To reach out to people all
over, humans came up with...
scripts
Humans have come up with so many
modes of communication so far...
but, for over thousands
of years...
an important and inseperable mode
of communication in human lives...
still remains to be scripts
Today, we use Tamizh script
to read and write Tamizh language
Where did this Tamizh
script originate from?
And during which era would
have it originated?
Have these questions
ever crossed our minds?
In the pursuit of answers
to these questions...
and with the help of Archaeological experts,
we've set out on this long journey called...
'Tamizhi'
Yes! To prove the history of Tamizh language
and Tamizh people, with evidences...
we embark on this long journey into the deep
roots of Tamizh script and it's history
But this journey into the Tamizh
script starts and ends...
not from the land of
modern day Tamizh Nadu!
It comes as surprise
Come, let's begin this journey
Tamizhi!
All religions are welcome here
The Tamizh boon! The Tamizh bond!
We all are the
children of this world
Hail Tamizhi! For it's our
way, our life and our bond
Long live Tamizh
Oh my dear Tamizh, you are my strength
Oh my dear Tamizh, you are my strength
Girnar...
A mountain range said to be
even older than the Himalayas
It is an important place of pilgrimage
for the Jains and the Hindus
A mountain range that has lots of treasures
and ancients stories hidden inside it
Along with those, there exists
a big rock at its base...
which consists of an inscription with
peculiar writings on it
People who lived in these
parts centuries ago...
were surprised to see these peculiar
writings on this inscription
But they were unable to read these writings
Many such inscriptions with these
kinds of writings all over them...
were found not just in Girnar but also in
Andhra, Karnataka, Odisha, Bangladesh...
in fact, it was also found in places
like Pakistan and Afghanistan
Unable to read or understand
these writings...
people believed that someone had
hidden a treasure in these mountains...
and left the information in the form of these
writings, so that no one can decipher it
Do these writings indeed
lead to hidden treasures?
If so, who wrote them?
And during which era
was it written?
Did anyone make an
attempt to decipher them?
Many of them attempted to
decipher those writings
Muhammad Bin Tughluq was the first one
to attempt to read those writings
He took the help of Pundits from all over
and asked them to decipher it for him
But no one succeeded
Pundits who lived during the era of
Muhammad Bin Tughluq, in the 13th century AD...
couldn't decipher those writings
The effort to decipher those
writings continued for centuries
Britishers who came to India
in the 17th century...
were very keen and interested in India's
languages, history and culture
That was because the Britishers
wanted to capture and rule over India
They wanted the Indians to accept
their administration, so...
they were very keen on Indian languages,
philosophies, religions and scripts
And so, they discovered a lot
They knew these discoveries will help
them set base for an administration here
Therefore, they discovered
many inscriptions
At that time, in the year 1784...
under the leadership of William Jones,
an administration set in Calcutta...
called the Asiatic Society...
they alloted funds in order to dig deep
into the history of East Asians countries
They took the research on these
scripts, to the next level
During that time, James Prinsep...
was appointed as the treasury officer here
He got the opportunity to examine
the local coins and bills
He was also keen on learning
the culture of our country
So, he took a special interest on deciphering
the writings on these inscriptions
Until then all the ancient inscriptions
found had Sanskrit writings
But when Prinsep did a
research on these inscriptions
He saw some conjunct consonants
like features on those writings
Since, conjunct consonants aren't
a part of Sanskrit language...
Prinsep guessed that these writings must
be from a language older than Sanskrit
These writings on the rock
that must be over 1500 years old
So, what is this language that could be one
of the most ancient languages of India?
When Prinsep and other scholars like him
were seriously looking to find this out...
Christian Lassen was trying to decipher
the same using Archeological artifacts
That's when he found something that would help
in deciphering the complete history of India
Bilingual coin!
He found a bilingual coin with both sides
inscribed but in two different scripts
One side of the coin had
writings in Greek script...
and on the other side it
had an unrecognized script
Based on the phonetic sound
the Greek words made...
