Tamil-Brahmi-Tamili-inscriptions-authors-Rajavelu

Who were the authors of Tamil-Brāhmī(Tamili) inscriptions- the earliest script of the Tamils?

                                      S.Rajavelu,*

Professor and Head

(First, appeared in South Indian History Congress proceedings. This is edited version in 2019,  Tamil nadu history congress endowment lecture.)

The earliest inscriptions of Tamil Nadu known as Tamil Brāhmī or Tamiḻi inscriptions are found noticed on the eye brow and on the stone beds of the natural caverns of the hills as well as on the hero stones in the remote villages of Pulimān kōmpai, Tātappaṭṭi in Teni District and Poṟpaṉaik kōṭṭai in Pudukkottai District of Tamil nadu. Besides, some of the coins, rings, seals and large number of Pottery pieces which are recovered from the excavations which bear the names of individuals are written in this script. The date of the script is now fixed on the basis of paleography as well as scientific dates (ASM) arrived from Porunthal and Koḍumaṇal by Rajan to 6th century BCE, [1] i.e., 300 years prior to Aśōkan Brāhmī of North India.

             From the 19th century till today a large number of Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions have been discovered in the natural caverns located in an inaccessible heights and slopes of the hills in the hilly districts of Madurai, Sivagangai, Pudukkottai, Trichchirappalli, Tiruvannamalai, Erode and Villuppuram[2]. These natural caverns served as the rock shelters.  On the floor of the natural caverns   invariably one can see the polished fine narrow stone beds carved out in the natural rock surface measuring from 3 feet to 8 feet length.  In some of the caves, the top portion of the bed has been cut off little bit high which served as the pillow of the bed.  The drip ledge is shown above the overhanging roof boulder to prevent rain water flowing inside the cavern.  

These natural caverns mostly located far away from the habitation of the village. Many of them were surrounded with megalithic tombs. Around 4^th and 5^th century CE, these natural caverns were occupied by the Jaina monks and they carved out the figures of Tīrthaṅkaras and inscribed the details of the sculptures and the donor names in Vaṭṭeḻuttu characters. 

            Many scholars studied these inscriptions from the 19^th century CE till today and made their attempts to decipher these inscriptions and believe the date of these inscriptions from the 2^nd century BCE. Further they put forth various theories to its authorship and origin.  Three outstanding theories prevail amidst the scholars regarding the authorship and the association of beds of the caverns which housed with Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions that are Buddhists, Jains and Ᾱjivikas.

            Venkayya, a pioneer Epigraphist in the field of South Indian Epigraphy claims that the Buddhist monks used these caverns to propagate Buddhism in Tamil nadu and they were the authors of the Tamil-Brāhmī script[3]. His theory is based on the spread of Buddhism by Aśōka and his successors around 3^rd century CE in his Empire in Indian sub continent and further south ie., Sri Lanka. While Aśōka sent the Buddhist missionaries to Sri Lanka, they must have passed through the Tamil country, stayed in the caverns and propagated their faith in Tamil nadu, he added. His theory of Buddhist authorship was further supported by the eminent Epigraphist, K.V.Subrahmanya Aiyer[4].

            According to late Shri Iravatham Mahadevan, an outstanding scholar in the field of Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions  who has produced magnum Opus volumes  in recent years inclined to claim that the author of these cavern inscriptions were Jains[5]. This theory was strongly believed by other scholars of Archaeology and many Epigraphists in Tamil Nadu and they claim that the Tamils borrowed the script from north India around 2^nd century CE from the Jaina monks who settled in the cavern to lead a life of seclusion and meditation[6].

            T.V. Mahalingam, another notable scholar in the field opined that these caverns were associated with the Ᾱjivikas ascetics[7].  This theory was in recent years strongly advocated by Prof. Nedunchezhiyan[8]. He claims that the ancient Tamil people   were the followers of Ᾱjivikas sect and Markali kōsar, the founder of the Ᾱjivikas sect in Tamil Country. The worship of Aiyyanār is dominantly followed in Tamil nadu by the Ᾱjivikas in the early centuries of Pre Common Era.

            The present author in the light of recent discovery of a hero stone inscription at Tātappaṭṭi with other internal evidences of cavern inscriptions on the beds of natural rock shelters, the recent archaeological excavations carried out by Dr. K. Rajan at Porunthal and Koḍumaṇal categorically analyses the above theories of the scholars regarding the authorship of cavern inscriptions of Tamil nadu  and denied the origin of Tamil-Brāhmī from North India.  The paper discloses that the Tamil-Brāhmī script was created by the Tamil people to suit for their language from the graffiti writings.  Further, this paper analyses that the stone beds in the natural caverns are carved for the purpose of the dead as memorial tombs. The erection of memorials is a common phenomenon of the Tamils in the Sangam period and large numbers of megalithic monuments have been found throughout Tamil nadu. The stone beds are one such category which was scooped on the floors of natural caverns. It is closely associated with the megalithic practice of the Tamils.  The sizes of the beds are varying from place to place and mostly surrounded by the megalithic burials in the foot hills of the caverns. Sittaṇṇavāsal is one fine example of this kind.  Further, there is no single mention referring to any religious faiths in these inscriptions either in the form of religious symbols or in the form of religious words-invocatory messages (maṅgala sulōga). The auspicious marks or auspicious words are quite common in the inscriptions of north India from the time of Aśōka Maurya of 3^rd century B.CE onwards.

