Tamil went to Oman 20 centuries ago
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 October 2012, 07:49 GMT]
A potsherd inscription in Tamil language and in Tamil-Brahmi script, dateable to first century CE, has been found in the remains of the ancient city of Sumhuram in Oman. The potsherd with inscription, found in 2006 in the excavations at Khor Rori area in Oman by an archaeological team of The Italian Mission to Oman (IMTO), was deciphered when the piece came for a pottery exhibition in Kerala in September this year, The Hindu reported on Sunday. In earlier instances, Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions dateable to the dawn of the Common Era had been found in archaeological sites ranging from Mediterranean Sea coast of Egypt in the west to Thailand and Vietnam in the east.
A potsherd inscription in Tamil language and in Tamil-Brahmi script, dateable to first century CE, has been found in the remains of the ancient city of Sumhuram in Oman. The potsherd with inscription, found in 2006 in the excavations at Khor Rori area in Oman by an archaeological team of The Italian Mission to Oman (IMTO), was deciphered when the piece came for a pottery exhibition in Kerala in September this year, The Hindu reported on Sunday. In earlier instances, Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions dateable to the dawn of the Common Era had been found in archaeological sites ranging from Mediterranean Sea coast of Egypt in the west to Thailand and Vietnam in the east.
[Image courtesy: The Hindu]
The text of the inscription, whether fragmentary or not, sufficiently reveals the language and the type of script.
The text has been deciphered as “…’nanthai keeran.”
The last letter in the inscription is clearly an N called Ira’ndu-chuzhi nakaram that is different from the ordinary N or Thannakaram found in other South Asian languages.
This N is peculiar to Tamil language and script and thus makes the Brahmi script found in the potsherd to be assigned as Tamil-Brahmi.
The text is a fragment or a complete personal name in two words.
The last word that could be read as Keeran, is a popular personal name in Tamil, since very early times. There were many poets of the Changkam corpus who had that name. One example is the famous Changkam poet, Nakkeeran (Nat-keeran, meaning the good Keeran).
The first part of the name at the edge of the pottery fragment begins with a palatal N (Moon’ru chuzhi ‘nakaram).
This could be read as ‘Nanthai, and could be a fragment of a word ending with Anthai or could be a complete word and a variation of Nanthai that usually begins with dental N.
Anthai, Aanthai, Enthai, Nanthai, Nunthai and Unthai are related words of Thanthai, basically meaning father, but used in different contexts to mean his father, my father, our father, your father etc. They were also used to mean an elder, elder brother, master, lord etc. (Dravidian Etymological Dictionary, entry number 3067)
It was also common to find some of them, especially Anthai, Aanthai, Enthai and Nanthai used as honorific titles or as components of personal names before or after the names.
One example for a personal name ending with Anthai is Keeranthaiyaar (Keeran-anthaiyaar), the name of a Changkam poet.
* * *
The Tamil-Brahmi potsherd of Khor Rori was found in the residential part of the ancient city of Sumhuram. It was found in an archaeological layer belonging to the most important construction phase of the city, dated to first century CE, The Hindu cited Dr. Alexia Pavan who was in the excavation team.
The potsherd was part of a lid made by reusing the shoulder part of an amphora (jar). Soot found in it indicates that it was used in cooking, archaeologists said.
The inscription could have been written when it was an amphora bringing a commercial commodity, bearing the name of the owner.
Speaking to The Hindu, leading archaeologist from Tamil Nadu, Dr. K. Rajan was relating the connections of the western coast of Peninsular India with Oman and South Arabia to the trade of Frankincense [Kungkiliyam, a resin-gum producing incense, obtained from trees of Boswellia species].
* * *
The excavations at Khor Rori in Oman, directed by Dr. Alessandra Avanzini of the Italian Mission to Oman, are conducted since 1997.
The Tamil Brahmi potsherd was identified of its epigraphic significance when it was brought by Dr. Pavan for an exhibition of pottery of Indian Ocean Countries held in Kerala, jointly organized by Dr. P.J. Cherian of the Kerala Council of Historical Research and Roberta Tomber of the British Museum, London.
K. Rajan, Professor, Department of History, Pondicherry University, D. Dayalan, Regional Director, Archaeological Survey of India, and V. Selvakumar, Head of the Department of Epigraphy and Archaeology, Tamil University, Thanjavur, spotted the potsherd displayed by Dr. Pavan.
* * *
In entire South Asia the earliest inscriptions so far deciphered are either in Prakrit or in Tamil.
They were written in a phonetic script, which the colonial Orientalists termed as Brahmi, getting the name from a list of script names found in later literatures. The name actually prevailed at the time of the writings is not known with surety. Technically, the term Brahmi is used only to the writings dating before the 5th century CE.
From the very early stages, two strains could be found in this phonetic writing, one that was used in the Prakrit inscriptions of the Mauryan emperor Asoka (3rd century BCE) and the other that was used in the ancient Tamil country to write Tamil. Hence they are called as Asokan Brahmi and Tamil-Brahmi.
All the South Asian alphabets of today, as well as the old Southeast Asian alphabets and some of the Central Asian alphabets have come from one or the other of the Brahmi strains.
