Tamil-Brahmi

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Tamil-Brahmi
Tamil brahmi.png
Type Abugida
Languages Tamil language
Time period perhaps 5th but certainly 3rd, century BCE, to c. 3rd century CE
Parent systems
Child systems Vatteluttu
Sister systems Kharoshthi, Bhattiprolu script, Sinhala-Brahmi
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols.

Tamil-Brahmi, or Damili is an early phonetic script used to write Tamil characters. It is a variant of many Brahmi scripts used throughout South Asia, namely Ashokan Brahmi, Southern Brahmi, Bhattiprolu script and the Sri Lankan based Sinhala-Brahmi. It is known from surviving inscribed cave beds, pot sherds, Jar burials, coins, seals and rings. It was used widely across present-day Indian states of Kerala, Tamil nadu (known in ancient times as Tamilakam) and in neighboring Sri Lanka. Some examples have been identified in places like Egypt and Thailand as well.

Dates of the early inscriptions are not settled although they are variously dated from 3rd century BCE to the 1st century CE. Of the many Brahmi varieties, Tamil-Brahmi is related to both Bhattiprolu and Sinhala-Brahmi. Origin theories of it are controversial as well, with mainstream consensus around a post Ashokan or Early Mauryan dispersal (ca 322-185 BCE) with number of alternative dating of inscriptions of both Brahmi and Tamil-Brahmi that questions the settled chronology. It is distinguished from Standard Brahmi, by an inherent vowel marker for pure consonants and consonants. Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions have been useful in dating the early history of the Tamil people and their literary creations known as Cankam literature. Tamil-Brahmi is the parent script of the subsequent Tamil script Vatteluttu.

Contents

[edit] Origins

The origins of the Brahmi in general and Tamil-Brahmi specifically are unclear. There are number of inscriptions whose dates have not been settled yet. Nevertheless a number of theories has been put forward with literary, epigraphic and archeological evidence. The consensus of Epigraphist is that Brahmi in general dispersed to South India and Sri Lanka due to the efforts of Jaina and Buddhist missionaries post 3rd century BCE. But there are a number of competing theories and dates of dispersal based on archeological, literary and epigraphic reviews.

[edit] Literary review

The earliest mention of a script for writing the Tamil language is found in the Jaina work Samavayanga Sutta (traditionally dated to 300 BCE) and Pannavana Sutta (dated to 168 BCE) where a script called Damilli is mentioned.[1] In the Buddhist work, Lalitavistara (translated into Chinese in 308 CE), a script called Dravidalipi is mentioned.[1][2] According to Kamil Zvelebil, Damilli and Dravidalipi are synonymous for Tamil writing.[1] References to writing are also available in early Tamil literature. Tolkappiyam in stanza 16 and 17 mentions dots added to consonants. The author of Tolkappiyam displays awareness of a writing system and the graphic system as he knew it corresponds with later writing systems. Other works such as Tirukkural mentions writing using the word eluttu.[1] Cilappatikaram mentions kanneluttu that was used to mark merchandise imported at the port emporium of Kaveripattinam, it also mentions kanneluttalar or scribes.[1] A reference to palm leaf manuscript writing is found in Nalatiyar and Purananuru mentions a hero stone that has the name of the hero etched in it. Based on the literature analysis, Kamil Zvelebil believes writing was known to Tamil people at least from the 3rd century BCE.[1]

[edit] Epigraphic review

Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions mixed in with Megalithic Graffiti Symbols found in Tissamaharama, Sri Lanka