            The scientific date arrived at by K. Rajan from Porunthal excavations and Koḍumanal excavations reveal the fact that the script in Tamil country was known by the native Tamils prior to 6^th Century BCE. This period in North India witnessed the emergence of two religious orders namely Jainism and Buddhism. They were in the budding stage during this period.  None of the early Sangam literature records the existence of any religious faith and monarchism in Tamil country prior to 2^nd century CE., In contrast these literature mostly dealt with love (agam) and war (puram) which are totally against the ascetic life or monarchism prescribed by the above three religions. Hence, this paper elaborately discusses the authors of the Tamil Brāhmī cavern inscriptions and examines its origin in a detailed manner with the recent archaeological and literary evidences.  

Indus valley and Dravidian

            The earliest evidence for written documents in India is recovered from the excavated sites of Indus valley in the form of seals. Nearly four hundred and odd seals bearing the symbols with the pictographs have not been till date successfully deciphered. However, scholars   have propounded many theories regarding the script of Harappan culture and the prime most theory among them is Dravidian theory of its origin.  If it could be successfully accepted, then the history of India, on the basis of written records has been started around 6000 years before the present. Till then we have to depend upon that the Tamil- Brāhmī (Tamili) script which was prevalent in Tamil nadu and Kerala around 600 BCE is the earliest script in India which was the mother of Pan Indian scripts including the Aśōkan-Brāhmī of 3^rd century BCE and the Brāhmī script of Srī Laṅka of 4^th century BCE.

Origin and Chronology of Tamil Brāhmī-Script

            Edward Thomas[9] an eminent scholar declared that the Brāhmī script was the invention of Dravidian people who were the original inhabitants of the whole of India and subsequently adopted by the Aryans in the later stage. He was followed by another eminent Epigraphist T. N. Subrahmanyan and he strongly put forth that the Tamil-Brāhmī was originally invented by the Tamil people for their Tamil language which was later borrowed by North Indians for their language Prākrit. Further he quotes that in all probability the Prākrit language itself in its original form was a South Indian product synthesizing the Dravidian language to make it understandable throughout the country.[10]  The origin of Tamil-Brāhmī script was further studied by the following scholars and they inclined to accept that the script was originally invented by the Tamils around 5 or 6^th century BCE.             

Among them, Dr. K.V.Ramesh, Natana Kasinathan and the author of this article Rajavelu studied on the above subject and conclude that the Tamil-Brāhmī script is the earliest known script which was prevalent in Tamil country prior to Aśōkan Brāhmī around 5^th or 6^th century BCE[11]. They fixed this date on the basis of Palaeography, orthography, language, linguistic features and its simple form of the script as well as the potteries with Tamil-Brāhmī scripts, recovered from the stratums of the excavated sites in Tamil Nadu.  The basic symbols of the Tamil-Brāhmī script were taken to suit the Prākrit language. For which they created more symbols to suit the phonetic (varga sounds) for their Prākrit language around 4^th century BCE.  The standardized and developed form of this script has been introduced by the Aśōka Maurya around 3^rd century BCE in North India.

Iravatham Mahadevan’s theory on the Date and Origin of Tamil Brāhmī

            Shri. Iravatham Mahadevan strongly advocated that the Tamil-Brāhmī script was derived from Mauryan-Brāhmī of 2^nd century BCE which was brought to Tamil Nadu by the Jaina monks from North India[12].       He traces the migration of the Jains from Śravaṇa-Beḷgola  in Karnataka.  A late Kannada literature records a traditional story of Chandragupta Maurya of Magadha came to South India along his preceptor Bhadrabāhu and finally settled down in Śravaṇa-Beḷgola when severe famine affected in his country Maghada. They spread Jainism in Karnataka around 4^th century BCE. Bhadrabāhu’s disciple Visakha Muni went further to south along with Jaina monks and they only introduced the Tamil-Brāhmī script in Tamil Nadu.

The Date of Śravaṇa-Beḷgola

            This traditional story of Bhadrabāhu’s and Chandragupta Mauryas migration to Śravaṇa-Beḷgola appeared in the late inscriptions and in Kannada literature of late period[13]. The earliest inscription in Śravaṇa-Beḷgola belongs to the 6^th century CE.  No single inscription of Brāhmī characters of pre Common Era is found in this hilly village. Even if we accept that the author of Tamil Brāhmī was the Jaina   monks of Viskha Muni, the disciple of Bhadrabāhu, certainly one should have come across some early inscriptions written in Brāhmī scripts at Śravaṇa-Beḷgola itself around 4^th   or 3^rd century BCE., as was found in the natural caverns of Tamil Nadu.   It clearly indicates that Iravatham Mahadevan theory on the origin of Brāhmī in to Tamil Country through the Jaina monks of Śravaṇa-Beḷgola is a farfetched one without any contemporary evidences.

Epigraphists of North India pointed out only 6 inscriptions which belonged to the pre- Aśōkan period. They were written on stones, copper plate and on the coin.[14] Aśōka himself in his edicts proclaimed that the people of North India did not have the knowledge of writing for which he appointed officers Dharmamahā māthrās and Dharma yuktās to read out the inscribed stones and explain the message to the people.

