An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c25.s4.49

v1.c25.s4.49

Under the Pallavas the Tamil portions of the inscriptions were written in Vaṭṭeluttu which means round hand as opposed to the Malayalam (script of the Kerala) called Koleluttu of 'sceptre hand'. Burnell regards Vaṭṭeḷttu to be the original Tamil character and termed it as the Pāṇḍyan writing which after the conquest by the Coḷas in the 11th century was supplanted by Tamil characters and finally disappeared in the 15th century. Bühler describes Veṭṭeḷuttu as an ancient cursive variety of the Tamil script.