Lassen tried to decipher the
unrecognized script by comparing them
Using Greek script, Lassen deciphered the
unrecognized script to read "AGATHOKLEOYS"
He recorded his findings in a
letter and sent it over to Prinsep
Prinsep read it and he carried out a research
on other Bilingual coins, like Lassen did
Prinsep deciphered
many more words...
and then compared them with
the writings in the inscription
And thus, he deciphered
the entire inscription
He compared them one by one...
and he said these writings
are in Brahmi script
He also said language could
be called as Prakritam
Until then, the most ancient language
of India was believed to be Sanskrit
The experts who believed so
were surprised by this news
Many experts consider Sanskrit
to be the oldest script
But Sanskrit script came into existence
in India only during the 1st Century AD
So the language that existed before
that was called Prakritam and...
especially Magadha dialect
So, it was only in the 1st century
AD Sanskrit was established in India
This finding of Brahmi script re-wrote the
entire history of Indian scripts and languages
So, Prinsep found that the language
in the inscription as Prakritam...
but why did he address
the script as Brahmi?
Did the people from that period
also address that script as Brahmi?
Why Brahmi?
We have no idea what the people during
that period addressed this script as
It was Prinsep who addressed
it as Brahmi for the first time
We got to know about the list
of Indian scripts from...
the book Samavayanga Suddha, which
was written in the 1st century BC
That book contains a list
that talks about 18 scripts
One of them is called Bhammi
Not just that...
A Buddhist book called Lalithavistram
written in 1st century AD...
contains a list of the
scripts from ancient India
It lists a script named
Brahmi as the first one
And thus it is believed that Prinsep address
this script as Brahmi based on this
After Prinsep found the way
to decipher Brahmi script...
information from many inscriptions,
in India were deciphered
So, what the people believed
for centuries became true
Indeed there was a hidden
treasure in these mountain ranges
A treasure - History!
It was discovered that these inscriptions
were sculpted by King Ashoka and...
During his reign he
converted into Buddhism...
and in order to spread across Buddha Dhamma
all over, he had sculpted these inscriptions
(The cave sculpted by King
Ashoka for Buddhist monks)
Not just India...
but such inscriptions from all
over South East Asian countries...
gives us the idea about the
kingdom of King Ashoka the Great
Well, then what was the era
when King Ashoka ruled?
When did he get these rocks sculpted?
Answers to these questions lie
in those inscriptions itself
So, the writings on the Inscription
no. 13th of King Ashoka...
Ashoka had mentioned about
the rulers from other regions
One of them he mentioned was
the Greek ruler, Antiochus
Greek history clearly mentions that
Antiochus ruled during the 3rd century BC
Since King Ashoka had mentioned
Antiochus as his contemporary...
the experts predicted that King Ashoka must
also have lived during the 3rd century BC
The history of North India...
after reading the Brahmi writings
in King Ashoka's inscriptions...
was found to be dated back to 2300 years
But what's the history of the Tamizh land in
south, that was outside Ashoka's kingdom?
Inscriptions carrying scripts
similar to Ashoka's Brahmi...
were found near Madurai, in the
year 1886 by Robert Sewell
Though many such inscriptions were
found in the land of Tamizh...
it wasn't as detailed as that of
Ashoka, instead they were simpler
(Left: King Ashoka's inscriptions
Right: Inscriptions found in Tamizh Nadu)
Then who sculpted these inscriptions
2300 year ago, in Tamizh Nadu
In which language has it been sculpted?
Did the people, who lived in this
land 2300 year ago speak Tamizh?
What is written on
these inscriptions?
Could it be something related to religions
and philosophies, like those in North India?
If so, then what religions existed
2300 years ago, in this land?
Did kings like Ashoka rule over here?
What are the facts about ancient land of Tamizh
that will emerge from these inscriptions?
So come, let's continue this journey
Tamizhi!
All religions are welcome here
The Tamizh boon! The Tamizh bond!
We all are the
children of this world
Hail Tamizhi! For it's our
way, our life and our bond
Long live Tamizh
All religions are welcome here
The Tamizh boon! The Tamizh bond!
We all are the
children of this world
TAMIZHI
Long live Tamizh
Bhammi script is today
known as Brahmi
During the period Bhammi
or Brahmi existed....
Tamizhi also existed as
mentioned in this book
