Vatteluttu | |
---|---|
![]() Jewish Plates (11th century AD, Malayalam) | |
Type | |
Languages | |
Parent systems | |
Child systems | Koleluttu (script)[2] |
Sister systems | |
[a] The Semitic origin of the Brahmic scripts is not universally agreed upon. | |
Brahmic scripts |
---|
The Brahmic script and its descendants |
Vatteluttu, popularly romanised as Vattezhuthu, (Tamil: வட்டெழுத்து, Vaṭṭeḻuttu and Malayalam: വട്ടെഴുത്ത്, Vaṭṭeḻuttŭ) was a syllabic alphabet of south India (Tamil Nadu and Kerala) and Sri Lanka used for writing the Tamil and Malayalam languages.[3][4]
The writing system belongs to the group of south Indian Brahmi derivatives.[3] The earliest forms of Vatteluttu have been traced to memorial stone inscriptions from the 4th century AD.[1] It probably started developing from Tamil Brahmi from around 4th-5th century AD.[1][5][6] It is distinctly attested in a number of inscriptions in Tamil Nadu from the 6th century AD.[3] By the 7th to 8th centuries, it had completely evolved from the Tamil Brahmi.[7]
Vatteluttu was replaced by the Tamil script from the 7th century AD in the Pallava court.[7] It remained the common script for writing Tamil in the Tamil Nadu and Kerala till c. 9th century AD.[2] The modern Tamil script displaced Vatteluttu as the principle script for writing Tamil (inside present-day Tamil Nadu) in c. 9th-10th century AD[2] or from 11th century onwards.[1] Its use is also attested in north-eastern Sri Lankan rock inscriptions, such as those found near Trincomalee, dated c. 5th and 8th centuries AD.[8]
Etymology
Three possible hypotheses for the etymology of the term 'Vatteluttu' are commonly accepted. Eluttu (ezhuthu) is literally 'written form' in this context; and affixed here it means 'writing system' or 'script'.
The three hypothesised meanings for the name are:
- Vatte + eluttu; 'rounded script'[2][4]
- Vata + eluttu; 'northern script'[2]
- Vette + eluttu; 'chiseled script'[2]
Other names
The name Nana-mona is given to it because, at the time when it is taught, the words "namostu" etc. are begun, which are spelt nana, mona, ittanna, tuva (that is, na, mo and tu), and the alphabet therefore came to be known as the nana-mona alphabet.[9]
Characters
Evolution
The script continuously went on evolving during its period of existence (in such a way that the date of a record may be fixed approximately by reference to the script alone).[2][9]
- Last quarter of the 8th century – the difference between two similar letters, such as for instance between pa and va; and na and lu etc., was very markedly shown.[9]
- A few centuries later – difficult to distinguish between ka and ca, na and lu, pa and va and so on.[9]
- 17th-18 centuries – letters pa, va, ya, and na and sometimes la also, are alike.[9]
Vatteluttu in Kerala
In what is now Kerala, Vatteluttu continued for a much longer period than in Tamil Nadu (by incorporating characters from Grantha/Southern Pallava Grantha script to represent Indo-Aryan or Sanskrit words in early Malayalam).[7][2] Early Malayalam inscriptions related to the Chera Perumals, kings of Kerala between c. 9th and 12th century AD, are composed mostly in Vatteluttu.[2][10] The script went on evolving during this period and in the post-Chera Perumal period (c. 12th century onwards).[2] The modern Malayalam script, a modified form of the Grantha/Southern Pallava Grantha script, gradually replaced Vatteluttu for writing Malayalam in Kerala.[2]
Vatteluttu gradually developed into a script known as "Koleluttu" in Kerala (and continued in use among certain Kerala communities, especially Muslims and Christians, even after the 16th century and up to the 19th century AD).[2]
Velvikudi Grant (8th century AD, Tamil)
Quilon Plates (9th century AD, Malayalam)
Evolution of the Tamil and the Vatteluttu scripts
The image shows the divergent evolution of the Tamil and the Vatteluttu scripts. The Vatteluttu script is shown on the left column, Tamil Brahmi in the middle column, and the Tamil script is shown on the right column. The earlier is near the centre and that later is towards the sides.
![](https://web.archive.org/web/20210127042709im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/10/Evolution_of_Vatteluttu_and_Tamil_scripts.gif/727px-Evolution_of_Vatteluttu_and_Tamil_scripts.gif)
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e Rajan, K. (2001). "Territorial Division as Gleaned from Memorial Stones". East and West. 51 (3/4): 359–367.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Narayanan, M. G. S. (2013) [1972]. Perumāḷs of Kerala: Brahmin Oligarchy and Ritual Monarchy. Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks. pp. 379-80 and 398.
- ^ a b c d Coulmas, Florian (1999). The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems. Blackwell Publishing. p. 542. ISBN 9780631214816.
- ^ a b Krishnamurti, Bhadriraju. "Tamil Language". Encyclopædia Britannica.
- ^ Mahadevan, Iravatham (2003). Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century AD. Harvard University Press. pp. 210–213. ISBN 978-0-674-01227-1.
- ^ Salomon, Richard (2004). "Review: Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century AD". The Journal of the American Oriental Society. Harvard Oriental Series. 124 (3): 565–569. doi:10.2307/4132283.
- ^ a b c Krishnamurti, Bhadriraju (2003). The Dravidian Languages. Cambridge University Press. pp. 78, 84–85. ISBN 978-1-139-43533-8.
- ^ Manogaran, Chelvadurai (2000). The Untold Story of Ancient Tamils in Sri Lanka. Chennai: Kumaran Publishers. p. 31.
- ^ a b c d e f g Rao, T. A. Gopinatha. Speciments of Vatteluttu Inscriptions. Travancore Archaeological Series. XVI (1911 ed.). Government of Travancore. pp. 283–84.
- ^ Veluthat, Kesavan. "History and Historiography in Constituting a Region: The Case of Kerala." Studies in People’s History, vol. 5, no. 1, June 2018, pp. 13–31.