PuLLi in Tamil

[Guest guest]

In a reply to

http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/cgi-shl/WA.EXE?A2=ind9910&L=indology&P=R1600

 

Tiru. Lakshmi Srinivas wrote in Indology@Liverpool:

>It is however clear that Tamil Brahmi itself did not

>use the "puLLi". In fact this has been used

>incidentally to draw some conclusions re dates for

>some layers of the Tolkappiam. Refer, for example,

>Falk ("Schrift in alten Indien").

 

Quoting Harry Falk,

LS>This symbol, I understand, was not attested

LS>before 5th cent. AD (Falk, Schrift in alten Indien).

 

Jean-Luc Chevillard too raises this issue:

CTamil/message/260

 

Perhaps, the persistence of the outdated theory that

puLLi occurs only in 5th century can be traced to

Iravatham Mahadevan's 1968 paper. For example,

"The TolkAppiyam, a prescriptive grammar and system

of poetics, has often been considered to be even

older than the earliest anthologies but has now

been shown to describe paleographic features

which do not enter the language until the

fifth century A.D.[2]"

 

"[2] Iravatham Mahadevan, Tamil-Brahmi Inscriptions

of the Sangam Age," in Proc. of the Second International

Conference of Tamil Studies, Vol. I (Madras, 1971),

p. 83. Use of the puLLi is described in the

EzuttatikAram of the TolkAppiyam."

(From George L. Hart III, Ancient Tamil Literature:

Its Scholarly Past and Future, p. 41-63, in

Burton Stein (ed.), Essays on South India, 1975, Univ.

Press of Hawaii, (1997, Manohar reprint)).

 

Will be interesting if prof. Falk also uses IM's 1968

paper, published in 1971.

 

Of course, the subsequent discoveries by

Gift Siromoney, Nagaswamy, S. Raju, ...

have made I. Mahadevan's earlier statements

to be updated, which he has done long ago.

See:

CTamil/message/311

 

Regards,

N. Ganesan

[Guest guest]

In going over the various remarks about puLLi, I notice that no

one connects it with the various symbols used in other Indic

(Brahmi-derived) scripts to indicate a final consonant, such as

the viraama in Devanagari. Does anyone know whether sign (or

equivalent) was used in Brahmi? If not, when did it begin to

appear in other Indic scripts? George Hart

 

INDOLOGY, naga_ganesan@h... wrote:

>

> In a reply to

>

http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/cgi-shl/WA.EXE?A2=ind9910&L=indology&

P=R1600

>

> Tiru. Lakshmi Srinivas wrote in Indology@Liverpool:

> >It is however clear that Tamil Brahmi itself did not

> >use the "puLLi". In fact this has been used

> >incidentally to draw some conclusions re dates for

> >some layers of the Tolkappiam. Refer, for example,

> >Falk ("Schrift in alten Indien").

>

> Quoting Harry Falk,

> LS>This symbol, I understand, was not attested

> LS>before 5th cent. AD (Falk, Schrift in alten Indien).

>

> Jean-Luc Chevillard too raises this issue:

> CTamil/message/260

>

> Perhaps, the persistence of the outdated theory that

> puLLi occurs only in 5th century can be traced to

> Iravatham Mahadevan's 1968 paper. For example,

> "The TolkAppiyam, a prescriptive grammar and system

> of poetics, has often been considered to be even

> older than the earliest anthologies but has now

> been shown to describe paleographic features

> which do not enter the language until the

> fifth century A.D.[2]"

>

> "[2] Iravatham Mahadevan, Tamil-Brahmi Inscriptions

> of the Sangam Age," in Proc. of the Second International

> Conference of Tamil Studies, Vol. I (Madras, 1971),

> p. 83. Use of the puLLi is described in the

> EzuttatikAram of the TolkAppiyam."

> (From George L. Hart III, Ancient Tamil Literature:

> Its Scholarly Past and Future, p. 41-63, in

> Burton Stein (ed.), Essays on South India, 1975, Univ.

> Press of Hawaii, (1997, Manohar reprint)).

>

> Will be interesting if prof. Falk also uses IM's 1968

> paper, published in 1971.

>

> Of course, the subsequent discoveries by

> Gift Siromoney, Nagaswamy, S. Raju, ...

> have made I. Mahadevan's earlier statements

> to be updated, which he has done long ago.

> See:

> CTamil/message/311

>

> Regards,

> N. Ganesan