264 Dr. B. Q. Basing ton's Account (>f Sculphtres, 8jC. at Maliamalaipiir. 



very minutely defined, both as respects the property of others, and the 

 cardinal points. The act of donation is attested by numerous witnesses, 

 and the name of the donor is also mentioned. A perfect copy of this 

 inscription might easily be made, if the wall which I have noticed were 

 removed ; and as the date might possibly thus be ascertained, I would 

 suggest that the Madras Literary Society be recommended to take measures 

 for effecting this object. In order to facilitate the task of decyphering this 

 and similar records, I have drawn out an alphabet (see PL 13) from a 

 careful collation of several ancient Tamil inscriptions.* 



As it seems probable, from a passage in another ancient inscription 

 hereafter noticed, that Mahamalaipur was a S' iva-St'hala, I am inclined to 

 consider the Varuha Sxvdmi pagoda as quite distinct, and probably of a 

 different era from the antiquities, properly so called, which belong to this 

 place. The difference of language in tiie inscription, and the circumstance 

 that the pagoda is a built structure projecting from the face of the rock, 



* The changes which time has produced are in some letters very great; and where characters 

 are so simple as those of the Tamil language, even slight alterations in form give rise to per- 

 plexity. I may adduce, as an example, the letter ca, the most ancient form of which was a 

 Latin cross "Y. In the course of time a top was added to the left side, and the cross bar was 

 curved thus 'l^. The next alteration was in the addition of a perpendicular line falling from 

 the left extremity of the top ^. Tlie top was then extended to the right ^, and by 

 prolonging the extremities of the curved line, the modern letter ^ has at length been formed, 

 or in a still more complicated manner as in the Grantha thus c3d- I" ''s modern form ^ 

 it might easily be confounded with the 5 which, though it now has a tail, was anciently written 

 without one, thus ^. Other examples might be given, but they suggest themselves on an 

 inspection of the alphabet itself. 



I cannot touch on the subject of ancient Tamil characters without remarking, that their extreme 

 simplicity seems one among many circumstances, which indicate that the language is of very high 

 antiquity. The Sanscrit of the South of India is written in characters (the Grant'ha) derived from 

 the Tamil, but they are much more complicated, and therefore probablj' posterior in point of an- 

 tiquity. The peculiar structure of the Tamil language, wholly dissimilar from the Sanscrit, its 

 deficiency in aspirated consonants, its possession of letters and sounds not found in Sanscrit, 

 its division into dialects, one of which contains but few words of Sanscrit derivation ; and lastly, 

 its locality at the southern extremity of India, would seem likewise to indicate an independent 

 origin, and one of at least equal antiquity with the Sanscrit itself; but this is a subject foreign 

 to that now under consideration, and deserving a more lengthened discussion than the limits of a 

 note will allow. 



