Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century C.E. (Tamil-Brahmi Inscriptions)

Language: English
Pages: 772 (95 B/W Illustrations)






















About the Book

 

This is Volume I of the revised and enlarged Second
Edition of Early Tamil Epigraphy, first published in 2003. The Volume deals
with Tamil-Brahmi stone inscriptions discovered up to
2012. The main feature of the edition is that it is based on fresh in situ
delineation and digitisation of the cave inscriptions included in the Corpus.

 

This work provides a detailed account of the
discovery and decipherment of the inscriptions and relates their language and
contents to early Tamil literature and society. Tamil-Brahmi
inscriptions on pottery, coins, seals and rings, have also been utilised to
present a more complete picture of early Tamil epigraphy. Two new section deal
with Prakrit inscriptions on pottery and other
inscribed objects, and Sinhala-Prakrit pottery
inscriptions, from Tamilnadu, which bring out the
interaction of Tamil-Brahmi with other contemporary
languages and scripts of South India and Sri Lanka.

 

The study deals comprehensively with the epigraphy,
language and contents of the inscription. The text are
given in transliteration with translation and extensive word by word
commentary. The inscriptions are illustrated with direct photographs in colour,
together with delineations and estampages for
comparative study. Palaeography of Tamil-Brahmi is
described in detail with the help of letter charts. The special orthographic
and grammatical feature of the earliest Tamil inscriptions
are also described. A glossary of inscriptional words and several
classified word lists have been added to aid further research.