Through discovering and deciphering Tamizh
Brahmi letters known as Tamizhi...
the information about the kings from Sangam
era, who are mentioned in Sangam literatures...
the ancient Tamizh people, their
traditions and way of living...
were proved and retrieved
with strong evidences
The most important thing above all this...
it was found that history of Tamizh
people dated back to 2600 years
Question the fact, if Tamizhi was indeed
originated as first script for Tamizh language...
then the answer takes us thousands of years
back and thousands of kms way far away
Come, let's continue this journey
Tamizhi
The history might divide us by
religion, caste and race
But Tamizh has never
paved for any division
You are our heart, mind
and soul; hail Tamizhi!
The fire that lights up
our creativity;Tamizhi
Right from North India...
Deccan plateau which is Maharashtra,
Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamizh Nadu
Including Sri Lanka
In this region, during what they
call it as the 'Iron age' or...
the 'Copper age', as it was
called in the Central India...
a script was found everywhere
which is called as 'Graffiti'
This graffiti...
was exactly the same from
Gujarat till Sri Lanka
Hence, instead of calling it 'Graffiti'...
it was believed by people and historians
that it is an undeciphered script
The reason being that it was
found over a large landscape
This is called as
'Graffiti' because...
it is in contrast to Tamizhi letter i.e a
letter for every sound variation...
and is a representation of Graffiti
The ancient civilizations that
existed 5000 years ago...
like the Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Indus
valley, the people who lived during then...
had used such graffiti
to write their language
Evidences that prove similar kind of
'Graffiti' existed before Tamizhi...
was found all across South India
So, when you look at it, could it be that
after a new script had arrived...
the old graffiti was discarded?
Or was the old graffiti developed
and became the new Brahmi script?
It could only be decided later
But while predicting the
era of this Graffiti...
it is believed that it could be in
existence before Brahmi's era
The evidences that this Graffiti must have
been in use in Tamizh Nadu before Tamizhi...
are found in exact same manner in archaeological
excavations carried all over Tamizh Nadu
We use Stratigraphy analysis
while carrying out the excavation
Based on the color change of the soil and the
materials found in them we predict their age
Below the layer where
Tamizh Brahmi was found...
in Kodumanal, the pot sherds
found in that below layer...
had Graffiti in it
We haven't deciphered this Graffiti yet
Further below pot sherds
without Graffiti were found
Which means there was a time
when people were not educated
In the layer above pot sherds
with Graffiti are found and...
in the layer further above we find pot
sherds with Graffiti along with Tamizhi inscriptions
And in the immediate layer above,
only Tamizhi inscriptions are found
In last year's excavation we
got more than 350 Graffiti
350 Graffiti with different variations
We got one with an Arrow mark Graffiti
One with Ladder
One with Swastik design and
many more such variations
We are still left with
many to be classified yet
We have to classify all these 350 Graffiti
(Keezhadi 2014 - 16 excavation result)
And now, this year too we have
retrieved around 300 - 400 Graffiti
Some are found above the layer where
Brahmi inscriptions were found
Some along the layer of Brahmi inscriptions
And some below the layer where
Brahmi inscriptions were found
We have to examine the percentage of
these Graffiti got from each layer
Only after we examine
and get a result...
we can predict the actual
growth of Tamizhi from Graffiti
Apart from this, in excavations carried out
in other places like Vallam, Korkai...
pot sherds with similar
kinds of Graffiti...
were found in the layer below where
Brahmi inscriptions were found
A question raised, whether to consider
it as script or as scratches
Some said these are just symbols scratched
by the pot maker while making the pot
The reason why it can't be a symbol
scratched by the pot maker...
From Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka,
Tamizh Nadu and Sri Lanka...
all over we found the
exact kind of Graffiti
So there is no way a single pot maker
could have travelled all over and sold it
So it can't be the pot maker's symbol
There is also another evidence that it is
not pot maker's symbol. The pot makers...
the symbol can be scratched while
the pot maker is making the pot
But these Graffiti were inscribed
on pot that was already made
So, it could be inscribed by
those who brought these pots
Another point here...