Mauryan Brāhmī

            Iravatham Mahadevan coined a term Mauryan Brāhmī of 2^nd century BCE in the North India from which the Tamil Brāhmī scripts have been evolved, he quoted. After the demise of Aśōka practically we do not come across any inscriptions of this kind in North India except his grandson Dasaratha issued some three or four inscriptions in the Nāgarjuni hill region for Ājivika sects. After the demise of Aśōka, the Mauryan Empire, the north Indian kings have not issued many inscriptions with Brāhmī script. In the light of the above, It is surprising that how Iravatham Mahadevan arrived a conclusion that that the Jaina monks were the authors of these caverns as well as of the Tamil-Brahmi scripts. His theory of Mauryan Brāhmī is nothing but mere an exaggeration without any authentic evidences. As pointed out earlier no such inscriptions were found on the hilly region of Śravaṇa-Beḷgola where the settlements of Jaina monks were established by Chandragupta Maurya and Bhadrabāhu.  With the paucity of evidences of the existence of Mauryan Brahmi in North India during this period, the theory of Mahadevan on the origin of Tamil- Brāhmī baseless.

Pottery inscriptions in Tamil Nadu and abroad

            More over, Tamil Nadu is rich in pottery inscriptions of Tamil-Brāhmī characters. Nearly 35 excavated sites yielded Tamil- Brāhmī label inscriptions. These sites are closely associated with Sangam Period. Around 1200 potteries have been reported in these sites including the recent excavated site of Kīḻaḍi. All yielded the names of individuals written on Tamil- Brāhmī characters on the potteries which clearly suggest that the people of Tamil Nadu used to write their names on the earthen utensils. Further it proved that the Tamils were most literate people than the North Indians.

  This kind of potsherds with the Tamil names in characters of Tamil-Brāhmī scripts have also been reported in the Red sea area, as well as South East Asia and Sri Lanka. Quesir –al-Quadim, Berenike in Egypt, Khor Rori in Omen, Phu Khao Thong in Thailand, Tissamaharama and 6 more excavated sites in Sri Lanka yielded Tamil Brāhmī inscriptions.[15]  Large numbers of Ramayana and Mahabharata sites have been excavated during the last two and half centuries in North India by the British and Indian Archaeologists. So far, none of the sites yielded Brāhmī legend on the potteries in the excavations. It shows that the people of North India did not have any kind of writing system till the 4^th century BCE.  

Palaeography of Tamil Brāhmī

Palaeography of Tamil Brāhmī, the simple and rudimentary form of letters both in the Cavern inscriptions and Pottery inscriptions, it is possible to arrive at the date of Tamil-Brāhmī to certainly earlier than the standard form of Aśōkan Brāhmī. The absence of varga systems,   (though Tamils used phonetic sounds where ever necessary with the usage of one letter); the absent of inherent a, the formation of letters such as short a  and long ā vowels, consonants symbols m,r, etc are comparatively in a standardized and developed  forms in Aśōkan Brāhmī where as these are in rudimentary signs in Tamil Brāhmī.  In the initial stage of the Tamil-Brāhmī inscription, the Vowel consonants and basic consonants do not have any differences either using conjuncts or pulli marks as we have seen the formation of conjuncts in the Aśōkan Brāhmī. This demarcation is clearly shown in the Aśōkan Brāhmī by using conjuncts. Either they were written jointly from top to bottom or side by side as we have seen in all Indian writing system at present.

            The Tamils recognize this later on around 2^nd century B.C and introduced a new technique by using dot marks (pulli system) to indicate or differentiate the Consonants and Vowel consonants in the script. This is the major development of Tamil-Brāhmī script.  All these show that the Tamil-Brāhmī script is an indigenous one created by the Tamils for their language Tamil around 6^th century BCE  from the Graffiti which were abundantly found on the potteries as well as some pre history paintings in Tamil nadu.

Scientific Date arrived from Porunthal and Koḍumaṇal excavations

The scientific date arrived at recently by Rajan is the turning point in the history of Chronology of Tamil-Brāhmī scripts which  strongly supports the Palaeographical date of the script. Rajan carried out excavations at a place called Porunthal in the year 2009 near Palani, the abode of Lord Murugan in Tamil nadu.[16]  The seven radiometric dates received from two different laboratories from USA pushed the date of Brāhmī scientifically to 6^th century BCE.  The Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS dating) dates of Porunthal from the paddy grains dates to the 520 BCE.[17] The paddy grains recovered from the trench along with the ring stand with writing reads vayara in Tamil-Brāhmī characters. On palaeographical grounds this letters are assignable to the second stage of Tamil-Brāhmī characters.

 In the years 2012 and 2013, Rajan has conducted excavations in two seasons at Koḍumaṇal  in Erode District of Tamil nadu[18]. He collected five samples at various depths of the trenches for dating. The samples were sent to USA and five different dates have been obtained. The sample obtained at a depth of 120 cm shows that the date is 480 BCE. The total deposit of the trench further goes below 185 cm. According to the excavator Rajan, there is still 65 cm thick cultural deposit containing inscribed potsherds both Tamil-Brāhmī scripts and graffiti below this dated (480 BCE) level. Based on this one can easily push the date of the earliest deposit in this site to 6^th or 7^th century BCE. Koḍumaṇal , is the important commercial centre which yielded nearly 1200 potsherds with Tamil-Brāhmī letters till 2017 excavations. The lower most level of the trench yielded graffiti marks and on the above level the excavator noticed graffiti and Tamil-Brāhmī potteries within the thickness of 65 cm.  Above that the Tamil Brāhmī letters have been found along with some Prākrit letter. This is dated in 480 BCE. Tamil Brāhmī alone can be dated prior to 480 BCE in all probability it could be fixed to the 6^th century BCE.

