Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c26.s3: 6.3 Orthographic conventions in Brāhmī inscriptions
Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c26.s3
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6.3 Orthographic conventions in Brāhmī inscriptions
c26.s3.1
The Brāhmī script is a syllabary in which each *akshara* is an open syllable, either a vowel or ending in one (except in the case of the *anusvāra*). A basic consonant being mute is not regarded as an *akshara* and cannot stand alone. These principles resulted in a system of writing with the following conventions:
c26.s3.2
(i) A consonantal symbol is invested with the 'inherent' *-a*;
c26.s3.3
(ii) The notational system of medial vowels commences only with the medial *-ā*, since *-a* is 'inherent' and does not require a marker;
c26.s3.4
(iii) A basic consonant cannot be represented except as part of a conjunct-consonant (*samyuktākshara*);
c26.s3.5
(iv) A *samyuktākshara* being an open syllable cannot depict a consonant in final position.
c26.s3.6
This orthographic system suited the Prakrit languages perfectly as they did not have basic consonants (except the *anusvāra*) in final position. To illustrate, we may look at the first two lines of the text of the famous Rummindei Pillar Edict of Asoka marking the sacred spot where the Buddha was born:¹
c26.s3.7
Lines: 1. *dē vā na pi yē na pi ya da si na lā ji na vī sa ti va sā bhi si tē na*
2. *a ta na ā gā ca ma hī yi tē hi da bu dhē jā tē sa kya mu nī ti*
c26.s3.8
Note the absence of final consonants and how the only mute consonant is combined with the next syllable to form the *samyuktākshara* (*kya*).²
c26.s3.9
² Incidentally, this analysis indicates that the Brāhmī script was designed initially for the Prakrit (Middle Indo-Aryan) languages and was adapted later for Sanskrit which employs final consonants freely as in *yat*, *tat*, etc.
c26.s3.10
The Brāhmī notational system described above is unsuitable for Tamil which abounds in final consonants (e.g., *kaṇ* 'eye', *maram* 'tree', *tāy* 'mother', *nīr* 'water', *kal* 'stone', *yāḻ* 'lute', *nāḷ* 'day', *avaṉ* 'he', etc.). Tamil which has much fewer consonant clusters than Indo-Aryan (mostly geminates and nasal-homorganic clusters) does not also need the *samyuktākshara* system of writing. Those who were responsible for the adaptation of the Brāhmī script for Tamil must also have decided to modify the notation for medial vowels to suit Tamil phonetics. A period of bold and innovative experimentation followed during which no less than four alternative systems of vowel notations were evolved, all different from one another and from that of the parent Brāhmī script.