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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.,...