[edit] Post 3rd BCE dispersal

Based on epigraphic review, several hypotheses have been proposed, with the theory suggested by epigraphist Iravatham Mahadevan having consensus.[3] According to Mahadevan, Brahmi script reached the Tamil country due the southern spread of Jainism and Buddhism from North India, and was adapted to suit the Tamil phonetic system.[4] This theory presupposes that Brahmi script itself was either invented or originated within the imperial courts of Mauryan kingdom and it was dispersed to South India and Sri Lanka post 3rd century BCE. The time line of dispersal is either post Ashokan or early Mauryan period.[4] Ahmed Hassan Dani questioned the 3rd BCE date and suggested 1st century CE as the probable date but this has been discounted by others such as T.V. Mahalingam[5] and Richard Salmon.[3] The earliest surviving acceptably dated Tamil-Brahmi inscription is the Tissamaharama Tamil Brahmi inscription dated to the 2nd century BCE in Sri Lanka.[6]

[edit] Pre 3rd BCE dispersal

The evidence for pre-Ashokan dispersal comes from Sri Lanka. The earliest attested Brahmi inscriptions in South Asia are found in the citadel of Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka and are dated to the 4th century BCE.[7][8] According to Allchin et al., Brahmi developed before the southern spread of Ashokan missionary activities and spread across South Asia due to trade networks.[7][9] There have been number of inscriptions found in Tamil Nadu that have been tentatively dated to 6th century BCE in Adichanallur[10][11][12] and 5th century BCE in Porunthal.[6][13][14] But these early Tamil Nadu dating do not have mainstream acceptance.[6] The post Ashokan dispersal theory developed by Mahadevan fails to take in to account the Anuradhapura findings[15] and is solely based on epigraphic review and does not take into account relevant archeological data.[16] According to R. Nagaswamy[17] and Gift Siromony,[18] Tamil Brahmi or Damili developed independently of Standard Brahmi in Tamilakam and was adopted by northern based Mauryan empire for imperial inscriptions. Coningham (1996), Kasinathan (1995), K.V. Ramesh, M.D. Sampath, K.G. Krishnan, K.V. Raman (1976) and Deraniyagala (1992) believe that Brahmi is pre-Asokan and entered into Tamil Nadu from Sri Lanka.[16] K. Rajan believes the origin of Tamil Brahmi needs to seen from the common cultural area of ancient Tamilakam and Sri Lanka.[16]

[edit] Archeological review

Artifacts such as inscribed potsherds, coins or any other that are found in Tamil Nadu in successive undisturbed cultural layers are dated based stratigraphy.[16] The layer on the top is considered younger than the layer that is found below. Thus, a succession of layers provides a relative chronological sequence from earliest to latest.[16] The inscribed potsherds recovered from Kodumanal when analyzed on the basis of stratigraphical sequences are dated to 4th century BCE at the lowermost level.[16] The lowermost level potsherd had the scripts peculiar to Tamil characters and in addition distinctive paleographic shape for letter m. Further, there is omission of voiced consonants, aspirates and sibilants peculiar to Tamil-Brahmi. This phenomenon is not confined to the Kodumanal in Kongu Nadu but found throughout the Tamil Nadu, Kerala and in Jaffna peninsula of Sri Lanka. The evolution and uniform adoption of this peculiar script would have taken considerable time to spread widely. According K. Rajan, the introduction or evolution or origin of script in Tamil Nadu might well be beyond 4th century BCE due to the uniformity of the script, lack of grammatical errors and the widespread usage.[16]

[edit] The script

Silver coin of king Vashishtiputra Sātakarni (c. 160 CE).
Obv: Bust of king. Prakrit legend in the Brahmi script: "Siri Satakanisa Rano ... Vasithiputasa": "King Vashishtiputra Sri Satakarni"
Rev: Ujjain/Sātavāhana symbol left. Crescented six-arch chaitya hill right. River below. Early Tamil legend in the Tamil Brahmi script: "Arah(s)anaku Vah(s)itti makanaku Tiru H(S)atakani ko" - which means "The ruler, Vasitti's son, Highness Satakani" - -ko being the royal name suffix[19][20][21][22]

Tamil-Brahmi had notable peculiarities when compared to the Standard Brahmi.[23] It had four different characters to represent Dravidian language phonemes not represented in the standard northern-based Brahmi used to write Indo-Aryan Prakrits. It was also the first Indic writing system that moved towards alphabetization. The attempt at alphabetization eventually failed due strong influence from neighboring Indic abugida writing systems.[24]