  The commercial and trade centers like Koḍumaṇal, Arikkamēḍu and Azagaṉkuḷm  yielded  6 signs of  northern Brāhmī letters viz., sa,śa ha, dha,da,bha on the potteries. They were all found on the upper layers of the trenches. At Koḍumaṇal it found along with the Tamil Brāhmī dated to 480 BCE. It gives the clue that the Prākrit form of writing too evolved in Tamil nadu and took by the traders of Sri Lanka and North India to suit their languages.   They learnt the Tamil-Brāhmī Scripts from the Tamil people and introduced a few letters here itself and took to their country innovated many varga and special letters for their languages[19]. In the 2017 recent excavations at Koḍumaṇal , the excavator found a pottery slate with Tamil- Brāhmī alphabets starting from a to i.  Since it is a broken piece, the remaining letters are missing. It shows that the non Tamil traders learned the script and practiced through pottery slates. [20].

Hence, the writing system in Tamil nadu could have been pushed earlier   to the 7th or 8^th century BCE. The rudimentary nature of Māṅguḷam inscriptions and few cave inscriptions in Madurai region and the two Hero stone inscriptions at Pulimāṉ kōmpai in Teni region could have been dated to the 7^th or 8th century BCE. In this connection, we should also recognize the c14 date of Koṟkai materials. Here the excavator assigned the   c14 date to 780 BC[21].  Koṟkai was the port city of the Pāṇḍyas where the excavator recovered some Tamil-Brāhmī potsherds.

Tamil Brāhmī inscriptions on Hero Stones

The discovery of Pulimāṉ kōmpai hero stone inscriptions, Tātappaṭṭi hero stone inscriptions and Porpanaikkottai Hero stone inscription in Tamil-Brāhmī characters are a clinching evidence for the widened usage of Tamil-Brāhmī script amidst the pastoral community in Tamil nadu.  These inscriptions are an indication of the social life of the Tamils of Sangam Period.  Sangam literature and the grammatical treatise Tolkappiyam    focuses the cattle riding, lifting and Hero stone worship and its associated funeral-burial practices.   The Pulimāṉ kōmpai hero stone inscriptions were found on the boulder of the megalithic burial complex where as the Tātappaṭṭi Hero stone inscription is a menhir variety. The fifth one from Porpanikkottai is dressed in a triangular shape which is on Palaeographical grounds assignable to 2nd or 3^rd century CE.  No sculptural representation of a hero found sculpted in these early hero stones as generally we come across from the time of the Pallavas of 4^th century CE in Tamil country. If we accept that the Tamil- Brāhmī script was introduced by the Jaina monks from Karnataka, It is not possible to reach to the pastoral community with a short span of time to the remote villages like Pulimāṉ kōmpai , Tattappatti and Porpanaikkottai.  The people of Tamil nadu were more literate people because of the antiquity of the Tamil Brāhmī script which is older than any other script in India.   

 Among the three hero stone inscriptions of Pulimāṉ kōmpai , one inscription on Palaeographical grounds and its letters formation belongs to 6^th century BCE and the second one is 5^th or  4^th centuries BCE and the last one which mentions the word akol is  datable to the 3^rd century BCE.   The Tātappaṭṭi inscription is broken on the top and it mentions the word Pakal pali  kal.  The word pāḻi, generally, we come across in the cavern inscriptions. According to Iravatham Mahadevan it was a Jaina Palli (Jain’s school)  in order to assign the authorship of cavern inscriptions to the Jains who had settled in Tamil Country around 2^nd century BCE from Karnataka. From the Tātappaṭṭi Hero stone inscription, now it is clear that the word pāḻi indicates the memorial stone (pāḻi kal) installed to the deceased for his bravery activities in the society. The installation of memorial stones to the hero’s is the social customs of the Tamils. The practice was continued till 18^th century CE. The paḷḷippaḍai temples (sepulchral temples) of the historical period, we come across in Tamil country from the time of Pallavas to the medieval period is the development of the Hero stone worship of ancient Tamils. Hence it earned the name paḷḷippaḍai [22]. This clearly indicates that these beds in the natural caverns were a kind of memorial beds for those who were diseased. The practice of fast unto death by the Jains in the latter period (sallēkanam) or niśidhikai were the development of the Jains when they occupied these places in the 3^rd -4^th century CE in Tamil Country[23].

The Nature and contents of Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions

            The Tamil Brāhmī inscriptions are written in simple form consisting from single line to a maximum of five lines of writing. They had written without any religious words or auspicious symbols (maṅgala solōga) in the beginning of the inscriptions as we have come across in Tamil inscriptions from the time of Pallavas of 6^th century CE. These inscriptions mostly record the donation of the beds in the natural cavern, the names of the donor and donee with their native place.  In Aśōkan Brāhmī, the edict generally starts with devanam piya  ( beloved to the god). In most of the inscriptions of North India, the auspicious signs or the auspicious word have appeared in the beginning of the inscriptions. The famous Hathigumpha inscription of Kharavela has swastika and srivatsa symbols in the beginning of the inscription.  Here, in Tamil nadu the cavern Tamil Brāhmī inscriptions, though scholars like Iravatham Mahadevan claims the Jaina origin, none of these records proclaimed any religious faith of that period in these inscriptions or any religious symbols on them.  The earliest occurrence of auspicious word, we do come across around 3^rd century CE in the Paṟaiyaṉpaṭṭu inscription near Gingee in Villpuram District.  It starts with the auspicious word namōtthu (Salute to the God) . From this time onwards inscriptions of Tamil nadu have the auspicious words like Śri, Svasti Śri, subhamasthu, naṇmaṅgalam unḍāgaṭṭum etc., as preamble of the inscriptions. These religious auspicious words were introduced by the Jains who came and settled in Tamil nadu around 3^rd century CE.  

