Indian Epigraphy c8.s2.t1: 1. Tamil (Tamil)
Indian Epigraphy c8.s2.t1
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1. Tamil (Tamil)
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The earliest use of a regional language in Indian inscriptions is noticed in certain small records discovered in the Tamil country. Their language is believed to be Tamil and they belong to the early centuries of the Christian era probably to the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D.¹ From the 6th century A.D., Tamil began to be used along with Sanskrit in the copper-plate grants of the Pallava kings and from that time its use in inscriptions increased gradually. The charters of the Imperial Pallavas discovered in the Telugu-speaking area are written in Sanskrit, while those of their grants which were meant for the Tamil-speaking region are written partly in Sanskrit and partly in Tamil. To the first group belong the Vunnaguruvayapalem plates² of Parameśvaravarman I (c. 669-700 A. D.) and the Reyuru plates³ of Narasiṁhavarman II (c. 700-25 A.D.). Both these records are written in early Telugu-Kannaḍa script. The Kuram plates⁴ of Parameśvaravarman I, the Kasakudi and Taṇḍantoṭṭam plates⁵ of Nandivarman II Pallavamalla (c. 730-96 A.D.) and the Bahur plates⁶ of Nṛpatuṅgavarman (9th century A.D.) are written in the Sanskrit and Tamil languages in Grantha and Tamil characters respectively. The Udayendiram plates⁷ of Nandivarman II Pallavamalla are, however, written in Sanskrit.⁸
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¹ See *Proc. Trans. A.-I. Or. Conf.*, 1920, pp. 327-48; ibid., 1924, pp. 275-300; *Ancient India*, No. 2, pp. 109 ff.; etc. Cf. *A. R. Ep.*, 1911-12, Plate facing p. 50; 1917-18, Plate I facing p. 7.
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² *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXXII, pp. 91 ff.
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³ Ibid., Vol. XXIX, pp. 89 ff.
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⁴ *SII*, Vol. I, pp. 144 ff.
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⁵ Ibid., Vol. II, pp. 346 ff.; pp. 520 ff.; see also pp. 507 ff.
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⁶ *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XVIII, pp. 5 ff.
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⁷ *SII*, pp. 365 ff.
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⁸ The recently published Pallavankoyil plates of Pallava Siṁhavarman (third quarter of the 6th century) are written in Sanskrit and Tamil. See *Trans. Arch. Soc. S. Ind.*, 1958-59, pp. 41 ff.
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The copper-plate charters of the early Coḷa kings are generally written partly in Sanskrit and partly in Tamil like the second group of Pallava grants referred to above. Mention may be made in this connection of the larger Leiden plates¹ of Rājarāja I (985-1016 A.D.), the Tiruvalangadu plates² of Rajendra-coḷa I (1012-43 A.D.) and the Anbil plates³ (c. 960 A.D.) of Sundara-coḷa. But the Tirukkalar copper-plate grant⁴ of Rājendra-coḷa I is written in Tamil and so are the Tirukkalar plates of Rājadhirāja I, Kulottuṅga I, Rājarāja II and Kulottuṅga III written in Tamil only.⁵ The Tirunelveli plate⁶ (1021 A.D.) of Bhāskara Ravivarman of Kerala is written in the Tamil language and the Vaṭṭeḻuttu script excepting the passage Oṃ namo Nārāyaṇāya namaḥ at the end, which is in the Sanskrit language and in the triangle-headed North Indian alphabet. The smaller Leiden plates⁷ of Kulottuṅga I (1070-1120 A.D.) are also written completely in Tamil. Thus Tamil was more frequently used alone in Coḷa official charters from the 11th century A. D. Early Pāṇḍya charters are written in Sanskrit and Tamil; but, unlike the Pallava and Coḷa grants, the Tamil part is written in the Vaṭṭeḻuttu alphabet instead of the Tamil script.⁸ Later Pāṇḍya documents, such as the copper-plate grant⁹ of Vira-pāṇḍya, dated Śaka 1392 (1470 A.D.), are, however, written in Tamil.
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¹ Ep. Ind., Vol. XXII, pp. 213 ff.
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² Ibid., Vol. III, pp. 383ff.
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³ Ibid., Vol. XV, pp. 44 ff.
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⁴ SII, Vol. III, pp. 465 ff.
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⁵ Ibid., pp. 469 ff.
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⁶ Ep. Ind., Vol. XVI, pp. 339 ff. and Plate...
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⁷ Ibid., Vol. XXII, pp. 267 ff. See also SII, Vol. III, pp. 465 ff.
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⁸ See the two Pāṇḍya grants from Sinnamanur (SII, Vol. III, pp. 441 ff.).
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⁹ A. R. Ep., 1946-47, No. A 30.
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The early copper-plate grants of the subordinate families, e.g., the Udayendiram plates¹⁰ of the Gaṅga-Bāṇa chief Pṛthvīpati II Hastimalla who was a feudatory of Coḷa Parāntaka I (907-53 A.D.), are similarly written partly in Sanskrit and partly in Tamil. But late medieval rulers like the Nāyakas of Tanjavur and Madurai issued their charters either in Telugu (sometimes Telugu and Sanskrit) or in Tamil while the grants of the Setupatis of Ramanathapuram are generally only in Tamil.¹
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¹⁰ SII, Vol. II, pp. 375 ff.
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¹ For the Tamil records of the Nāyakas of Tanjavur, see *A.R. Ep.*, 1946-47, Nos. A 13-14; for their Telugu grants, cf. ibid., 1949-50, Nos. A 29-30. For the Tamil charters of the Nāyakas of Madurai, see ibid., 1946-47, Nos. A 41, 43; 1948-49, No. A 1; and for their Telugu grants, ibid., 1950-51, No. A 10. For the Tamil copper-plate grants of the Setupatis, see ibid., 1946-47, Nos. A 25-27, 29-31,39, 42, 46, 48; etc.
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There are also some Tamil charters of the Vijayanagara kings, one of them being issued by Mallikārjuna in Śaka 1340 (1418 A.D.) and two others by Sadāśiva in Śaka 1468 (1546 A.D.).² The majority of the private records of the Coḷa-Pāṇḍya age and later epochs are written in Tamil.
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² See ibid., 1949-50, No. A 46, and 1956-57, Nos. A 51-52. For certain Tamil grants of the later rulers of Vijayanagara extraction, see ibid., 1946-47, No. A 19; 1949-50, Nos. A 18-25, 27-28; 1956-57, Nos. A 50, 53; etc. For certain miscellaneous copper-plate grants written in the Tamil language and belonging to the late medieval period, see ibid., 1952-53, Nos. A 8-10; 1953-54, No. A 19; 1957-58, Nos. A 7, 30; etc.