Tamil Brahmi inscriptions and other archaeological finds
This is a few weeks old, but I've not seen it discussed here, so...
A Tamil Brahmi inscription dating from the first century BC has been discovered in Egypt. Iravatham Mahadevan has provided a tentative reading:
http://www.hindu.com/2007/11/21/stor...2158412400.htm
Tamil Brahmi inscriptions have been found before on the Egyptian Red Sea coast at Quseir-al-Qadim / Berenike, but this one is at least a century or so older.
Re: Tamil Brahmi inscription in Egypt
Quote:
Originally Posted by podalangai
This is a few weeks old, but I've not seen it discussed here, so...
A Tamil Brahmi inscription dating from the
first century BC has been discovered in Egypt. Iravatham Mahadevan has provided a tentative reading:
http://www.hindu.com/2007/11/21/stor...2158412400.htm
Tamil Brahmi inscriptions have been found before on the Egyptian Red Sea coast at Quseir-al-Qadim / Berenike, but this one is at least a century or so older.
Interesting news ! A few questions:
Is the distinction between Asokan Brahmi and Tamil Brahmi something everyone agrees on ? Paanai Uri seems to be quite settling because the words exist till date. But what if the words have dropped out. Would it still be possible to tell apart Asokan and Tamil Brahmi just by the letters alone ? Is Adichanallur still the oldest Tamil Brahmi ever ? 6th century BC ?
Re: Tamil Brahmi inscription in Egypt
Quote:
Originally Posted by Prabhu Ram
Is the distinction between Asokan Brahmi and Tamil Brahmi something everyone agrees on ? Paanai Uri seems to be quite settling because the words exist till date. But what if the words have dropped out. Would it still be possible to tell apart Asokan and Tamil Brahmi just by the letters alone?
Yes. For a (very) brief summary of some of the differences, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_script#History
In this case, the inscription uses the vallinam "R" (ற் in the modern Tamil script), which makes it pretty clear that the inscription is in Tamil, as Asokan Brahmi didn't have the character. Even otherwise, nearly all Tamil Brahmi inscriptions distinguish pure consonants (meyezhuthu with puLLi) from consonants with an inherent vowel (meyezhuththu + "a"), which standard Brahmi usually doesn't do. This makes it quite easy to distinguish Tamil Brahmi from standard Brahmi.
Finally, because of the Sangam literature, we have an excellent idea of what Tamil was like in the 1st century BC. As a result, we are in a position to recognise even those words that have dropped out of everyday use in modern Tamil, because they were used in Sangam Tamil.