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100			_aMahadevan, Iravatham
245			_aEarly Tamil Epigraphy from the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D.
260			_bHarvard University Press _c2003 _aChennai
300			_a719
520			_aThis book presents the earliest South Indian inscriptions (ca. second century B.C.E. to sixth century A.D.), written in Tamil in local derivations of the Ashokan Brahmi script. They are the earliest known Dravidian documents available and show some overlap with the early Cera and Pandya dynasties. Their language is Archaic Tamil, with a few borrowings from Prakrit and influences of old Kannada, both resulting from the early presence of northern Jainism. The widespread occurrence of pottery inscriptions indicates that the Tamil-Brahmi script had taken deep roots all over the countryside, leading to the cultured society visible in the classical Tamil poetry of the Cankam (Sangam) texts of the early centuries C.E. The work includes texts, transliteration, translation, detailed commentary, inscriptional glossary, and indexes.
650			_aHistory
650			_aLanguage and Literature
942			_cBK _2ddc
999			_c51143 _d51143