Only after deciphering the Brahmi
script from Ashoka's inscriptions...
and after determining it's era...
the history of not just India but the whole
of South East Asian countries were retrieved
When similar Brahmi like inscriptions called
'Tamizhi' were found in Tamizh Nadu...
the experts predicted that it must have
formed from Ashoka's Brahmi script
Thus, the history of Tamizh Nadu began in
stage after Ashoka's era i.e 3rd Century BC
In order to find it's authenticity...
a comparative study must be done
between Ashokan Brahmi and Tamizhi
Only then we'll have a better understanding
Come, let's continue this journey
Tamizhi
Our mother tongue runs in our blood
Our mother tongue is our love
Oh my dear Tamizh, you are my strength
Tamizh is what makes you a Tamizhan
Oh dear, Tamizh!
Oh my dear, Tamizh!
In Tamil script we use a dot on top of
Alphasyllabic letters to represent consonants
For eg. "ik", "ing", "ich"; remove the dot
structure and it becomes "ka","nga" and "cha"
Thus, "ik"+"a" becomes "ka"
So the difference between Alphasyllabic and
consonant is the dot on top of the letter
But in many places, including
Mangulam, in Tamizh Nadu...
the ancient inscriptions found didn't
have any letters with dot on top of it
So, for example if you
have to write "Kannan"...
in the inscription it'll
be found as "Kananana"
So in Tamizh, to read it as "Kannan' we
must add a dot on top of two letters
So, we must imagine the dot in
order to make that word meaningful
That is provided the dot is imagined
to be on top of the right letters
For example, in the Tamizhi
inscription found in Mangulam...
we can find the writing "Sadigan","Thanthai
(Father) of IlanSadigan"
Where "Thanthai" is
inscribed as "Tha-na-thai"
In the ancient Tamizhi inscriptions...
there is no difference between hard and soft
letters, also consonants and alphasyllabics
Based on the context...
the letters in a word must be read as hard or
soft, consonant or alphasyllabic accordingly
But other ancient inscriptions in
India contains Conjunct consonants
Which means if two letters are
written one above another then...
the above one is consonant and
the below one is alphasyllabic
That's what is followed
in Ashokan inscriptions
For example, in this Ashokan
inscription in Girnar...
in the word "Sakasvatha"...
since there is no dot in
these inscriptions...
in order to avoid the confusion on how to
read the letter in the center of the word...
the succession letters are written one
above the other as Conjunct consonant
When two letters are written one above
the other, as conjunct consonants...
the above letter becomes a consonant
Thus this letter sounds "is" and
the conjunct letter sounds "Sva"
Because of this
conjunct consonants...
we don't need the dot to read Ashokan
Brahmi inscriptions without any confusion
Even now, you can find in
many railway station boards...
words like 'Palli' is written in Hindi with two
successive letters as conjunct consonants
Similarly, 'Thanjavur' in Hindi
is written in the same manner
Hindi scripts came into existence
only since 9th century AD
It evolved from Ashokan Brahmi script
Same with Malayalam, though we
call it a Dravidian language
They also follow the same method,
adapting from Ashokan Brahmi
So, in the word "Kollam" you
can again find conjunct consonant
This is the impact of Ashokan Brahmi
Consonants and alphasyllabics are
differentiated in Ashokan Brahmi
For eg. in Tamizh Nadu the word
"Pakkam" is written in a way that...
the Alphasyllabic and consonant are written
in succession without any difference
Where as in North Indian Brahmi
script, conjunct consonant is used
This how they'd write it
This is one of the major difference between
Tamizh Brahmi and North Indian Brahmi
So, there is no conjunct consonant
in ancient Tamizh Nadu inscriptions
To avoid confusion between Alphasyllabic
and consonant letters in Ashokan Brahmi...
conjunct consonants were used
When no such letters are found
in Tamizhi inscriptions...
it is fair enough that it raises a question
if Tamizhi was formed from Ashokan Brahmi
Another major difference between
Tamizhi and Ashokan Brahmi is...
that later used Gutturals (Varga letters)
For example the letter "Ka" has
variations like "Kaa", "KGha", "Kghha"
Similarly, "Sa" has "Saa", "SJha" and "SJhha"
Similar "Ta", "Taa","Tdha" and "Tdhha".
Same variations for others
It is same for Hindi,
Telugu and Malayalam
But this is not followed in Tamizh
In Tamizh we use single letter and pronounce
it in a different way for other variations
So, a language's script should
consist a letter for every sound
King Ashoka followed it
For eg. while writing
the word "Manjal"...
we need a letter for each
sound that word makes
Now, we need a letter
for the sound "Ma"...
so we use the letter "Ma"
Similarly, for the sound
"ing" we use another letter
Next for the sound "ja" we use the letter
"Sa" but we pronounce it as "Manjal"
So we use the same letter for
different variations of sound
So when the need for script arose...
and if Tamizhi script had been
formed from Ashokan Brahmi...
it wouldn't have formed avoiding those
variations and just taking the single letter
A script for language is
nothing but it's sound
During Ashokan's era, the complete letters for
all sounds were present in Ashokan Brahmi
Then what's the need of using just a
letter and avoiding it's variations?
