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74
INDIAN ANTIQUARY, VOL. XXXIII, 1904; APPENDIX.
[§ 32, A.
The occurrence of signs for the Dravidian liquids, which, though the sounds correspond with those of the older Kanarese and Telugu, differ from the characters of the Kanarese-Telugu script, indicates that the Tamil alphabet is independent of the latter and has been derived from a different source. HULTZSCH's important discovery of the Kuram plates, with a large section in the Tamil script and language of the 7th century, confirms this inference. The Tamil alphabet of these plates agrees only in part with their Grantha, and many of its letters offer characteristics of the northern alphabets.
Specific Grantha forms occur in U (plate VIII, 5, XVI; compare plate VII, 4, XXIV); in O (plate VIII, 9, XVI; compare col. XV); in ta (plate VIII, 25-28, XVI; compare plate VII, 22, XXIV); in na (plate VIII, 29, XVI; compare plate VII, 26, XXIV); in ya (plate VIII, 35, XVI; compare plate VII, 32, XXIV); in medial u in ku (plate VIII, 14, XVI; compare 44, XIII); in medial e (in te, plate VIII, 28, XVI; compare khe, plate VII, 9, XXIV); and in the vertical Virama, which mostly stands above the vowelless consonant but to the right of n and r(compare i, plate VIII, 15, XVI; m, 34; !, 43; n, 49). The Tamil ai (for instance, nai, plate VIII, 29, XVI) appears to be a peculiar derivative from the Grantha ai, the two Mātrās having been placed, not one above the other, but one behind the other.
Unmodified or only slightly modified northern forms appear in A and A (plate VIII, 1, 2, XVI), with the single vertical without a curve at the end (compare plate IV, 1, 2, I ff.), and with the loop on the left, which is found in recently discovered inscriptions from Swat as well as in the Grantha; in ka (plate VIII, 11-14, XVI; compare plate IV, 7, I ff.); in ca (plate VIII, 16-18, XVI; compare plate III, 11, III); in ta (plate VIII, 20-22, XVI; compare plate IV, 17, VII, VIII); in pa (plate VIII, 30-33, XVI; compare plate IV, 27, I ff.); in ra (plate VIII, 36, XVI; compare plate IV, 33, I ff.); in la (plate VIII, 37, XVI; compare plate IV, 34, VII ff.); in the medial u of pu, mu, yu, vu (plate VIII, 32, 40, XVI; compare plate IV, 27, II), and of ru (plate VIII, 36, XVI; compare plate IV, 33, III); and in the medial u of lu and lu (plate VIII, 44, 46, XVI; compare pi, plate IV, 27, IV).
Then (plate VIII, 15, XVI) is more strongly modified, as it has been formed ont of the angular northern ia (plate IV, 11, I ff.) by the addition of a stroke rising upwards on the right; and the ma (plate VIII, 34, XVI). is probably a cursive derivative from the so-called Gupta ma (plate IV, 31, I ff.).
The signs for the Dravidian liquids, too, may be considered as developments of northern signs. The upper portion of the la (plate VIII, 43, 44, XVI) looks like a small carsive northern la, to which a long vertical, descending downwards, has been added on the right. The ra (plate VIII, 47, 48, XVI) may consist of a small slanting northern ra and a hook added to the top. And the la (plate VIII, 45, 46, XVI) is perhaps derived from a northern ju (plate IV, 40, II), the end of the horizontal line being looped and connected with the little pendent stroke below; compare also the looped la (read erroneously dha) in the Amaravati inscription, J.RAS. 1891, plate at p. 142.
The origin of the remaining signs is doubtful. Some, such as va (plate VIII, 38-40, XVI) and medial a (see ka, plate VIII, 12, XVI), occur both in northern and in southern scripts. Others are modifications of letters common to the north and the south. The final n (plate VIII, 49, XVI) is evidently the result of a slight transformation of both the northern and the southern na with two hooks [72] (plate III, 20, V, XX; plate IV, 21, VII f.; plate VII, 21, IV f.); and from this comes the Tamil na (plate VIII, 24, XVI) by the addition of another curve. The parent of the peculiar E (plate VIII, 8, XVI) may be either that of plate IV, 5, X ff., or that. of plate VII, 5, XXIII. Similarly, the angular medial u in tu (plate VIII, 27, XVI) and in ru (plate VIII, 48, XVI) is due to a peculiar modification of the curve, rising upwards on the right, which is found in connection both with northern and with southern letters (see su, plate IV,
1 SII. 1, 147; compare 2, plate 12; the characters of the Vallam Cave inscription, op. cit., 2, plate 10, fully agree,