Sangam Literature

            The earliest literature in Tamil Country known as Sangam literature consists of Eṭṭuttogai (the eight anthologies), the Pattuppāṭṭu (the ten Idylls) and the Padinenkīḻkaṇakku (the eighteen works of shorter verses). These Sangam works are classified in to Aham and Puram works. They are the earliest works among the other Sangam literature.  Aham treats of love themes. Puram relates to warfare. The Tamils patronage these two folds of life in their living. These two folds of life are totally against the philosophy of Jainism and Buddhism. If we accept that the Jaina monks were the authority of introducing the Tamil Script in Ancient Tamilagam, at least some of their religious order or their philosophy must have been referred to in this literature.  There is no single evidence in Sangam literature referring to the Jaina religion or Jaina monks. They record the love and war fare of the people in an elaborate manner which was totally against the basic theme of Jainism. The social and political history of the Tamils, customs and manners of their day to day life, warfare has been narrated in these poems. The arrival and spread of Jainism or Buddhism are not figured in the early literature.     There is a reference of a word amanan in one or two cave inscriptions which is a general term to any monks who gave up the worldly life. Aśōkan inscriptions refer to the word sramana, the Prākrit form of Tamil amanan indicating as general term to all the saints or monks who withheld the worldly affairs. Both Jainism and Buddhism entered In to Tamil nadu only in the post Sangam period not earlier than that. The post Sangam works Nālaḍiyār, Tirikaḍugam, the twin epics Silappadikāram and Maṇimēgalai are the later literatures which referred to the above two religions Buddhism and Jainism in Tamil Country.

The Natural caverns in Tamil Country

The orientation of the stone beds in the natural caverns is mostly not perfectly curved.  They are varying in size and cut in all directions. One can see that these beds are not comfortable to the monks to sleep or for meditations. The sizes of the beds are ranging from 2 feet to 8 feet. All these give some clue that these were the beds curved for the purpose of the deceased. It is also remembered here that   almost all the Tamil-Brāhmī caverns are surrounded by megalithic burials.   All most all the natural caverns are narrow in size and inaccessible to reach and stay permanently by the monks.  They selected some natural caverns and made some drip lines on the eye brow of the caverns in order to prevent the rain water inside the caverns where they cut smooth beds as memorials. The beds in the cavern were generally referred to in the inscriptions as pāḻi or adhiṭṭānam.  These two words are synonyms to each other which mean memorial bed. It clearly indicated that these inscriptions are non-religious characters and scooped and cut by the Tamils for their diseased people. Almost all the Tamil Brāhmī caverns are surrounded by megalithic remains in the form of burials. The best example is Sittaṇṇavāsal. The Ēḻaḍipāṭṭam hill is surrounded by megalithic burials consisting of dolmans, cists, urns and menhirs[24].  These megalithic burials are locally known as pāṇḍavar kuzi or paṇḍu kuzi or Pāṇḍavar paḍukkai or Pañchapāṇḍavar paḍukkai. The hill where the natural caverns with beds are there, they are referred to as Pañchapāṇḍavar malai or Aivar malai.  The word Pāṇḍavar  is the derivation of māṇḍavar (one who died).  As discussed earlier, on the hilly tract in the natural caverns, they cut the beds as memorial tomb. This is another kind of burial customs of ancient Tamils.  It is also interesting to note here that  the rock cut architecture in north India begun around 3^rd century BCE by the ĀAjivikaga saints, Jains, Buddhist and Vedic people, whereas in Tamil nadu the cave architecture came in to existence around 4-5^th century CE., introduced by the Pāṇḍyas in the South and Pallavas in the North of Tamil nadu.  If the Jains or other sects of North India migrated in 2^nd Century BCE, they should have also introduced this architecture along with script in the early stage itself.

Settlement of Jains in Tamil nadu

            We donot come across any early settlements of Jains in the Madurai and its neighboring regions of Tamil nadu where we get abundance of cavern inscriptions in Tamil-Brāhmī characters.  The earliest settlement of Jains in Tamil nadu is witnessed in the northern part of Tamil nadu consisting of Vellore, Thiruvannamalai, Kanchipuram and Villupuram districts of the Pallava region. They either migrated or converted into this religion during 4^th or 5^th century CE. This region is studded with many Jaina temples of early historic period and inscriptions of Jaina religions. The present nainār (Jain) community lived in the Gingee and Cheyyar and Kanchipuram regions were the early settlers in Tamil nadu. The temple at Jaina Kanchi received royal patronage of the Pallava kings.  It continued during the time of Chōḷas too. The Pallavas and Chōḷas gave liberal donations to the Jaina temples and constructed many temples in this region.  The reference of many Jaina monks  and samghas like nandhi samgha, Yāppiniya samgha, Drāvida samha etc are found in the  inscriptions of this region. They belong to   3^rd or 4^th century CE. The Jaina monks went to southern districts and stayed in the hilly regions and scooped bas relief sculptures of Jaina Gods and Goddesses with the Vaṭṭeḻuttu inscriptions in the vicinity of natural caverns.   For meditations and for the religious purpose they modified some of the caverns and scooped sculptures of Jaina pantheons around 4^th -5^th century CE not earlier to that. The Thirunātharkuṇṟu inscription and Paṟaiyaṉ paṭṭu inscriptions are the earliest inscriptions which are referring to the Jaina teachers and their religious practice like vaḍakkiruttal, sallēkanam, janam norral etc (past unto death practice). None of the cave inscriptions of Tamil-Brāhmī characters referred these terms to support the Jaina religion. The Pulankurichchi inscription in the Sivaganga District is the earliest inscription which refers to the existence of a Jaina palli in the southern region for the first time[25]. It belongs to 3^rd century CE.

