XXVI. Edakal (எடகல்) - 5

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XXVI. Edakal (எடகல்) - 5
96.
A.
i 1 pa 2 ḻa 3 ma 4
    
B.
i 5  paḻama 6 
    
அ.
இ ப ழ ம
    
ஆ.
இ பழம
Translation
This 7 (is) ancient. 8
Locus
This inscription is also on the northern wall of the cave, but a little away from the intensely carved region, at the bottom right as you descend into the cave. The discovery seems to have come to light at the time of clearing the earth to make way for rebuilding the staircase. See ETE 2, Section 1.2.2 (ii) in Chapter 1.
No. of lines
1
Length
52 cm.
Date
ca. Late 4th - early 5th century C.E.
Notes
1. The first letter i is in the Southern Brāhmī script. It resembles the arabic numeral 3. See C. Sivaramamurti 1952 : Chart at p. 61.
2. The second letter pa also appears to be in the Southern Brāhmī script. Its direction is reveresed as seen from the curved end on the right limb. See C. Sivaramamurti 1952 : Chart at p. 122.
3. The third letter ḻa is the only character in this inscription belonging to the Tamil-Brāhmī script. See ETE 2, Section 5.12.1.
4. The fourth letter ma is also in the Southern Brāhmī script. See C. Sivaramamurti 1952 : Chart at p. 131.
5. i is identified as the proximate demonstrative pronoun  'this' in Malayalam (D. 410). See ETE 2, Commentary (96) for discussion.
6. paḻama (n.) in Malayalam corresponds to paḻa(i)mai (Ta.) 'oldness, antiquity, that which is ancient' (D. 3999).
7. 'this' refers to the pre-historic anthropomorphic figure to the right of the inscription.
8. This is a label inscription engraved by a casual visitor to the cave recording his impression of the pre-historic anthropomorphic figure. This is by far the earliest inscription in Malayalam and the only one in Brāhmī. See ETE 2, Commentary (96). The label inscription is engraved partly over the earlier rock carvings.
Field Notes
Edakal has two Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions (79 - 80) overlapping with the pre-historic carvings, both well above the eye level. Two more Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions (81 - 82)are known to have existed in this cave, also amidst the pre-historic carvings, at the time of the early surveys by Fawcett, of which only the estampages survive. The new discovery, the 5th Tamil-Brahmi inscription to be reported from here, is also on the northern wall of the cave, but a little away from the intensely carved region, at the bottom right as you descend into the cave. This is the only label inscription in this corpus, appended as it seems, to an anthropomorphic figure that is probably of a later period, and different in style as well, compared to the other figures in the cave.