl. II-VII. (Karur: abbr. KRR; Alagankulam: abbr. ALA).

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Chart 8. **Early Vaṭṭeḻuttu script at Pulankurichi:** The chart² illustrates forms from the Pulankurichi inscriptions which are not included in the present Corpus. It is, however, necessary to take note of the forms occurring in them to trace the course of evolution from Late Tamil-Brāhmī to Early Vaṭṭeḻuttu.

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² The chart is based on eye copies of the inscriptions made by S. Rajagopal and charts of the letters published in V. Vedachalam 2001: pp. 19-26. I have also studied the inscriptions *in situ*.