[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Archaeology, epigraphy and coins](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy) › [Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D.](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003) › c26.s9 # 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](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c26.s9.1) The functions of the \*puḷḷi\* are described in \*Tolkāppiyam\* as follows: ### [c26.s9.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c26.s9.2) The nature of the consonant is to be provided with a dot. \*e\* and \*o\* are also of the same nature. ### [c26.s9.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c26.s9.3) 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](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c26.s9.4) ¹ Translation after Kamil Zvelebil 1972: p. 46 (with minor changes). ### [c26.s9.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.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](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.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). ## Cites (1) - [Tolkāppiyam](https://indike.org/pramana/in.sangam.grammar.tolkappiyam) — Tolkāppiyar, Tamil --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c26.s9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c26.s9) · Pramāṇa