Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c8.s5.t1.5

c8.s5.t1.5

Inscriptions in what is now generally agreed to be an early form of Tamil date from approximately the last centuries before and/or the first centuries after the beginning of the Christian era (see 2.2.5.1). There are also a few Tamil inscriptions datable on paleographic grounds to the second through sixth centuries A.D.,⁸⁷ but Tamil's emergence as a full-fledged epigraphic language actually began during the reign of the Pallavas, some of whose copper plate inscriptions from the seventh century onward were bilingual in Tamil and Sanskrit. This practice was continued by succeeding dynasties of the Tamil country such as the Coḻas and Pāṇḍyas, but some of their copper plates (especially in the later centuries) were in Tamil only. The majority by far of Tamil inscriptions are donative and other stone records, especially on temple walls, mostly dating from the Coḻa era and later; these number in the many thousands. As with other Dravidian languages, Tamil generally predominates in stone inscriptions and private records, while Sanskrit tends to be retained for imperial grants on copper plates.