Vatteluttu

*Vatteluttu*
Vatteluttu;
	Vatteluttuin modern Vatteluttu typeface
Script type	Abugida
Direction	Left-to-right
Languages	Tamil,Malayalam
Related scripts
Parent systems	Egyptian hieroglyphs Proto-Sinaitic Pheonician Aramaic Brahmi Tamil-Brahmi Vatteluttu; ; ; ; ; ;
Child systems	Koleluttu (script)
Sister systems	Pallava;
	This article containsphonetic transcriptionsin theInternational Phonetic Alphabet(IPA).For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA.For the distinction between[ ],/ /and ⟨⟩, seeIPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

VatteluttuorVattezhuthu(Tamil:வட்டெழுத்து,VaṭṭeḻuttuandMalayalam:വട്ടെഴുത്ത്,Vaṭṭeḻuttŭ,IPA:[ʋɐʈːeɻut̪ːɨ̆]) was an Alpha syllabic writing system ofsouth India(Tamil NaduandKerala) andSri Lankaused for writing theTamilandMalayalam languages.^[4]^[5].This script is the sister of thePallava scriptwhich once development inSoutheast Asia.^[4]

This article containsIndic text.Without properrendering support,you may seequestion marks or boxes,misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.

Vatteluttubelonged to the group of Tamil-Malayalam scripts among theSouthern Brahmiderivatives.^[4]^[6]The script was used for centuries in inscriptions and manuscripts of south India.^[7]

Etymology

Three possible suggestions for the etymology of the term 'Vatteluttu' are commonly proposed.Eḻuttuis literally 'written form' in this context; and affixed here it means 'writing system' or 'script'.

The three suggestions are:

Vatte+eluttu;'rounded script'^[3]^[5]
Vata+eluttu;'northern script'^[3]
Vette+eluttu;'chiseled script'^[3]

The script was also known as Tekken-Malayalam or Nana-mona.^[8]The name "Nana-mona" is given to it because, at the time when it is taught, the words "namostu" etc. are begun, which are spelt "nana, mona, ittanna, tuva" (that is, "na, mo and tu" ), and the Alpha bet therefore came to be known as the "nana-mona" Alpha bet.^[8]

History

Vatteluttuprobably started developing fromTamil-Brahmifrom around the 4th or 5th century AD.^[2]^[9]^[10]The earliest forms of the script have been traced to memorial stone inscriptions from the 4th century AD.^[2]It is distinctly attested in a number of inscriptions in Tamil Nadu from the 6th century AD.^[4]By the 7th to 8th centuries, it had developed into a completely separate script from Tamil-Brahmi.^[6]Its use is also attested in north-easternSri Lankanrock inscriptions, such as those found nearTrincomalee,dated to between c. the 5th and 8th centuries AD.^[11]

Vatteluttuwas replaced by thePallava-Grantha scriptfrom the 7th century AD in thePallavacourt. From the 11th century AD onwards theTamil scriptdisplaced the Pallava-Grantha as the principal script for writing Tamil.^[6]^[2]In what is nowKerala,Vatteluttucontinued for a much longer period than inTamil Naduby incorporating characters from Pallava-Grantha to represent Sanskrit loan words in earlyMalayalam.^[6]^[3]EarlyMalayalaminscriptions (c. 9th and 12th century AD) are composed mostly inVatteluttu.^[3]^[12]The script went on evolving in Kerala during this period and from c. the 12th century onwards.^[3]

Replacement

Vatteluttugradually developed into a script known as "Koleluttu"in Kerala. This script was more commonly used in north Kerala. It continued in use among certain Kerala communities, especially Muslims and Christians, even after the 16th century and up to the 19th century AD.^[3]
Another script derived fromVatteluttuwas the "Malayayma" or "Malayanma".This script was more commonly used in southern Kerala. The script is not, however, the one that is ancestral to the modern Malayalam script.^[7]
The modernMalayalam script,a modified form of the Pallava-Grantha script, later replacedVatteluttufor writing the Malayalam language.^[3]^[7]

Letters

Evolution of Vatteluttu (script)

The script continuously went on evolving during its period of existence (in such a way that the date of a record may be fixed approximately by reference to the script alone).^[3]^[8]

Last quarter of the 8th century – the difference between two similar letters, such as for instance between 'p' and 'v'; and 'ṅ' and 'l' etc., was very markedly shown.^[8]
A few centuries later – difficult to distinguish between 'k' and 'c', 'ṅ' and 'l', 'p' and 'v' and so on.^[8]
17th-18 centuries – letters 'p', 'v', 'y', and 'n' and sometimes 'l' also, are alike.^[8]

Vatteluttu	ISO	Equivalent letter in
Vatteluttu	ISO	Tamil	Malayalam
	a	அ	അ
	ā	ஆ	ആ
	i	இ	ഇ
	u	உ	ഉ
	e	எ	എ