So, Tamizhi didn't form from Ashokan Brahmi
Hence, the assumption that Tamizhi was formed
from Ashokan Brahmi is completely wrong
Though comparative study proves Tamizhi didn't
originate in Tamizh Nadu post Ashokan era...
the debate continued for years about the
era of Tamizhi inscriptions in Tamizh Nadu
The answer that put an
end to that debate...
began during the Kodumanal excavation in
2012-13 under the supervision of Dr. Rajan
Kodumanal excavation 2012-13 
Pondicherry University
So far, in all the excavations that has
been carried out in other parts of India...
no pot sherds or any materials
with Brahmi script were found
But in the excavations carried out in
different regions of Tamizh Nadu...
plenty of pot sherds with
Tamizhi inscriptions were found
Similarly, in Kodumanal a plenty of pot
sherds with Tamizhi inscriptions were found
Not just that, it also provided us with
a chance to predict the Tamizhi era
When carried out the
excavation in Kodumanal...
samples from each stratum were collected...
and it was sent to laboratory to
determine it's age using Carbon dating
We conducted this excavation
during the year 2012-13
and Carbon dating was carried out
The dating resulted in revealing
its era to be 200 - 480 BC
The stratum we analyzed were only from
10 cm to 120 cms below the ground
But when we analyzed stratum
further down to 180 cms...
evidences of cultural
references were found
Since there were no organic materials,
the Carbon dating couldn't be done
But considering the Carbon dating
results for 10 cms to 120 cms...
the next 60 cms could result
in being 100 years older
Based on the results from
the Kodumanal excavation...
the era of Tamizhi script is predicted
to be earlier than 5th century BC
It goes back up
to 6th century BC
In Stratigraphy analysis, when the age of
particular organic material on a stratum...
is found using a Carbon dating...
The age of Tamizhi scripts
on the same stratum...
and in successive stratums can
be compared and predicted
But we didn't get an opportunity to determine
Tamizhi era with an undeniable precession
But, the recent excavation that
took place in 'Porundhal'...
it didn't just grab the attention
of all the historians in India...
but also provided ultimate evidence, revealing
Tamizhi era, that cannot be denied!
During an excavation at
Porundhal, near Pazhani...
a pot sherd was retrieved with
inscription that read 'Vaira'
That inscription was in Tamizhi script
Along with 'Vaira' inscribed pot
sherd, rice seeds were also found
Finding husks during excavation are
common but here we found whole rice seeds
The issue with Carbon dating is...
inorganic materials
cannot be examined
Only organic material which had life in
it can be examined using Carbon dating
So we sent those rice seeds to a laboratory
in America to determine it's age
The result we got was 490 BC
After cultivation, those rice seeds might
have been stored for couple of years...
and later used as offering
in burial rituals
So, age of those rice seeds can be applied to
the inscription on the pot sherd containing it
Based on that, the era of Tamizh Brahmi
is determined to be 5th century BC
And so, against the historians belief that
Tamizhi originated after Ashokan era...
the truth that Tamizhi existed in Tamizh
Nadu before the 5th century BC...
was confirmed by the recent
archaeological excavations
Since Prakrit language was
completely extinct...
For more than 2500 years, the only South East
Asian language spoken and written by people...
is TAMIZH!
A fact proven and confirmed
by these excavation results
Our mother tongue runs in our blood
Our mother tongue is our love
Oh my dear Tamizh, you are my strength
Tamizh is what makes you a Tamizhan
Tamizh is what makes anyone a Tamizhan
So, if you know Tamizh
then you are Tamizhan
Oh my dear Tamizh, you are my strength
Oh my dear Tamizh, you are my strength
Our mother tongue runs in our blood
Our mother tongue is our love
Oh my dear Tamizh, you are my strength
Tamizh is what makes you a Tamizhan
Tamizh is what makes anyone a Tamizhan
So, if you know Tamizh
then you are Tamizhan
It's not just the oldest script...
but the only language with plenty of old
literatures in South East Asia is...
TAMIZH
So, is there any link between the Sangam
literatures and the Tamizhi script?
Will Tamizhi inscriptions reveal any proof about
the kings mentioned in Sangam literatures?
Ancient culture with strong literacy in
Tamizh Nadu existed as per Sangam literature
Will this Tamizhi script
prove it's authenticity?
By deciphering the Tamizhi inscriptions
and finding out it's era...
what are the shocking evidences about
ancient Tamizh Nadu that will be revealed?
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
Our mother tongue is what unites us
Our mother tongue is our life
Oh my dear Tamizh, you are my strength
As far as North India
is concerned...
except Ashokan edicts no other Brahmi
inscribed artifacts were found
In any excavation no pot sherds with
inscriptions or any such things were found
But in a small region of Tamizh Nadu
plenty of Tamizhi inscriptions were found
Tamizhi inscriptions were
found in coins and pot sherds