The closest resemblance to Tamil-Brahmi is to its neighboring Sinhala-Brahmi. Both seem to use similar letters to indicate phonemes’ that are unique to Dravidian languages although Sinhala-Brahmi was used to write an Indo-Aryan Prakrit used in the island of Sri Lanka. Apart from Sinhala-Brahmi, there are Tamil-Brahmi writings found in Sri Lanka from Kantharodai in the north to Tissamaharama in the south. All these are dated to 2nd century BCE. There is Sinhala-Brahmi inscriptions found in Tamil Nadu as well.[24]

The Bhattiprolu inscription found in present day Andhra Pradesh also shows systemic but not paleographic similarity to Tamil Brahmi.[23] According to Richard Salmon, the Bhattiprolu script was originally invented to write a Dravidian language but was reapplied to inscribe in an Indo-Aryan Prakrit. Hence both the Bhattiprolu and Tamil Brahmi share common modifications to represent Dravidian languages.[24][25] Bhattiprolu script is also considered the Rosetta Stone of Tamil Brahmi decipherment.[24] According to Iravatham Mahathevan there are three stages in the development of the script. The early stage is dated from 3rd/2nd century BCE to 1st century BCE. The later stage is dated from 1st century CE to 2nd century CE. The third stage is dated from 2nd century CE to 3rd/4th century CE.[2] According to Gift Siromony, the types of Tamil Brahmi writings do not follow a very clear chronology and can lead to confusion in dating.[18] According to K. Rajan, the Ashokan Brahmi corresponds with the Stage II of Tamil Brahmi per Mahadevan’s classification. Hence according to him, Stage I may have to be reassessed from the proposed time line.[16] From 5th century CE onwards Tamil is written in Vatteluttu in the Chera and Pandya country and Grantha or Tamil script in the Chola and Pallava country.[24] Tamil Brahmi inscriptions in cave beds and coins have provided historians with identifying some kings and chiefs mentioned in the Cankam Tamil corpus as well as related Ashokan pillar inscriptions.[24][26]

[edit] Usage

Jambai Tamil Brahmi inscription

Although Tamil writing was initially believed to be concentrated amongst the Jaina and Buddhist circles, it eventually spread throughout the population with kings, chiefs, potters, toddy tappers and merchants using it extensively throughout Tamilakam and abroad.[27][28] But according to archeological findings, the script was widely used along with Megalithic Graffiti Symbols for funerary and other purposes and such usage predates the use by different religious sects.[16] The initial concentration of the writing was detected around Madurai but later it is found in Tiruchi, Kaveripattinam and Tondaimanadalam. The languages used in most of the inscriptions betray a thorough assimilation of Prakrit elements per rules established by Tamil grammarians.[29][30] The early inscriptions also show potential Kannada influences due to Jaina inflow from what is today Karnataka. In its usage, it differed considerably from other scripts used in contemporary South Asia as its use was widespread in rural and urban areas and across different social classes.[24][31]

[edit] Decipherment

Tamil Brahmi was not deciphered as a separate script until the mid 20th century CE. Until then it was assumed to have been Standard Brahmi writing of Prakrit language. The deciphering of the Grantha, Vatteluttu, Nagari and Tamil scripts of the south Indian inscriptions dating from the 7th century A.D. and their evolutionary stages, based on their resemblance to the modern forms of the scripts, seemed relatively easier and more successful than that of the early Brahmi inscriptions. The early Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions posed a greater challenge on account of their archaic characters and orthographic conventions, which were different from the original Brahmi used for Prakrit.[24]

