Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c26.s9: 6.9 The puḷḷi in Tolkāppiyam

Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c26.s9

Language: English

6.9 The puḷḷi in Tolkāppiyam

c26.s9.1

The functions of the *puḷḷi* are described in *Tolkāppiyam* as follows:

c26.s9.2

The nature of the consonant is to be provided with a dot.
*e* and *o* are also of the same nature.

All consonants without dots retain their own forms when animated with the sound *-a*, and change their form when combined with other vowels. These are the two ways to vocalise (consonants).
(*Tol. Eḻu.* 15-17)¹

c26.s9.4

¹ Translation after Kamil Zvelebil 1972: p. 46 (with minor changes).

c26.s9.5

We can see at once that this is the last stage (TB-III) in the evolutionary development of the medial vowel notations in the Tamil-Brāhmī script. TB-I notation, with its denial of the principle of inherent *-a*, treating the unmarked consonant as basic, and providing a marker for the medial vowel *-a*, is unknown to *Tolkāppiyam* and precedes it chronologically. *Tolkāppiyam* not only describes the *puḷḷi* as the 'natural' (*iyaṟkai*) adjunct of the basic consonant and the short vowels *e* and *o*, but also uses the expression *puḷḷi* to denote the basic consonant itself by transfer of meaning.² It is thus clear that this grammatical work must have been composed after the *puḷḷi* was invented and had become an integral part of Tamil writing. Judging from the available evidence of the earliest occurrences of the *puḷḷi* from about the end of the 1st century A.D.,³ *Tolkāppiyam* was composed most probably not earlier than the Late Tamil-Brāhmī Period (ca. 2nd-4th centuries A.D.).

c26.s9.6

² According to the Index Verborum of *Tolkāppiyam*, *puḷḷi* is used with the meaning of 'dot over a letter' 3 times, while it has the meaning 'basic consonant' 33 times. (*Tolkāppiya-c-ciṟap-p-akarāti* 2000: p. 241).

Linked texts (1)

Tolkāppiyam — Tolkāppiyar, Tamil