Vatteluttu: Difference between revisions

{{short description|Abugida used in southern Indian subcontinent (c. 6th–12th centuries)}}

{{Infobox Writing system

* [[Tamil script]]<ref name="coulmas" />

}}

{{Contains special characters|Indic}}

{{Italic title|reason=Tamil-Malayalam loanword}}

{{brahmic}}

{{lang|ta-Latn|Vatteluttu}} belonged to the group of Tamil-Malayalam scripts among the [[Brahmi|Southern Brahmi]] derivatives.<ref name="coulmas" /><ref name="Krishnamurti2003p84" /> The script was used for centuries in inscriptions and manuscripts of south India.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=Freeman|first=Rich|url=https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520228214/literary-cultures-in-history|title=Literary Cultures in History|publisher=University of California Press|year=2003|isbn=|editor-last=Sheldon|editor-first=Pollock|location=|pages=481|chapter=The Literary Culture of Premodern Kerala}}</ref>

The three suggestions are:

* ''Vata'' + ''eluttu''; 'northern script'<ref name=":1" />

* ''Vette'' + ''eluttu''; 'chiseled script'<ref name=":1" />

{{lang|ta-Latn|Vatteluttu}} probably started developing from [[Tamil-Brahmi]] from around 4th-5th century AD.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal|author=Rajan|first=K.|year=2001|title=Territorial Division as Gleaned from Memorial Stones|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29757518|journal=East and West|volume=51|pages=359–367|jstor=29757518|via=|number=3/4}}</ref><ref name="Mahadevan2003p210">{{cite book|author=Mahadevan|first=Iravatham|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DZBkAAAAMAAJ|title=Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century AD|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2003|isbn=978-0-674-01227-1|location=|pages=210–213}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Salomon|first=Richard|date=2004|title=Review: Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century AD.|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4132283|journal=The Journal of the American Oriental Society|series=|publisher=Harvard Oriental Series|volume=124|issue=3|pages=565–569|doi=10.2307/4132283|jstor=4132283|via=}}</ref> The earliest forms of the script have been traced to memorial stone inscriptions from the 4th century AD.<ref name=":0" /> It is distinctly attested in a number of inscriptions in Tamil Nadu from the 6th century AD.<ref name="coulmas" /> By the 7th to 8th centuries, it had completely evolved from the Tamil Brahmi.<ref name="Krishnamurti2003p84">{{cite book|author=Krishnamurti|first=Bhadriraju|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=54fV7Lwu3fMC|title=The Dravidian Languages|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2003|isbn=978-1-139-43533-8|location=|pages=78, 84–85}}</ref> Its use is also attested in north-eastern [[Sri Lanka]]n rock inscriptions, such as those found near [[Trincomalee]], dated c. 5th and 8th centuries AD.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Manogaran|first=Chelvadurai|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2UZuAAAAMAAJ&q=The+untold+story+of+ancient+Tamils+in+Sri+Lanka|title=The Untold Story of Ancient Tamils in Sri Lanka|publisher=Kumaran Publishers|year=2000|isbn=|location=Chennai|pages=31}}</ref>

=== Replacement ===

File:8th Century Grantha and Vatteluttu Scripts Velvikudi Grant in Sanskrit and Tamil, with labels.jpg|Velvikudi Grant (8th century AD, [[Tamil language|Tamil]])

File:Quilon Syrian copper plates (849 CE) plates 1 and 4.jpg|[[Quilon Syrian copper plates|Quilon Plates]] (9th century AD, [[Malayalam language|Malayalam]])  

</gallery>

== See also ==

* [[Pallava script]]

==References==