Dr. K. Rajan, in his recent excavations, has found evidence for Brahmi in Tamil Nadu dating well before the times of Asoka. Dr. S.U. Deraniyagala has made similar discoveries in the island of Sri Lanka too.
In the island of Sri Lanka, Prakrit mixed with Tamil is the widely found linguistic feature of the early inscriptions. But, early Tamil inscriptions have also been found from the north to south of the island. Whether Prakrit or Tamil, the strain of the script used in the early inscriptions of the island of Sri Lanka was largely Tamil-Brahmi.
Related Articles:
28.07.10 Tissamaharama potsherd evidences ordinary early Tamils among..
External Links:
The text has been deciphered as “…’nanthai keeran.”
The last letter in the inscription is clearly an N called Ira’ndu-chuzhi nakaram that is different from the ordinary N or Thannakaram found in other South Asian languages.
This N is peculiar to Tamil language and script and thus makes the Brahmi script found in the potsherd to be assigned as Tamil-Brahmi.
The text is a fragment or a complete personal name in two words.
The last word that could be read as Keeran, is a popular personal name in Tamil, since very early times. There were many poets of the Changkam corpus who had that name. One example is the famous Changkam poet, Nakkeeran (Nat-keeran, meaning the good Keeran).
The first part of the name at the edge of the pottery fragment begins with a palatal N (Moon’ru chuzhi ‘nakaram).
This could be read as ‘Nanthai, and could be a fragment of a word ending with Anthai or could be a complete word and a variation of Nanthai that usually begins with dental N.
Anthai, Aanthai, Enthai, Nanthai, Nunthai and Unthai are related words of Thanthai, basically meaning father, but used in different contexts to mean his father, my father, our father, your father etc. They were also used to mean an elder, elder brother, master, lord etc. (Dravidian Etymological Dictionary, entry number 3067)
It was also common to find some of them, especially Anthai, Aanthai, Enthai and Nanthai used as honorific titles or as components of personal names before or after the names.
One example for a personal name ending with Anthai is Keeranthaiyaar (Keeran-anthaiyaar), the name of a Changkam poet.
* * *
The Tamil-Brahmi potsherd of Khor Rori was found in the residential part of the ancient city of Sumhuram. It was found in an archaeological layer belonging to the most important construction phase of the city, dated to first century CE, The Hindu cited Dr. Alexia Pavan who was in the excavation team.
The potsherd was part of a lid made by reusing the shoulder part of an amphora (jar). Soot found in it indicates that it was used in cooking, archaeologists said.
The inscription could have been written when it was an amphora bringing a commercial commodity, bearing the name of the owner.
Speaking to The Hindu, leading archaeologist from Tamil Nadu, Dr. K. Rajan was relating the connections of the western coast of Peninsular India with Oman and South Arabia to the trade of Frankincense [Kungkiliyam, a resin-gum producing incense, obtained from trees of Boswellia species].
* * *
The excavations at Khor Rori in Oman, directed by Dr. Alessandra Avanzini of the Italian Mission to Oman, are conducted since 1997.
The Tamil Brahmi potsherd was identified of its epigraphic significance when it was brought by Dr. Pavan for an exhibition of pottery of Indian Ocean Countries held in Kerala, jointly organized by Dr. P.J. Cherian of the Kerala Council of Historical Research and Roberta Tomber of the British Museum, London.
K. Rajan, Professor, Department of History, Pondicherry University, D. Dayalan, Regional Director, Archaeological Survey of India, and V. Selvakumar, Head of the Department of Epigraphy and Archaeology, Tamil University, Thanjavur, spotted the potsherd displayed by Dr. Pavan.
* * *
In entire South Asia the earliest inscriptions so far deciphered are either in Prakrit or in Tamil.
They were written in a phonetic script, which the colonial Orientalists termed as Brahmi, getting the name from a list of script names found in later literatures. The name actually prevailed at the time of the writings is not known with surety. Technically, the term Brahmi is used only to the writings dating before the 5th century CE.
From the very early stages, two strains could be found in this phonetic writing, one that was used in the Prakrit inscriptions of the Mauryan emperor Asoka (3rd century BCE) and the other that was used in the ancient Tamil country to write Tamil. Hence they are called as Asokan Brahmi and Tamil-Brahmi.
All the South Asian alphabets of today, as well as the old Southeast Asian alphabets and some of the Central Asian alphabets have come from one or the other of the Brahmi strains.
Dr. K. Rajan, in his recent excavations, has found evidence for Brahmi in Tamil Nadu dating well before the times of Asoka. Dr. S.U. Deraniyagala has made similar discoveries in the island of Sri Lanka too.
In the island of Sri Lanka, Prakrit mixed with Tamil is the widely found linguistic feature of the early inscriptions. But, early Tamil inscriptions have also been found from the north to south of the island. Whether Prakrit or Tamil, the strain of the script used in the early inscriptions of the island of Sri Lanka was largely Tamil-Brahmi.
Related Articles:
28.07.10 Tissamaharama potsherd evidences ordinary early Tamils among..
External Links:
| The Hindu: | Tamil-Brahmi inscription on pottery found in Thailand | |
| The Hindu: | Potsherd with Tamil-Brahmi script found in Oman | |
| The Hindu: | Tamil Brahmi script in Egypt |
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