If it was the pot maker's trademark symbol
then you'd find the symbols in all pots
This was not so
Only the pot materials which
we call 'Tablewares' had them
Like those you'll find in a dining
table i.e a plate, a tumbler or a cup...
Only these pot materials
had those Graffiti
The Brahmi inscriptions were inscribed on
the pots where it was visible to everyone
It was inscribed on the
shoulder portion of the pots
These Graffiti too were
inscribed in the same manner
Since these Graffiti were inscribed just like
Brahmi then it must be an important script
Then this was not just
found on pot sherds...
Graffiti found in pot sherds were also found
in inscriptions containing Tamizhi writings
It was also found in coins
Also in stamp seals
For example a stamp seal that was found and
retrieved in Annaicoddai, Sri Lanka...
On the top there was script
which was written in Graffiti
And on the bottom it is written
as 'Ko-ve-tha' in Tamizhi
Everyone believes the Graffiti above must
be same as what's written on the bottom
But a similar Graffiti...
was found in a inscription in Edakkal,
Kerala that read 'Kadummi pudachera'
So that Graffiti was found everywhere
when 'Cheiftains' were mentioned
So everybody believes that these are no
ordinary symbols but some kind of script
Also, in the end of many Brahmi
inscriptions these Graffiti are found
It was found in lot of
pot sherds but why so?
If it's not a script
then why inscribe it?
Also why should it be found
in Brahmi inscriptions?
It was based on this, it was confirmed
that this Graffiti was indeed a script
Based on the recent excavations that took
place in other places, it was confirmed
Before the era of Tamizhi scripts
which is the 6th century BC...
as the excavation results proved that
this Graffiti was used to write Tamizh...
and it is the same one found
everywhere up to Gujarat
It establishes a strong relationship
with Indus Valley civilization Graffiti
Almost 5000 years ago, in
the North West India...
from Gujarat, Pakistan
up to Afghanistan...
from 2500 BC to 1600 BC...
a civilization existed by the river Sindhu and
it was found via archaeological excavations
(Lothal, Gujarat)
(Dholavira, Gujarat)
This was considered to be in contemporary
with Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilization
Also a lot of evidences were got that proved
it was a huge trade oriented civilization
Cities with tall brick constructions
with a planned urban architecture...
and they had a unique script
to exchange messages...
and carry out trade
exchanges among themselves
This script called Sindhu
is not alphabetic...
but contained lot of Graffiti
What was the language used by people
in Indus Valley civilization?
How did they write script?
No one has an assured answer by
just looking at those evidences
Still a lot of research is going on that
But...
within few days after Marshall
announced this discovery in 1924...
many researchers looked at it and
said it could be Dravidian language
Though these Graffiti are
yet to be deciphered...
but the language spoken back then could
be a type of Dravidian language and...
they could have used the
Graffiti to write it
Many researchers like Asko
Parpola and Heras predicted so
Collecting the cluster of stamp
seals and their Graffiti...
then examining them
using Statistical analysis..
it forms a structure
Tamizh has more of suffixes
In 'Munda' language there are infixes
which comes in between the words
Indo-Aryan languages have prefixes
One attribute that just belongs to
Dravidian languages are the suffixes
So the Indus Valley civilization
Graffiti seemed to have suffixes...
which we get to know from the
concordance and computer analysis
Even when Iravatham Mahadevan did his research
and published in his hypothesis that...
Rig veda itself has a lot of Tamizh words
So, Rig veda was compiled in Pakistan and
Afghanistan, which is Western part of South Asia
In that case...
when Rig veda has lot of Tamizh words then
what language could've been spoken there?
