Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c25.s6.t3.8

c25.s6.t3.8

While the special palaeographic features of the Bhattiprolu script have hardly any bearing on the study of Tamil-Brāhmī, the position is entirely different when one considers the special orthographic features of the former script in respect of medial vowel notations. The Bhattiprolu script, which remained as an isolated epigraphical curio until the discovery of the Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions, has turned out to be the Rosetta Stone for the eventual decipherment of the Tamil-Brāhmī script. As we shall see in Chapter 6, it is the comparison of the orthographic features that provides the decisive evidence that the Bhattiprolu script must be later than the earliest phase of the Tamil-Brāhmī script.⁴