Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c25.s6.t4.9

c25.s6.t4.9

Other palaeographic features shared by the two scripts are the common forms of the letters **a**, *ī* (read as *i* in Early Sinhala-Brāhmī) *m* and *ḷ*.¹ It is noteworthy that all these forms are replaced in Late Sinhala-Brāhmī by the corresponding forms² derived from Southern Brāhmī. This development indicates that the earlier forms are more likely to be native to the Tamil-Brāhmī script in which they continued to exist and gradually evolved into the corresponding Vaṭṭeḻuttu forms.