Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c25.s20.t2.3

c25.s20.t2.3

The Paḷḷaṉkōvil Plates of Simhavarman III (ca. 540-550 A.D.) have been regarded as the earliest known inscription in the Tamil script. The Plates¹ record the grant of land to Vajranandi, a senior Jaina monk at Paruttikkuṉṟil (near Kanchipuram). The first part of the inscription is in Sanskrit in the Grantha script and the second part in Tamil in the Tamil script. The Plates are engraved beautifully in a masterly hand and the palaeography of both Grantha and Tamil scripts is well-developed. Notwithstanding the elaborate arguments advanced by Subramanian in support of the early date, it is difficult to accept his contention in the complete absence of any inscriptions in the Tamil script before the 7th century A.D.; the few Tamil inscriptions belonging to the period up to the middle of the 8th century A.D. are palaeographically much less advanced than the Paḷḷaṉkōvil Plates. Govindaraj has re-examined the palaeographic evidence, pointing out such advanced features like detached medial vowel signs and the developed forms of letters like *ṇ*, *v* and *ṉ*, which suggest that the Paḷḷaṉkōvil Plates are later than the Kūram Plates (late 7th century A.D.) and of the same period as the Paṭṭattāḷmaṅgalam Plates ( 8th century A.D.).² On the basis of an independent re-examination of the palaeographic evidence, I consider that the Paḷḷaṉkōvil Plates are a later copy made not earlier than late 7th century A.D.³