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EPIGRAPHTA INDICA.
[VOL. XVII.
over the initial vowel letter o, as in mennum, chchor, (1. 34), korkai, korran, konda (1.35), dey (1. 38), goļi (1. 43), nennuri (L. 45), rrennan (l. 46), kkolai, chcheliyan (1. 50), olgāda (1.108 f.), ododa (1. 109), polil (l. 65), pporu (. 63), porutāga (1. 71); and (3) that it is omitted in a few cases. The shaping of the long d-sign in rü (l. 119), nu (1. 107) and ļü (1.76) and the use of the Tamil alabedai (Skt. pluta) in kkoliya in line 97 for the purpose of completing the metrical quantity are worthy of notice. This alatedai according to the Tamil grammarians is to be used in (i) selling articles, (ii) calling people at a distance and (iii) in filling up the metrical quantity in a verse. Pånini omits (i) and (iii). While in Sanskrit only vowels have pluta, in Tamil the consonants (nasals and sibilants) are also thus lengthened.
The orthographical peculiarities such as the insertion of y after consonants with the e-sign (IL. 94, 97f); the substitution of the vowel i for yi (Il. 66, 115, 118, 140); the non-observance of euphonic rules in adding the suffixes win (1. 93), ul (1:59), in (1. 93) and odu (l. 46 f.); the Want of distinction between the long and the short i (except in the single instance nirod-atti in line 117) and between the long and the short o, are noteworthy. Puli-tur (1.58), omaiy-iruppai (l. 121 f.), chey-idai (l. 122), mani-imai (l. 81), kkali-araisan (l. 90), kurai-uru and nirai-urk (1. 102) are also cases of the omission of sandhi. Paramēśvaranās-Vēļvikuļi (l. 110) for 'nal Vēlvikudi and velirpatļu for relippațiu (11. 41, 49, 52, 88) are evidently wrong forms; sekkuri (1.120) for seykkuri and aimpadinuar (1. 135) for aimpadinmar may be regarded as colloquial usages : similar also may be the use of kudu (1.125) for kodu. The form iydu (1. 152) for idro through the intermediate form ihdu probably gives us the clue for thu correct pronunciation of the Tamil aydam-sign which is now pronounced as the jihvämaliya and the upadhmāniya forms of the visarga. The metre used in the Tamil portion of the inscription is the Agaval while in the Sanskrit portion the metres employed are: Vamsastha (vv. 1, 12), Anushțubh (vv. 2, 17, 20 and 23), Vasantatilaka (vv. 3, 9 and 19), Sardūlavikridita (vv. 4, 5, 6 and 10), Malabharinit (vv. 7, 8, 15 and 16), Upēndravajra (vv. 11, 14), Drutavilambita (v. 13) and Arya (v. 18).
Paleographically, the Granthe characters of the Vēļvikudi grant differ from those of the Madras Museum plates of Jatilavarman, although for reasons stated in the sequel, both of these have to be attributed to the period of the same king Neduñjadaiyan. The difference is distinctly observed in the formation of the serif which in the first case is a plain horizontal line, whereas in the second, it makes a loop with the letter. The bottoms of letters like ma and ba and the top of the vowel i are bent at the bare line in the Vēļvikudi grant, whereas in the Madras Museum plates they either form one uniform curve, or are straight; the upadhmäniya and the jihrāmuliya signs are not used at all in the Madras Museum plates. The punctuation marks at the end of verses in the Vélvikuļi grant are the pillaiyar fuļi (2_) whereas in the Madras Museum plates they are denoted by the so-called om symbol (9)*; anusväras are more frequent in the Madras Museum plates than nasal conjuncts. The Vēļvikudi grant, in numbering the plates, uses the Grantha letter-symbols, whereas the Madras Museum plates use the usual Tamil numerals. In the Vatteluttu alphabet employed, however, the two grants do not seem to differ much, except in the case of the letter ya which in the Vēļvikudi grant as in the Āpaimalai inscription, is unigeptate, while in the Madras Museum plates it is bipartite. This single difference in the characters of the Tamil portion which is the earlier, and perhaps constitutes the grunt proper in both, Deed not show that the two grants must belong to different periods. The
1 The scheme of this verness given in the Chhandoma nijari is :विषमे समजा यदा गुरुचत् सभरा न तु मालभारिणीयम् ।
Ind. Ant., Vol. XXII, with Plate, pp. 67 ft. • The latest interpretation of this symbol is riddhih, success.' • Above, Vol. VIII, p. 317 1.
