This text presents the earliest South Indian inscriptions (ca. second century bc to sixth century ad), written in Tamil in local derivations of the Ashokan Brahmi script. They are the earliest known Dravidian documents available and show some overlap with the early Cera and Pandya dynasties. Their language is Archaic Tamil, with a few borrowings from Prakrit and influences of old Kannada, both resulting from the early presence of northern Jainism. The widespread occurrence of pottery inscriptions indicates that the Tamil-Brahmi script had taken deep roots all over the countryside, leading to...
This text presents the earliest South Indian inscriptions (ca. second century bc to sixth century ad), written in Tamil in local derivations of the As...