This is one of the evidences
Ancient people who lived during
Indus Valley civilization...
could have spoken ancient Tamizh, for which
evidences kept rising and at the same time...
most of the Graffiti
found in Tamizh Nadu...
were same as Graffiti found
in Indus Valley civilization
And researchers were awestruck by this fact
([L]Tamizh Nadu Graffiti - [R] Indus Valley Graffiti)
The Graffiti in Indus
Valley civilization and...
the Graffiti in Tamizh Nadu...
both are almost same
More than 60% of Tamizh Graffiti
resemble the Indus Valley Graffiti
Since both are almost same...
then Indus Valley Graffiti would've
been transformed into Tamizh Graffiti
This was already stated
by Dr. BB Lal in 1960
The findings that came
after his statement...
only complimented his statement
Indus Valley Graffiti must have
developed as Tamizh Graffiti...
Then Tamizh Nadu Graffiti must have developed
into Tamizhi. This is what everyone believes
Tamizh Nadu Graffiti was obtained as the
continuation of Indus Valley Graffiti
Not just that, in the archaeological
excavations that took place in Tamizh Nadu...
continuity and links to Indus
Valley civilization were found
Researchers were even
more awestruck by this
The first thing we did was measure
up this archaeological mount
So when we measured it last year...
we found it to be 80 acres in land
and 3.5 kilometers radius sized mount
This year while carrying out the excavation
we examined the mount completely...
that's when we found that...
like in Harappa and Indus
it was a twin mount system
For example the excavation
in Adichanallur...
The skull that was obtained
from Adichanallur excavation...
it was examined using chemical analysis
And it was found to
be buried in 1750 BC
That means it had a link to
Indus valley civilization
The Indus Valley civilization
ended in 1500 BC
And since this was found in 1750 BC then
chances are there must have been a link
When the civilization went extinct,
where did the people go?
Most of the evidences point
that people moved towards South
Even Migratory studies and place name
studies might be helpful in script research
In Place name studies done by Mr. R. Balakrishnan,
he delivers many strong evidences...
If you see the comparison made in it...
Like the names of places in Pakistan
and in Sangam literature...
The names of the places in
present day Tamizh Nadu...
they are all the same
For eg. places like Korkai, Vanji and Thondi.
He finds places with same name in Pakistan
He also found a place called Tamizh!
So, even today if you search in Google...
you can get information about those places
When you see the names of
those places...
you'll find lot of evidences i.e. the names
will be a series gradually moving to the south
The same names will keep repeating
Finally it ends up in Tamizh
Nadu as a cluster of names
So when you compare the names of the
places in Tamizh Nadu and Pakistan...
they are the same
Especially in Pakistan, Afghanistan
and Baluchistan, the Brahui language...
is a Dravidian language and is
still in use in modern day
The distance between these two
places is 2500 kilometers...
but they speak almost the
same language group...
This is one of the strong evidences
(Dravidian language group)
People from Indus Valley civilization...
could be Dravidian people who spoke
proto Dravidian language and...
they could have been migrated to South after
the extinction of the civilization...
Using Linguistic Population
Distribution study...
DD Kosambi and others historians
supported the statement
The research findings of
Mr. Balakrishnan IAS...
strongly support those evidences
But since the Indus valley
Graffiti are yet to be deciphered...
to prove this with more evidences, we
needs more researches...
and more archaeological
excavations must be carried out
If more excavations are done and
these Graffiti are deciphered...
then Tamizh language's script and history of
Tamizh people could date back to 5000 years
On one hand as the research about the script
that existed before Tamizhi continues...
the question of how this Tamizhi script
transformed into the present day Tamizh script...
is one of the most important question
When the reason behind why it transformed
into the present day script was analyzed...
there were shocking
historical events behind it
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
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
Grandham was developed from
Southern Brahmi or Andhra Brahmi
They created new Tamizh script
with Grandham's influence on it
That is the present day Tamizh
script which we are using
So, after the era of King Narasimhan
a new Tamizh script is established