Conclusion

            From the above discussions, it is clear that the Tamil-Brāhmī script in Tamil Nadu is the earliest known script in India which was practiced by the Tamil People in the remote villages of Tamil nadu in 6^th -7^th centuries BCE.  This script was originated from the graffiti marks which were abundantly found engraved on the potteries of Tamil nadu.  The script was learnt by the merchants of Sri Lanka and North India and they introduced the varga system and some special letters to suit their languages Prākrit. It got its final shape by the Buddhists of Bhattiprolu monastery in Andhra where it travelled to north India. Finally, this was widely used by the Aśōka in his edicts.  The natural caverns with stone beds in various shapes and sizes yielded Tamil Brāhmī inscriptions which are scooped by the native people i.e., the Tamils for their departed souls as memorial beds. These places were later on occupied by the Jains around 3^rd century CE and they modified these places for their meditation and stay; They sculpted Jaina Tirthankaras around 5-6^th centuries CE with the Vaṭṭeḻuttu  inscriptions in these places.  The Late reference of Bhatrapagu arrival of Karnataka and the absence of early Brāhmī inscriptions at Śravaṇa-Beḷgola do not suit with in the chronological frame for Tamil-Brāhmī script. The Radio carbon date, palaeographical and orthographical features of Tamil-Brāhmī clearly suggest that the Tamil Brāhmī was in vogue amidst the people of Tamil nadu around 7^th-6^th centuries BCE. In contrast, the spread or migration of Jaina monks took place in the later period around 3^rd or 4^th century CE when the Pallavas established their capital city Kanchipuram in the northern part of Tamil nadu .

            The   natural caverns were mostly utilized by the local people for scooping the memorial beds for their departed soul as these places were surrounded by other megalithic tombs like stone circles, Menhirs, Dolmens and Urns. The Tātappaṭṭi hero stone inscription is the clinching source for the word pāḻi-kal which indicates that the memorial stone was erected for the deceased.  Even if we accept the Jaina authorship for the caverns as well as for the Tamil-Brāhmī script, naturally the script could not have been spread to the remote areas like Koḍumaṇal  Tātappaṭṭi, Pulimāṉ kōmpai , porunthal and Porpanaikkottai at an early stage. The pastoral and agricultural Tamil people practiced the script for writing their names on the potteries and Hero stones without any orthographic mistakes. It could be possible only they knew the art of writing for a long time.  When there was no script in Tamil nadu before the advent of Jain, how the local pastoral people in the remote villages learnt this script within a short period; those who are claiming the Jaina origin they could not answer for this positively. The theory of Jaina authorship to the natural caverns and the Tamil Brāhmī associations with Jains are fully based on conflicting and contradictory nature of evidences. Those who are claiming the Jaina origin for Tamil Brāhmī have not given any authentic and contemporary evidences to prove the spread of Jainism in Tamil country around 2^nd century CE,

The migration of Jains from North India to Śravaṇa-Beḷgola under Bhadrabāhu is totally based on traditions. This tradition appeared in the late literary sources and inscriptional evidences. There are a variety of stories regarding this migration in the following literature of later period. The Sanskrit work Brhat-Kathakōsa (10^th century CE), Kannada work Manivamsa  (1680),  Rājavalikathe of Devachandra (1838) contain different  story on migration of Bhadrabāhu.  The migration of Jains into Karnataka in 3rd century BCE was questioned by several scholars like Hoernle. V.A. Smith, the well known British historian. He quotes that the traditional story of migration of Chandragupta along with the Jaina guru is totally an imaginary one. This may be accepted with all probability, he says. [26]   The other notable scholars to deny the above theory were Fleet, Shama Sastri and Govinda Pai. They identified Chandragupta with the Chandragupta II of Gupta dynasty and Bhadra bahu with Bhadra bahu II  of 4^th century CE. [27]

On the light of the above, It is certain that the migration of Jains to Tamil nadu must have taken place during the time of Pallavas not earlier than that and they first settled in the Vellore, Kanchipuram, Thiruvannamalai, Villupuram regions. At present, the Tamil Jaina communities are still living in the above regions of Tamil Nadu.  Jaina monks went to further south and selected their abode in the caverns which was free from the crowd of people. They scooped sculptures of Jaina Gods with the Vaṭṭeḻuttu inscriptions around 5-6^th century CE for meditation. The Jaina works Ᾱyaraṅga quotes the Jaina ascetics put up their abode in the cemetery and mountain caves.[28] Hence, all the evidences and scientific analysis proved that the author of Tamil Brāhmī was the Tamil people. They started their writing system in graffiti in the early stage and later on developed the Tamil-Brahmi scripts from it. The natural caverns with beds are the creation of Tamils as one of the burial customs of ancient period. They engraved the donation of the beds in Tamil Brahmi characters.  The simple aksharas (letters) of Tamil Brāhmī was later on borrowed by the merchants of Sri Lanka and North India. They introduced the varga letters and some modification in their writing system with the help of Jaina and Buddhist monks around 4^th century BCE in North India as well as in Sri Lanka.

