Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c26.s12.1

c26.s12.1

There is a striking contrast between stone and pottery inscriptions in Tamil-Brāhmī in the matter of medial vowel notations. While the TB-I notation is more ancient and more frequent in the cave inscriptions, the TB-II notation appears to be the dominant style in pottery inscriptions from the earliest period. The TB-I notation also occurs in pottery inscriptions from the earlier levels, but relatively in much fewer numbers. The TB-III (*puḷḷi*) notation occurs rarely in pottery inscriptions. These conclusions are based on a preliminary survey of inscribed pottery.⁴