Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c28.s5: Commentary on Inscriptions

Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c28.s5

Language: English

Commentary on Inscriptions

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The Commentary is a detailed word-by-word study of the inscriptions included in the Corpus, supplementing the translation and notes with additional information on the language and contents. The purpose of the Commentary is to situate the Early Tamil inscriptions in the mainstream of Indian epigraphy by showing that their style and contents are similar to those of the contemporary religious and votive inscriptions elsewhere in the country, and that their language, when correctly understood, is no different in its basic features from the more familiar inscriptional Tamil of the succeeding periods or even Literary Tamil.

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The Commentary is arranged in the following format:

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**Headwords (in bold italics)** are listed as they occur in the Corpus in the order of inscriptions and the word order of each inscription. Each word is allotted a **Reference Number (in bold)** comprising the inscription number as in the Corpus followed by the word number in the inscription, separated by a dot. The inscriptional words which include composite names, noun phrases, etc., are segmented into minimal lexical units marked by alphabetic suffixes (a, b, c, etc.,) for further analysis; e.g., **46.2 *aṟuvai-vaṇikaṉ*** has two lexical segments: **a. *aṟuvai*** and **b. *vaṇikaṉ*.** When entries are repeated, detailed comments are made only on the first entry with cross references to it in later entries. The Inscriptional Glossary (Appendix I) arranged alphabetically serves as the reverse index to the Commentary.

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**Emendations** are in *italics* enclosed within brackets next to the headwords. **Corrections** are also in *italics* and prefaced with the code 'Read'. Personal names and place names are marked N. and P. respectively. Grammatical parts of speech of other words are indicated by appropriate abbreviations. (See List of Abbreviations).

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**Sections of Chapters 1-7** dealing with relevant matters are indicated by cross-references.

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The Commentary deals with the following matters:

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**Meanings:** The literal (lexical) meaning of each word is supplemented, where necessary, with interpretation based on the inscriptional context (e.g., *koṭṭu* 'to hammer' occurs in the inscriptions with the meanings 'to carve, engrave').

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**Grammatical notes:** The word-segments (minimal lexical units) are subjected to brief linguistic and grammatical analysis. See Chapter 7 (Grammar) for more detailed treatment.

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**Citations:** Literary and inscriptional parallels are cited from the earliest available strata to illustrate the usage of the inscriptional words in the Corpus. Literary citations are prefaced with 'cf. LT' (Literary Tamil), and inscriptional citations with 'cf. (inscr.)'; '(inscr.)' refers only to Tamil inscriptions. Inscriptions from other languages are specified as such.

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Citations from Literary Tamil (LT) are from classical Tamil works, mostly but not exclusively, from the Caṅkam Age. Texts of the Caṅkam classics (included in the compilations *Pattuppāṭṭu*, *Eṭṭuttokai* and *Patiṉeṇkīḻkkaṇakku*) are cited from the editions published by S. Rajam (of Murray & Co.). Citations are also given from the Tamil *nikaṇṭus* (*Tivākaram*, *Piṅkalantai* and *Cūṭāmaṇi*) and modern dictionaries, especially from *Tamil Lexicon* (*TL*) and *Dravidian Etymological Dictionary* (*DEDR*; entry numbers are prefaced with D.).

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Citations of Tamil inscriptions include contemporary Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions on pottery, coins, seals, rings, etc. Inscriptional parallels are also cited from Pulankurichi and other pre-Pallava inscriptions (ca. 5-6 centuries A.D.) and from the succeeding Pallava-Pāṇṭiya (ca. 6-10 centuries A.D.) and Cōḻa-Pāṇṭiya (ca. 9-14 centuries A.D.) periods.

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**Dravidian parallels**: Relevant lexical and inscriptional parallels are cited from the other literary Dravidian languages (Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu). Lexical references to the Dravidian languages are taken mostly from *DEDR*. Inscriptions in Old Kannada are cited mostly from A.N. Narasimhia 1941 and G.S. Gai 1946; inscriptions in Old Telugu are cited mostly from K. Mahadeva Sastri 1969.

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**Loanwords**: Loanwords from Indo-Aryan occurring in the Corpus are identified and parallels from Prakrit inscriptions (especially from South India and Sri Lanka) cited to illustrate their usage. Etymology of the loanwords is also investigated and their derivation from Sanskrit through Middle Indo-Aryan (or directly as in the Late Period) suggested. (See also the Etymological Indexes in Appendices IV to VI.)

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**Contents**: Though the Early Tamil inscriptions are much fewer in number when compared with those of the later periods, their contents are of the utmost importance in studying the development of Tamil language and society in the Early Period. The historical inscriptions of the Early Pāṇṭiya and Cēra dynasties, the exclusive association of Jainism with the cave inscriptions and the political, social and economic conditions of the Early Tamil society as revealed in the inscriptions are briefly studied in the Commentary. See also Chapter 4 (Polity).