Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c26.s15: 6.15 Special usage governing u- vowels in Early Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions
Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c26.s15
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Contents
- c26.s15.t1 6.15.1 Apparent lengthening of u as ū — 11 parts
- c26.s15.t2 6.15.2 Empirical rules for the special usage of u- vowels — 9 parts
6.15 Special usage governing u- vowels in Early Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions
6.15.1 Apparent lengthening of u as ū
c26.s15.t1.1
Another orthographic peculiarity of the Early Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions is the apparently 'unnecessary lengthening' of the short vowel *u* (initial and medial) as *ū* in certain positions. The present Corpus records 16 instances of this special usage in 12 inscriptions from 8 sites, far too many to be dismissed as scribal errors. All the inscriptions except one belong to the Early Period (ca. 2nd century b.c.-1st century a.d.) and occur in association with TB-I or mixed TB-I and II notations.¹¹ All of them are clustered around the Madurai region (see Map I, detail). The frequency and distribution of this peculiar usage justify the search for a rational explanation.¹²
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¹¹ The exception is the inscription at Anaimalai (*No. 60*) assigned to the Late Period (ca. 2nd century a.d.).
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¹² I. Mahadevan 1985a: pp. 22-27. The data has been updated in the present study.
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The following is the complete list of words in the Corpus with the special usage:¹
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¹ The list does not include words in which the vowels *u* and *ū* occur with normal values. It also excludes obvious scribal errors (e.g., *ur* for *ūr* 'village').
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| S.No. | Apparent reading | Actual reading | Meaning | Ref.No. |
| 1. | **a na tū vā ṉa** | *antuvaṉ* | 'a personal name' | 53.1 |
| 2. | **a va [v]i r[u] a a ra ū ma** | *avviru-ar-um* | 'those two persons also' | 45.3 |
| 3. | **a sū tā ṇa** | *a(s)sutaṉ* | 'a personal name' | 3.7.b |
| 4. | **ū tā yā ṇa sa** | *utayaṇa(s)sa* | 'of Utayaṇaṉ' | 24.5 |
| 5. | **ū pā cā a ṇa** | *upa(c)caṉ* | 'preceptor' | 10.1, 11.3 |
| 6. | **ū pā cā ṇa** | *upa(c)caṉ* | 'preceptor' | 9.1 |
| 7. | **ū pā ṟu vā . . .** | *u(p)paṟuva[ṉ]* | 'a personal name' | 11.4 |
| 8. | **ū pu vā ṇi ka ṇa** | *u(p)pu vāṇikaṉ* | 'salt merchant' | 39.1 |
| 9. | **ū ṟai** | *uṟai* | 'abode (of ascetics)' | 9.3, 24.4 |
| 10. | **ku ṉa ṟa tū** | *-kuṉṟa(t)tu* | 'of the hill' | 60.1.b |
| 11. | **ko ṭa ṭū pi ta tā a** | *koṭṭupitta-a* | 'which was caused to be carved' | 1.8 |
| 12. | **ko ṭa ṭū pi to ṉa** | *koṭṭupi(t)tōṉ* | 'he who caused to be carved' | 8.3, 9.4 |
| 13. | **ko ṭū pi to ṉa** | *koṭu(p)pi(t)tōṉ* | 'he who caused to be given' | 5.2 |
| 14. | **ni kā mā tū** | *nikama(t)tu* | 'of the merchant guild' | 3.4 |
| 15. | **pā ra a cū** | *paracu* | 'a personal name' | 9.2 |
| 16. | **pi ṇā ū** | *piṇa(v)u* | 'cleft?' | 3.8 |
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This special usage is also known from legends on pottery and other inscribed objects:
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| 17. | **ū ti rā ṇa** | *u(t)tiraṉ* | 'a personal name' (coin from Sri Lanka).² |
| 18. | **ū pā ā ṇa** | *upa[c*]aṉ* | 'preceptor'(gold ring from Karur).³ |
| 19. | **ū mā ṇ(a) . . .** | *umaṇa[ṉ]* | 'trader in salt' (pottery inscription from Uraiyur).⁴ |
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² See No. 5, Table 1.6.
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³ See No. 4, Table 1.8 and Fig. 1.24 A.
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⁴ K.V. Raman (ed.) 1988: Fig. 24.3 and Pl. 16. (See also No. 3, Table 1.5 and Fig. 1.19C in this vol.)
6.15.2 Empirical rules for the special usage of u- vowels
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The clue to the understanding of this special usage comes from the TB-I notation with which it is closely associated as may be seen from the word list above. The TB-I notation attempted to distinguish three medial vowel-lengths viz., *-ā*, *-a* and Ø, but provided for only two as it employed the same marker for both *-ā* and *-a*. On this analogy, we may formulate the following empirical rules for the special usage relating to the *u-* vowels:
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(a) The symbols for *ū* (initial and medial) stand for the sounds *ū* (long) or *u* (short).
(b) The symbols for *u* (initial and medial) stand for the sounds *u* (short) or *u* (shortened).
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Let us examine the words in the list given above in the light of these empirical rules.
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**Rule (a): *ū* to be read as *u***
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9 initial occurrences of *ū-* have to be read as *u-* (items 4 to 9, 17-19); 6 medial occurrences of *-ū-* have also to be read as *-u-* (items 1 to 3, 11 to 13).
c26.s15.t2.6
The situation is less clear in respect of the final occurrences of *-ū* which have to be read as *-u* according to rule (a). Items 15 and 16 may be read respectively as *paracu* and *piṇa(v)u* probably with the short *-u* finally as required by the rule. However, as item 15 is a personal name and item 16 is not attested elsewhere, one cannot be sure about the length of the final *-u* in these cases. Items 10 and 14 have to be emended respectively as *kuṉṟa(t)tu* and *nikama(t)tu* as in Literary Tamil; one should then expect the shortened *-u* in the final position in these cases and not the short *-u* as required by this rule.
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**Rule (b): *-u* to be read as shortened *-u***
c26.s15.t2.8
The diagnostic word in the list (item 8) is **ū pu** to be read as *u(p)pu* (with short and shortened *u* at either end) according to this rule: Apparently the shifting of the long *ū* symbol to represent the short *u* was for the purpose of leaving the short *u* symbol to represent the shortened *-u* in word-final positions. There are, however, no other such clear instances in the word list to confirm this hypothesis.
c26.s15.t2.9
On the whole, the evidence from the word list supports the empirical rules formulated above governing the usage of the *u-* vowels in the Early Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions. But, as in the case of the TB-I notation, this system is also defective as it provides for only two symbols (*ū* and *u*) to represent three sounds (*ū*, *u* and shortened *u*). This is almost certainly the reason why this orthographic experiment failed. While the TB-I notation was replaced by better systems, the special usage governing the *u-* vowels disappeared without any replacement, thus ending an interesting, though short-lived, attempt to depict the shortened *u* graphically in the Tamil-Brāhmī script.