Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D., vol. 62.

AuthorSalomon, Richard
PositionBook Review

Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. By IRAVATHAM MAHADEVAN. Harvard Oriental Series, vol. 62. Chennai: CRE-A and Cambridge. Mass.: DEPARTMENT OF SANSKRIT AND INDIAN STUDIES, HARVARD UNIVERSITY, 2003, Pp. xxxix + 719.

Early Tamil Epigraphy represents the culmination of Iravatham Mahadevan's lifework on the early Tamil and Vatteluttu cave inscriptions dating from approximately the second century B.C. to the sixth century A.D. Mahadevan has long been acknowledged as the most prominent expert in this field, so it comes as no surprise that he now presents us with a comprehensive and definitive presentation of this important corpus. Mahadevan's claim that "the cave inscriptions of Tamil Nadu, which have generally been regarded as obscure, can now be read" (p. xi) is fully justified, as his edition gives convincing interpretations for nearly every word in the corpus. The two main obstacles to their interpretation in the past, namely "the lack of reliable texts and unfamiliarity with the orthographic rules governing the inscriptions" (ibid.), have now been removed by Mahadevan's energetic and comprehensive fieldwork and by his authoritative analysis of the orthographic systems, respectively.

The majority of the early Tamil inscriptions are either short dedicatory inscriptions in caves or name labels on pottery, coins, rings, and seals. They are written in a locally adapted variant of the north Indian Brahmi script, known as Tamil-Brahmi, which has several interesting varieties and systemic peculiarities. Despite their brevity and stereotyped contents, the old Tamil inscriptions have major significance for the study of the history, culture, language, and especially paleography of early south India. Mahadevan describes the goal of his "Commentary on Inscriptions" (pp. 539-639) as "to situate the Early Tamil inscriptions in the mainstream of Indian epigraphy" (p. 541), and in this regard not only this section in particular but the book as a whole succeeds admirably. For example, as one of many instances of the wider importance of the early Tamil inscriptions for related fields of study, the Jambai inscription "has finally settled the question" (p. 120) of the identity of the Satiyaputras mentioned in Asoka's Second Rock Edict. With regard to literary studies, the analyses by Mahadevan and others have provided historical corroboration for various persons mentioned in the Tamil Cankam literature (see, e.g., pp. 85 and 117). For the history of religions in south India, Mahadevan has succeeded in demonstrating that, contrary to what was thought by earlier investigators, "the Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions ... do not reveal any internal evidence for associating the Buddhist faith with the Tamil caves" (p. 126), but rather that they are of Jaina affiliation. This conclusion further leads him to draw important conclusions about the early implantation of Jainism in Tamil Nadu, for which he finds linguistic evidence for links with Karnataka, rather than with Bengal and Orissa as held by some (pp. 108-9, 127-28).

Early Tamil Epigraphy is divided into three main parts: "Early Tamil Inscriptions," presenting a general introduction to the material; "Studies in Early Tamil Epigraphy," with detailed discussions of paleography, orthography, and grammar; and the "Corpus of Early Tamil Inscriptions," a definitive edition of the 110 known cave inscriptions. Although (as explained on p. xi) the cave inscriptions are the main subject of this study, a catalogue of selected specimens from among the hundreds of pottery inscriptions as well as a complete listing of those on coins, seals, and rings is also provided (pp. 60-67).

Throughout, the documentation is thorough, precise, and exhaustive. For example, reproductions of the inscriptions in the corpus are provided both in the form of tracings made directly from the stone according to the editor's interpretation (as explained on p. 82), and of neutral estampages or photographs (pp. 483-537). This dual presentation has the advantage of showing, in the case of the tracings, the expert editor's visual "reading" of the letters which are often indistinct on the rough stone surfaces, and in the estampages, an objective reproduction which permits checking of the readings by other specialists. The readings of all of the cave inscriptions were improved vastly by direct observation of the originals in the...

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