[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) › c27.s2 # Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c27.s2: 7.1 The Tamil alphabet Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c27.s2 - **Language:** English ### 7.1 The Tamil alphabet ### [c27.s2.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c27.s2.1) Tamil has an alphabet of 30 letters (\*Tol. Eḻu.\* 1). All except \*au\* occur in the Corpus. However, the length of \*e\* and \*o\* is not indicated in the earlier inscriptions, and only sporadically in the later inscriptions. Three 'dependent' sounds (\*cārpeḻuttu\*), viz., the shortened \*-i\* and \*-u\* and the \*āytam\* (\*ḵ\*) are also enumerated (\*Tol. Eḻu.\* 2), out of which only the last has a graphic form. The \*āytam\* does not occur in the Corpus. The Brāhmī characters \*dh\* and \*s\* occur marginally in loanwords from Indo-Aryan. See Chapters 5 and 6 for the distinctive palaeographic and orthographic features respectively of the Tamil-Brāhmī script. ## Cites (1) - [Tolkāppiyam](https://indike.org/pramana/in.sangam.grammar.tolkappiyam) — Tolkāppiyar, Tamil --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c27.s2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.mahadevan-2003.c27.s2) · Pramāṇa