Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c26.s15.t2.9

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.