Appendix –I List of Tamil Brahmi inscriptions with Date in Natural caverns

S.No	Name of the village	District	No of inscriptions	Period ( Earliest date is figured here)
1.	Mangulam	Madurai	6	5th century BCE
2	Arittapatti	Madurai	2	4th century BC
3	Tiruvadavur	Madurai	2	3rd century BCE
4	Kilavalavu	Madurai	1	3rd century BCE
5	Kongarpuliyankulam	Madurai	3	3rd century BCE
6	Marukaltalai	Tirunelveli	1	3rd century BCE
7	varichiyur	Madurai	3	3rd century BCE
8	Vikkiramangalam	Madurai	6	3rd century BCE
9	Mettuppatti	Madurai	10	3rd century BCE
10	karungalakkudi	Madurai	1	3rd century BCE
11	Mudalaikkulam	Madurai	1	3rd century BCE
12	Alagarmalai	Madurai	13	3rd century BCE
13	Sittannavasal	Pudukkottai	1	3rd century BCE
14	Aiyarmalai	Karur	1	3rd century BCE
15	Tirumalai	Sivaganga	2	3rd century BCE
16	Samanar malai	Madurai	1	3rd century BCE
17	Tirupparankunram	Madurai	4	3rd century BCE
18	Muttuppatti	Madurai	3	3rd century BCE
19	Jambai*	Villupuram	1	3rd century BCE
20	Anaimalai	Madurai	1	2nd century BCE
21	Pugalur	Karur	12	2nd century BCE
22	Mamandur	Tiruvannamalai	1	2nd century BCE
23	Kunnakkudi	Sivaganga	2	2nd century BCE
24	Tondur	Villupuram	1	1st century BCE
25	Kudumiyanmalai	Pudukkottai	1	1st century BCE
26	Tiruchirappalli	Trichirappalli	1	1st century BCE
27	Edakkal	Kerala (Wynadu)	5	1st century BCE
28	Nekanurpatti	Villupuram	1	1st century CE
29	Ammankovilpatti	Salem	1	1st century CE
30	Arachalur	Erode	3	1st century CE
31	Mannarkovil	Tirunelveli	2	1st century CE
Total			93

 

*Jambai inscription is Contemporary to Asoka which mentions Satiyapoto Adhiyan of Asokan inscription.

Appendix-II List of Hero stone inscriptions with Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions

S.No	Name of the village	District		Date
1	Puliman kompai	Teni	3	5-6th century BCE
2	Tatappatti	Teni	1	3rd century BCE
3	Porpanaikkottai	Pudukkottai	1	3rd century CE
Total			5

 

Appendix- III- List of villages yielded Pottery inscriptions

S.No	Village/site	District	Number of inscribed Sherds
1	Alagankulam	Ramanathapuram	98
2	Alagarai	Tiruchirappalli	3
3	Ambal	Nagapattinam	1
4	Andipatti	Tiruvannamalai	3
5	Arikamedu	Puducherry	66
6	Attur	Karur	1
7	Boluvanpatti	Coimbatore	1
8	Jambai	Villupuram	1
9	Kadattur	Dharmapuri	1
10	Kanchipuram	Kanchipuram	1
11	Karur	Karur	15
12	Kattupudur	Tiruchirappalli	1
13	Kaveripumpattinam	Nagappattinam	1
14	Kodumanal*	Erode	1110
15	Korkai	Tirunelveli	8
15	Kovalanpottal	Madurai	2
16	Kiladi(near Madurai)	Sivagangai	85
17	Maligaimedu	Cuddalore	8
18	Mangudi	Tirunelveli	9
19	Marungur	Cuddalore	3
20	Mathagam	Pudukkottai	1
21	Mayiladumparai	Krishnagiri	2
22	Otaikalpalayam	Coimbatore	1
23	Palayarai	Thanjavur	1
24	Pattanam	Thrissur (Kerala)	3
25	Pillaiyarpatti	Thanjavur	1
26	Poruthal*	Dindugal	1
27	S.Pappinayakkanpatti	Madurai	1
28	Salaiyur	Coimbatore	1
29	Sivakasi	Virudhu nagar	1
30	Somavarappatti	Erode	1
31	T.Kallupatti	Madurai	1
32	Teriruveli	Ramanathapuram	1
33	Uraiyur	Tiruchirappalli	20
34	Vallam	Thanjavur	4
35	Virapandipudur	Coimbatore	1

*C14 date has been arrived at Korkai 780 BCE.  ASM Date at Porunthal-  540 BC

ASM Date at Kodumanal – 480 BCE. This date is at the depth of 120 cm. Further 65 Cm below this the excavator noticed the undated cultural material. Hence the date could be pushed to 6^th or 7^th century BCE at Kodumanal.

