Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c25.s6.t2: 5.6.2 Southern Brāhmī
Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c25.s6.t2
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5.6.2 Southern Brāhmī
c25.s6.t2.1
There were close cultural, religious and commercial contacts between the Deccan and the Tamil country from the earliest times. However, Southern Brāhmī and Tamil-Brāhmī, both arising from the Mauryan Brāhmī script at about the same time, appear to have evolved independently of each other as shown by the characteristically different forms of letters with common sounds. The Early Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions (ca. 2nd century B.C.-1st century A.D.) included in the present Corpus do not have any forms influenced by Southern Brāhmī.
c25.s6.t2.2
Influence of Southern Brāhmī is seen for the first time in the Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions of the Late Period (ca. 2nd-4th centuries A.D.) in the northern and western districts adjoining the Andhra-Karnataka regions. This influence is marginal also in the sense that the few Southern Brāhmī forms seen in these inscriptions do not enter the mainstream of evolution of Tamil-Brāhmī into Vaṭṭeḻuttu. The Southern Brāhmī forms occurring in the Late Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions are noticed in the following discussion on palaeographic evolution of Tamil-Brāhmī and illustrated in the accompanying charts.