Putucceri manilak kalvettukkal/Pondicherry Inscriptions.

• Author: Cox, Whitney
• Position: Putucceri manilak kalvettukkal I Pondicherry Inscriptions, Part II: Translation, Appendices, Glossary, and Phrases - Book review

Putucceri manilak kalvettukkal I Pondicherry Inscriptions. Part I: Introduction and Texts with Notes. Compiled by BAHOUR S. KUPPUSWAMY, edited by G. VIJAYAVENUGOPAL. Collection Indologie, vol. 83.1. Pondicherry: INSTITUT FRANCAIS DE PONDICHERY / ECOLE FRANCAISE D'EXTREME-ORIENT, 2006. Pp. XXVII + lix + 537. Rs. 800, [euro]29. Part II: Translation, Appendices, Glossary, and Phrases. Compiled by BAHOUR S. KUPPUSWAMY. edited by G. VUAYAVENUGOPAL, Preface by EMMANUEL FRANCIS and CHARLOTTE SCHMID. Collection Indologie, vol. 83.2. Pondicherry: INSTITUT FRANCAIS DE PONDICHERY / ECOLE FRANCAISE D'EXTREME-ORIENT, 2010. Pp. cxlviii + 379. Rs.1100, [euro]48.

The Institut Francais and the Ecole francaise d'Extreme-Orient, the two French scientific and educational institutions based in the Union Territory of Pondicherry, are remarkable in a number of ways. One measure of this can be seen in the way they have allowed and even encouraged the gestation of long-term research projects. Work begun decades earlier remains housed in the institutions' archives, there for the right combination of interest and ability to bring it to fruition. While at times this can leave important contributions languishing in scholarly limbo--there are unpublished translations, for instance, of early Tamil works to which I would dearly love to have access--this can yield great benefits. One such example is the recent (2007) Digital Tevaram, which from its beginnings as the manuscript of a densely annotated English translation by V. M. Subrahmanya Aiyar eventually emerged as a very useful multi-media archive.

Another achievement of this model of long-term scholarly collaboration is evident in the volumes under review here. The project of collecting all of the surviving epigraphic remains found within the non-contiguous territories of modern Pondicherry and Karaikal was begun decades ago by S. Kuppuswamy. a traditionally trained literatus (Ta. pulavar) employed by the EFEO. Kuppuswamy died in 1986, and his collections now form the core of the present corpus, though its edition passed through a number of hands before its completion by G. Vijayavenugopal. The two volumes that are the end result of this are far more than simply an antiquarian study of this small part of Tamil-speaking South India: they represent a major contribution to Dravidian philology and historical linguistics, and provide a state-of-the-art intervention into the medieval history of the Tamil country. especially...