 

Appendix –IV- List of Tamil-Brahami inscribed potsherds discovered outside India

 

S.No	Excavated Site	Country	Numbers
1	Berenike	Egypt	2
2	Khor Rori (Sumhuram)	Oman	1
3	Quseir al Quadim	Egypt	2
4	Anuradhapuram	Sri Lanka	1
5	Kalmunai	Sri Lanka	1
6	Kantarodai	Sri Lanka	1
7	Mannitalai	Sri Lanka	1
8	Poonagari	Sri Lanka	1
9	Vettukkada	Sri Lanka	1
10	Tissamaharama	Sri Lanka	1
11	Phu khao Thong	Thailand	1

 

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Georg Buhler, 1980,(Reprint) Indian Palaeography. Oriental Books corporation,New Delhi

Gopinatha Rao, T.N., 1908, Travancore Archaeological Series Vol.1 No.XVI

Govindaraj, R., 2016,(Reprint), Evolution of Script in Tamil Nadu, Tamil Nadu Archaeological Society, Thanjavur, Special Issue No.1  

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Kasinathan, Natana,1983 “Pulankurichi Inscription - A Relook” pp. 157-65.Seminar on Archaeology, Vol-2, Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology, 

Kasinathan, Natana,2016 “On the Origin(Centuries before Asokan Brahmi) of the Earliest Tamil Script(Tamil) Based on Facts and Figures”, in  the Journal of the Ancient  Sciences & Archaeological Society of India,Vol- VI,  Ed. M.D.Sampath, ,B.R. Publishing Corporation, Delhi

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Tamil Literature

Agananuru

Purananauru

Tolkāppiyam  Eḻuttadikāram, Sūtra,15,16

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

,

Photographs

                       

Earliest Hero stone in India- Pulimankompail, Teni District, Tamil Nadu, 600 BCE

Mangulam Tamil-Brahmi inscription eyebrow of the natural cavern- 600BCE

 

 

Inscribed potsherd from Kiladi mentions Person Name cantanan. 3^rd century BCE

 

Natural cavern and un sized memorial beds for the dead-Tirumalai

 

 

Jaina Tirthankaras bas relief sculptures with Vatteluttu inscription at Samanar malai- occupied by Jaina monks in the later period.

 

Jaina loose sculpture of Late period (9^th century CE) in the Tamil Brahmi natural cavern at Muttuppatti.

 

 

 

ASM Date received from USA  540 BCE.

 

Rock cut cave at Barabar (Bihar) for Ajivikas 3^rd century BCE

 

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* Department of Maritime History and Marine Archaeology, Tamil University, Thanjavur

[1] K.Rajan 2015

[2] List of villages in Tamil Nadu and Kerala yielded Tamil Brāhmī inscriptions have been enclosed in the Appendix of this article.

[3] H.Krishna Sastry 1910 &1919

[4] K.V.Subrahmanya Aiyyar 1924

[5] I.Mahadevan, 2003 & 2014

[6]  T.S.Sridhar(ed),2006.

[7] T.V.Mahalingam,1974, 2011(Reprint),pp.188-189

[8] K. Nedunzheliyan, 2014

[9] Edward Thomas,1883.

[10]  T.N.Subramaniam 1957.

[11] K.V.Ramesh,1980 2010,Natana Kasinathan, Rajavelu,S. Nedunzheliyan, 2010.

[12] Iravatham Mahadevan,2003.

[13] Epigraphia Carnatica, Vol II, Tr.pp1-2   Brhat-kathakosa a Sanskrit Jaina literature of 9^th century CE records the story of Chandragupta  and Bhatrabahu’s arrival to Sravanabelagola. These are all later evidences.

[14]  Mahalingam, T.V., 1974. The Eran coin legend, The Taxila Coin legend , The Mahasthan stone plaque inscription, The Piprahwa relic casket inscription, The Sohgoura Copper Plate inscription, The Bhattiprolu Relic casket- Dravidi inscriptions are considered to be the pre Asokan period inscriptions of North India and Andhra.

[15]  Pottery with Tamil-Brahmi is listed in the Appendix of this article.

[16] Rajan and V.P Yathees Kumar,2013.pp279-295

[17] Ibid,

[18]  Rajan,K.2015,

[19] It is interesting to note here to remember the eminent scholar T.N. Subrahmanyan quotes that the Prakrit itself in its original form was a South Indian product synthesizing the Dravidian language to make it understood throughout the country.

[20]  . Archaeological survey of India carried out excavations at Kodumanal in the year 2017 and the author of the article personally verified the pottery and took photographs of the same.

[21] Nagaswamy,R.1970 (ed) Damilca, 

[22]  The earliest paḷḷippaḍai temple in Tamil nadu is at Cholapuram very near to Vellore belongs to Pallava period. The Arinjigai Isvaram at Melpadi, Arrur tunjiya devar paḷḷippaḍai  at Khalahasti and Panjavan Mahadevi paḷḷippaḍai at Palaiyarai and many paḷḷippaḍai i temples in and around Dharasuram near Kumbakonam are the sepulchral type of temples housed by Sivalinga in the garbhagriha.

[23] Tirunatharkunru and paraiyanpattu inscriptions record the nisidigai.SII Vol XVII and EI.40.

[24] Rajavelu, S. G.Thirumurthy, 1990. pp 67

[25] Y. Subbarayalu, 2001

[26] T.V. Mahalingam,1974 pp-165-170

[27]  Ibid

[28] S.B., Deo, 1955.