Vatteluttu	ISO	Equivalent letter in
Vatteluttu	ISO	Tamil	Malayalam
	k	க	ക
	ṅ	ங	ങ
	c	ச	ച
	ñ	ஞ	ഞ
	ṭ	ட	ട
	ṇ	ண	ണ
	t	த	ത
	n	ந	ന
	p	ப	പ
	m	ம	മ

Vatteluttu	ISO	Equivalent letter in
Vatteluttu	ISO	Tamil	Malayalam
	ṟ	ற	റ
	y	ய	യ
	r	ர	ര
	l	ல	ല
	ḷ	ள	ള
	v	வ	വ

Velvikudi Grant (8th century AD,Tamil)
Quilon Plates(9th century AD,Old Malayalam)
Jewish Plates(11th century AD,Old Malayalam)

Unicode

Not yet added to unicode but proposals have been made to add it.^[13]

References

^"Vatteluttu".Omniglot.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^eRajan, K. (2001)."Territorial Division as Gleaned from Memorial Stones".East and West.51(3/4): 359–367.JSTOR 29757518.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^jNarayanan, M. G. S. (2013) [1972].Perumāḷs of Kerala: Brahmin Oligarchy and Ritual Monarchy.Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks. pp. 379-80 and 398.ISBN 9788188765072.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^eCoulmas, Florian (1999).The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems.Blackwell Publishing. p. 542.ISBN 9780631214816.
^^a ^bKrishnamurti, Bhadriraju."Tamil Language".Encyclopædia Britannica.
^^a ^b ^c ^dKrishnamurti, Bhadriraju (2003).The Dravidian Languages.Cambridge University Press. pp. 78, 84–85.ISBN 978-1-139-43533-8.
^^a ^b ^cFreeman, Rich (2003). "The Literary Culture of Premodern Kerala". In Sheldon, Pollock (ed.).Literary Cultures in History.University of California Press. p. 481.ISBN 9780520228214.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^fRao, T. A. Gopinatha.Specimens of Vatteluttu Inscriptions.Travancore Archaeological Series. Vol. XVI (1911 ed.). Government of Travancore. pp. 283–84.
^Mahadevan, Iravatham (2003).Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century AD.Harvard University Press. pp. 210–213.ISBN 978-0-674-01227-1.
^Salomon, Richard (2004)."Review: Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century AD".The Journal of the American Oriental Society.124(3). Harvard Oriental Series: 565–569.doi:10.2307/4132283.JSTOR 4132283.
^Manogaran, Chelvadurai (2000).The Untold Story of Ancient Tamils in Sri Lanka.Chennai: Kumaran Publishers. p. 31.
^Veluthat, Kesavan. "History and Historiography in Constituting a Region: The Case of Kerala."Studies in People’s History,vol. 5, no. 1, June 2018, pp. 13–31.
^"Roadmap to the SMP".Unicode Consortium.Retrieved21 August2023.

External links

Tamil Nadu Government: Archaeology Department

[1] "Vatteluttu".Omniglot.

[:0-2] Rajan, K. (2001)."Territorial Division as Gleaned from Memorial Stones".East and West.51(3/4): 359–367.JSTOR 29757518.

[:1-3] ^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^jNarayanan, M. G. S. (2013) [1972].Perumāḷs of Kerala: Brahmin Oligarchy and Ritual Monarchy.Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks. pp. 379-80 and 398.ISBN 9788188765072.

[coulmas-4] Coulmas, Florian (1999).The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems.Blackwell Publishing. p. 542.ISBN 9780631214816.

[:2-5] Krishnamurti, Bhadriraju."Tamil Language".Encyclopædia Britannica.

[Krishnamurti2003p84-6] Krishnamurti, Bhadriraju (2003).The Dravidian Languages.Cambridge University Press. pp. 78, 84–85.ISBN 978-1-139-43533-8.

[:4-7] Freeman, Rich (2003). "The Literary Culture of Premodern Kerala". In Sheldon, Pollock (ed.).Literary Cultures in History.University of California Press. p. 481.ISBN 9780520228214.

[:3-8] Rao, T. A. Gopinatha.Specimens of Vatteluttu Inscriptions.Travancore Archaeological Series. Vol. XVI (1911 ed.). Government of Travancore. pp. 283–84.

[Mahadevan2003p210-9] Mahadevan, Iravatham (2003).Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century AD.Harvard University Press. pp. 210–213.ISBN 978-0-674-01227-1.

[10] Salomon, Richard (2004)."Review: Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century AD".The Journal of the American Oriental Society.124(3). Harvard Oriental Series: 565–569.doi:10.2307/4132283.JSTOR 4132283.

[11] Manogaran, Chelvadurai (2000).The Untold Story of Ancient Tamils in Sri Lanka.Chennai: Kumaran Publishers. p. 31.

[12] Veluthat, Kesavan. "History and Historiography in Constituting a Region: The Case of Kerala."Studies in People’s History,vol. 5, no. 1, June 2018, pp. 13–31.

[13] "Roadmap to the SMP".Unicode Consortium.Retrieved21 August2023.

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