A.C. Burnell (1874), attempted the earliest work on South Indian paleography, but it was due to the efforts of K. V. Subrahmanya Ayyar (1924), H. K Krishna Sastri and K.K. Pillai that it was understood to be written in an early form of Tamil, not Prakrit.[26] The early attempts assumed more Prakrit loan words than what was actually used, hence the decipherment was not entirely successful. Iravatham Mahathevan identified the writings as mostly consisting of Tamil words in the late 1960s and published them in seminars and proceedings.[24][26] This was further expanded by T.V. Mahalingam (1967), R. Nagaswamy (1972), R. Panneerselvam (1972) and M. S. Venkataswamy (1981).[2]

[edit] Significant Tamil Brahmi findings

  • A broken storage jar with inscriptions in Tamil Brahmi script in Quseir-al-Qadim, (Leukos Limen) Egypt, 1st century BCE. Two earlier Tamil Brahmi inscription discoveries at the same site, 1st century CE.[28][32]
  • An inscribed amphora fragment in Tamil at the ancient Ptolemic-Roman settlement of Berenice Troglodytica, Egypt, 1st century BCE- 1st century CE.[32]
  • Tamil-Brahmi inscription on pottery found in Phu Khao Thong, Thailand, 2nd century CE. Touchstone (uraikal) engraved in Tamil in the Tamil-Brahmi script at Khuan Luk Pat, 3rd-4th century CE.[33]
  • Potsherds with Tamil Brahmi inscriptions found in Poonagari, Jaffna, 2nd century BCE.[34]
  • Black and red ware potsherd with Tamil Brahmi inscriptions in Ucchapanai, Kandarodai, Jaffna, 3rd century BCE.[35][36]
  • Tamil Brahmi inscriptions on a pot rim in Pattanam (Muziris), Kerala, 2nd century CE.[37]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f Zvelebil 1975, p. 17
  2. ^ a b c Mahadevan, Iravatham (1994). "Recent discoveries of Jaina cave inscriptions in Tamilnadu". Rishabh Dev Foundation. http://jainsamaj.org/rpg_site/literature2.php?id=595&cat=42. Retrieved 14 October 2011. 
  3. ^ a b Salmon 1999, p. 37
  4. ^ a b Zvelebil 2002, p. 94
  5. ^ Prematilleka & Indrapala 1978, p. 277
  6. ^ a b c Subramanian, T.S (29 August 2011). "Palani excavation triggers fresh debate". The Hindu (The Hindu). http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article2408091.ece. Retrieved 7 October 2011. 
  7. ^ a b Coningham, Robin; Prishanta Gunawardhana, Gamini Adikari, Ian Simpson,. "Anuradhapura (Sri Lanka) Project, Phase I: ASW2". Arts and Humanities Research Council. http://www.dur.ac.uk/arch.projects/anuradhapura/english/phase1.html. Retrieved 7 October 2011. 
  8. ^ Coningham, R.A.E; Allchin, F.R.; Batt, C.M., "Passage to India?Anuradhapura and the early use of Brahmi Script", Cambridge Archaeological Journal 6: 73–97 
  9. ^ Tripathi, Sila (2011), "Ancient maritime trade on the eastern Indian littoral", Current Science 100 (7): 1084 
  10. ^ There have been number of archaeological digs that have yielded Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions that are dated beyond the mainstream consensus of 3rd/2nd century BCE. Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had conducted excavations in Adichanallur in Southern Tamil Nadu. In one of these excavations, It has been tentatively suggested by the ASI archaeologists that graffiti etched into a potsherd is tentatively dated to the 5th century BCE and is an example of a "very rudimentary" form of Tamil writing.In another related excavation at the same site, ASI have indicated that the Tamil-Brahmi inscription may have dated from as far back as 7th-8th century BCE
  11. ^ "Skeletons, script found at ancient burial site in Tamil Nadu". The Hindu (Chennai, India). May 26, 2004. http://www.hindu.com/2004/05/26/stories/2004052602871200.htm. 
  12. ^ T.S., Subramanian (February 17, 2005). "`Rudimentary Tamil-Brahmi script' unearthed at Adichanallur". The Hindu. http://www.hinduonnet.com/2005/02/17/stories/2005021704471300.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-06. 
