Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.3302

c7.3302

4) Kerala Lipi. The Brāhmī lipi came to south India by the 3rd century A.D. Many scholars on languages say that ‘Veṭṭeluṭṭu’ is a changed form of the Brāhmī lipi. The great lipi expert L.A. Ravi Varma says that ‘Eluṭṭu’ has come from the word ‘Elu’ or ‘Alu’ meaning ‘to mark by cuts’. The common method of writing in South India was to use a pointed stick, long metal nail or chisel to make marks on leaves, rocks or copper plates. Writing by making marks with the pointed stick (Kol) got the name ‘Koleluṭṭu’. Veṭṭeluṭṭu, Koleluṭṭu and Malayāṇma were the three lipis in use in Kerala. Veṭṭeluṭṭu was in vogue in Tamilnāḍu also. But the Pallavas who were using Prākṛta language when they conquered the northern Tamilnad introduced Granthākṣara and Granthatamil there. T.K.Krishna Menon says that Granthākṣara was a false creation to write Sanskrit easily. In Pāṇḍyadeśa and Malanāḍu Veṭṭeluṭṭu was in use even then.