Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c25.s6.t4.4

c25.s6.t4.4

Palaeographic comparison of the earliest forms of the common letters indicates that Sinhala-Brāhmī, like Tamil-Brāhmī, is directly derived from Mauryan Brāhmī before the end of the Mauryan Age.³ In the case of Sinhala-Brāhmī, the chronology is confirmed by the dating of a few royal inscriptions.⁴ Thus the close palaeographic similarities between the common letters of Early Sinhala-Brāhmī and Early Tamil-Brāhmī provide further confirmation for dating the commencement of the latter script also from about the same time (ca. 200 b.c.).