Tamil-Brahmi

Common card · No. 218228

Tamili (Old Tamil: 𑀢𑀫𑀺𑀵𑀺, romanized: tamiḻi), also known as Tamil-Brahmi (Old Tamil: 𑀢𑀫𑀺𑀵𑁰 𑀧𑁰𑀭𑀸𑀳𑁰𑀫𑀻, romanized: tamiḻ brāhmi) or Damili, was a variant of the Brahmi script in southern India. It was used to write inscriptions in Old Tamil. The Tamil-Brahmi script has been paleographically and stratigraphically dated between the third century BCE and the first century CE, and it constitutes the earliest known writing system evidenced in many parts of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Sri Lanka. Tamil Brahmi inscriptions have been found on cave entrances, stone beds, potsherds, jar burials, coins, seals, and rings. Tamil Brahmi resembles but differs in several minor ways from the Brahmi inscriptions found elsewhere on the Indian subcontinent such as the Edicts of Ashoka found in Andhra Pradesh. It adds diacritics to several letters for sounds not found in Prakrit, producing ṉ ṟ ṛ ḷ. Secondly, in many of the inscriptions the inherent vowel has been discarded: A consonant written...

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