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Jinamanjari, volume 17, No. 1, April 1998
TAMIL BRĀMHI SCRIPT OF MADURAI
Dr. T.V.G. Sastri, Hydrabad, India.
According to one estimate, it appears there are 26 ancient caves in Madurai district. But, Dr. I. Mahadevan has reported only 12 of them with Tamil-Brāmhi inscriptions from the hill ranges of Madurai.
Dr. Mahadevan has collected seventy six inscriptions in all from twenty one caves of Tamilnadu. Besides the study of inscriptions in-situ, he has taken the estampages and photographs supplied by the Chief Epigraphist of India. Of these, he has recorded as many as fiftytwo inscriptions from Madurai caves alone.
Some inscriptions are seen engraved on the upper and lower brows of the caves; a few of them on the rocky beds sculpted inside the caves. Some of them are found on the natural rock outcrop, outside the caves. Most of the inscriptions have been deciphered and are written in the local Tamil language but with Brāmhi script. Sometimes, the Prākrit forms like tavira, upāsan may be said to have been brought into the popular Tamil language. Symbols are at the end of an inscription, in contrast to the early inscriptions where they appear at the beginning, Such peculiarities in inscriptions are found even in the potsherds from the contemporary Jaina site, Vaddamānu in Andhra.?
The facsimiles of the inscription estampages of Dr. Mahadevan show some details in the following table below:
Cave Name No.
Insc. No.
Total
Period
I. Mankulam II. Tiuvatavur
1-6 7,8
6 2
All archaic Archaic
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