Vatteluttu

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Vatteluttu (vaṭṭeḻuttu) or "rounded writing" is an abugida writing system. Vatteluttu was also commonly known as the Pallava script by scholars of Southeast Asian studies such as George Coedes and D.G.E. Hall. The linguistic and cultural influence of Dravidian India on Southeast Asia is evident in the spread of writing and literacy beyond South Asia: the Pallavas, a Tamil dynasty from the early centuries of the Common Era (c. 275 to 500 CE), carried their writing system on their voyages to the east. The Pallava writing system forms the basis for several writing systems of Southeast Asia and beyond: Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sulawesi (the Celebes) and the Philippines.[1]

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[edit] South Asia

Vatteluttu was used to write some Dravidian languages of South India and Sri Lanka. It was also an ancient writing system used for writing the Tamil language after the second century CE replacing an older Tamil-Brahmi script based on the brahmi writing system. This rounded form of writing was also used in Kerala to write in Tamil as well as in proto-Malayalam and Malayalam.

Inscriptional records in the Tamil language date from 300 BCE to 1800 CE and have undergone varying changes through history.[2] The Grantha Tamil was an alphabet in which extra letters were created specifically for Sanskrit words. It was also a modified form of Tamil script to write Sanskrit granthas, or books. In Tamil many of the alphabets or letters which are found in Sanskrit are missing.

[edit] Malay Archipelago

Vatteluttu is the earliest writing system in the Malay Archipelago. It started in Java Island and used to write Sanskrit.

Vatteluttu is also the earliest writing system used to write early Malay language, which received a lot of Tamil influence.

The use of Vatteluttu is found at a yupa (a stone pole) in Muara Kaman, between Mahakam River and Kedang Kepala, around 125 km or taking a speed boat for 2 hours to the upstream of Tenggarong, the capital of Kutai Kartanegara Regency.

The Yupa was found by a topography worker from Netherlands in 1879. It was made in year 400, written in Sanskrit. The 7 yupa are now in the Jakarta National Museum, telling the story about the achievements of King Mulawarwan, grandson of Kudungga.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

Ancient Khmer script from Cambodia.
Ancient Khmer script from Cambodia.
  1. ^ Steever, Sanford B. (1998). The Dravidian Languages. London; New York: Routledge. 
  2. ^ Agesthialingom, S. & S.V. Shanmugam (1970). The Language of Tamil Inscriptions. Annamalainagar, India: Annamalai University. 


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