  13. ^ A team from Department of History, Pondicherry University excavated a Megalithic cist-burial in 2009 CE at Porunthal a village, on the foothills of the Western Ghats, 12 km from Palani in Tamil Nadu. They found two underground chambers that contained a grave. The grave had a skull and skeletal bones, a four-legged jar with two kg of paddy inside, two ring-stands inscribed with the Tamil-Brahmi script reading “va-y-ra” (meaning diamond) and a symbol of a gem with a thread passing through it, 7,500 beads made of carnelian, steatite, quartz and agate, three pairs of iron stirrups, iron swords, knives, four-legged jars of heights ranging from few centimeters to one meter, urns, vases, plates and bowls. Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) dating of the paddy done by Beta Analysis Inc., Miami, U.S.A, assigned the paddy to 490 BCE. According to Prof. Rajan of Pondicherry University, as all goods were placed at the same time, he dated the Tamil-Brahmi writing to the same 490 BCE date.
  14. ^ Kishore, Kavitha (15 October 2011). "Porunthal excavations prove existence of Indian scripts in 5th century BC: expert". The Hindu (The Hindu Group). http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article2538550.ece. Retrieved 17 October 2011. 
  15. ^ Olivelle 2006, p. 123
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rajan, K (2008), "Situating the Beginning of Early Historic Times in Tamil Nadu: Some Issues and Reflections", Social Scientist 36 (1/2): 40–78 
  17. ^ Zvelebil 1975, p. 18
  18. ^ a b Siromony, Gift (January 1982,). "The origin of the Tamil script". Tamil Studies (International Institute of Tamil Historical Studies) 8 (23). http://www.cmi.ac.in/gift/Epigraphy/epig_tamilorigin.htm. 
  19. ^ Mahadevan 2003, pp. 199–205
  20. ^ Nagaswamy 1995, pp. 4
  21. ^ Panneerselvam, R (1969), "Further light on the bilingual coin of the Sātavāhanas", Indo-Iranian Journal 4 (11): 281–288 
  22. ^ Yandell 2000, pp. 235
  23. ^ a b Salmon 1999, p. 35
  24. ^ a b c d e f g h i Champahalakshmi, R. "A magnum opus on Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions". Frontline (The Hindu). http://www.hindu.com/fline/fl2013/stories/20030704000207100.htm. Retrieved 7 October 2011. 
  25. ^ Salmon 1999, p. 36
  26. ^ a b c Zvelebil 1975, p. 44
  27. ^ Zvelebil 2002, pp. 94–95
  28. ^ a b Lakshimikanth 2008, p. 8
  29. ^ Zvelebil 1975, p. 47
  30. ^ Zvelebil 2002, p. 95
  31. ^ Mahadevan, Iravatham (11 april 2003). "Orality to literacy: Transition in Early Tamil Society". Frontline (The Hindu). http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2007/stories/20030411001208100.htm. Retrieved 7 October 2011. 
  32. ^ a b "Tamil Brahmi script in Egypt". The Hindu. November 21, 2007. http://www.hinduonnet.com/2007/11/21/stories/2007112158412400.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-06. 
  33. ^ "Tamil-Brahmi inscription on pottery found in Thailand". The Hindu. July 16, 2006. http://www.hindu.com/2006/07/16/stories/2006071603952000.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-06. 
  34. ^ Mahadevan 2003, p. 48
  35. ^ S. Krishnarajah (2004). University of Jaffna. Archaeology Department.
  36. ^ Thiagarajah, Siva (2010). "The people and cultures of prehistoric Sri Lanka - Part Three". The Sri Lanka Guardian. http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2010/08/people-and-cultures-of-prehistoric-sri_21.html. Retrieved 14 October 2011. 
  37. ^ Subramanian, T. S. (March 14, 2011). "Tamil-Brahmi script found at Pattanam in Kerala". The Hindu (Chennai, India). http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article1535109.ece. 
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