Early Tamil Epigraphy by Padmashri Iravatham Mahadevan, Harvard Oriental Series, Book Release function, Madras, 15 April 2003

 Padmashri Iravatham Mahadevan (2 October 1930 – 26 November 2018) was a high-level civil servant (I.A.S) of India. His first job was as the sub-collector of Pollachi. He said it is one of the happiest periods of his life in an interview with Lalitha Ram at Varalaaru.com, and that is also the time he got married. He became a pre-eminent researcher of the Indus script system, and also a pioneer in deciphering Tamil Brahmi inscriptions. In fact, Tamil Brahmi is a name given by Iravatham M., and it is the name for all inscriptions on stone or pottery from fifth century BCE to 3rd century CE found in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Sri Lanka. The name of Tamil Brahmi is accepted and used all over the world. For example, Unicode (ISO 10646) uses the term, Tamil Brahmi. 

Recently, Dept. of Archaeology, Govt. pf Tamil Nadu and Roja Muthiah Research Library conducted an International conference in memory of Iravatham Mahadevan. Many Indus  researchers and Tamil  archaeologists took part. In this conference,  I had an opportunity to talk about Sri. Iravatham's work and the need to rename his so called Muruku sign as Makara-Viṭaṅkar sign based on the 4700 years of representation of Dhruva Nakshatra as a crocodile, which became associated with Varuṇa in Post-Harappan times. For the first time, I showed some evidences (i) from Rock Paintings of Central India where Gharial crocodile is morphing into a man, and (ii) the 6-spoked chakram and crocodile-pond symbols on Pre-Mauyan punch marked coins (e.g., in Keezhadi) of this crocodile sign. Keezhadi excavations have revealed the crocodile sign in pottery. Here is the abstract of all the lectures, https://archive.org/details/iravatham-seminar-abstracts-tngovt-march-2022/page/n23/mode/2up?view=theater

A rare photograph of the Tamil Brahmi inscriptions book (Harvard Oriental Series 62) release function at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Madras on 15th April 2003. The event announcement is given (AavaNam, 2003). Epigraphist Dr. S. Rajagopal has given a booklet he published at the event. Many thanks to Dr. SR for giving me this rare treasure, and future generations of Tamils will be able to read these pages. Iravatham Mahadevan's Harvard book is one of the most important works to understand and research the Iron Age of South India and Sangam Age of Tamil literature both from material and textual sources.

There are two prominent Tamil Jaina scholars (S. Sripal, Director General of Police and Dr. Aravaazhi, Chief Education Officer) on the dais as the Tamil Brahmi cave inscriptions contain a large percentage of gifts to Jaina monks. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The scholars on the dais are (L to R).
1. Kodumudi Shanmukam
2. Dr. R. Nagaswamy
3. Ashok Vardhan Shetty, Commissioner of Archaeology, TN
4. Dr. V. C. Kulandaiswamy
5. Iravatham Mahadevan
6. S. Sripal, DG of Police, Madras, a Tamil Jain
7. Aravaazhi (அறவாழி), Chief Education Officer, a Tamil Jain
8. Prof. Y. Subbarayalu
9. Prof. P. Shanmukam
10. Dr. R. Kalaikkovan, Trichy