VEDIC ORIGIN OF BRAHMI SCRIPTS-FROM A ARCHEOLOGY EXPERT AND A TAMIL SCHOLAR-As recorded in ancient Tamil literature.

Brahma valli The Final Knowledge by Dr. R. Nagaswamy

This work will come to a close with the important Taittiriya Upanishad which is a part of the Taittiriya ranyaka, appearing in three parts as the seventh, eighth and ninth Prapataka, which go by the name Siksh valli, Anandavalli and Brighu valli. They were also called by other names like the second one called as Brahma nandavalli. Yet another names for them are Samhit, Yajna, and Vruni vidyas, but the most popular one for the first one is Siksh-valli, several hymns in the firsr part associated with a number of seers like Maha camasya, Rathitara, Pauru Sisthi, Nka the son of Mudgala and finally Trisanku each emphasizing one or other aspect of discipline as for example Mah-camasya emphasized Brahmam (Mahah), Rathitara emphasized Satyam, Paurusishti emphasized Tapas, and Naka emphasiseed Learning and teaching (svdhyaya and Pravacana). The sage Trisanku experienced that the I in the individual is like the life in the tree, the fame of it is like the peak of a hill, is extreme purity in existence; It is resplendent as the brightness of sun and the abode of truth in soul. All these experiences of the sages are one and the same and that is the truth about Brahmam. Having taught this the teacher advices the student with a remarkable counseling

Then Taittirya Upanishad belongs to Taittiriya school of the Yajurveda,. It is divided into three sections called Vallis. The first is th Siksh valli. Siksh is th first anga-subject of the six Vedngas (limbs or auxiliaries of the Vedas).The second is the Brahmnanda valli and the third is the Bhrigu valli. These two deal with the knowledge of the Supreme self -Parmtma Jnna. According to Sanskrit traditions the six limbs of the Vedic studies are the 1) Siksh, 2)Vyakarana, 3)Chandas,4) Niruktam, 5)Jyostisahm, and 6) Kalpam. Thus Siksh is the first and important limb of Vedic studies and relates to Phonetics, and Pronunciation. It begins with the statement we now begin with explaining Siksh: Varnas (letters) Svara, its strength, Mtrs, and their continuity and combination are the rhythmic recitation. Sikshm vykhysymah; varnas svarah; mtra balam; sma snathnam.

Radhakrishnan translates this passage as We will expound pronunciation of letters or sounds, pitch quality, force or stress, articulation, and combination; This is called the section on Siksh According to this, the first lesson on Vednga begins with the study of letters.

The most ancient Tamil Grammar Tolkppiyam incidentally begins with Eluttu the letters. A study of this chapter shows Tolkppiyar wrote his work when Brhmi script had already come into vogue in Tamailnadu for he wrote about both the written script and phonetic sound. How Tolkppiyam deals with the phonetic sounds is brilliantly analyzed by P.S.Subrahmanya Sastry, in his work An Enquiry into the relationship of Sanskrit and Tamil, published by the University of Travancore, 1946, Chapter II. His following remarks are worth recalling at this point.

Many technical terms relating to Phonology, Morphology, Poetics and Prosody had already existed before his time and Tolkppiyar should have made use of them. His text tells us not only this, but he has also made use of his knowledge of the Vedas Sikshs,the Prtiskhyas, the Nirukta, Sanskrit grammar, Sanskrit science of poetics, Dharma Sstras, the Kmasutra, the Artha sstra etc. In the chapter on the production of Sound he refers to the four phases of speech sound Par, Pasyanti, Madhyam and Vaikahari mentioned in the Rg Veda and tells us that in his work he deals with only the last Vaikhari and those who wish to learn them from Antanar Marai (Vedas of the Brhmins). Prof Sastri refers to Sutra 102 of Eluttatikram of Tolkppiyam. Ell eluttm ---ahattelu vali isai ariltapa ndi alavir kodal Antanar maraitte It is necessary to note that PS Sastri wrote when much inscriptional material especially about the script was not discovered. A large number of Brhmi inscription have come to light in recent times and need to be studied in relation to Tolkppiyam. The earliest inscriptions are found in Brhmi script that may be ascribed to first cent BCE. As Tolkppiyar mentions script he may be assigned to first cent CE. The following sutras of Tolkppiyam refer to written script. meyyin iyarkai pilliyodu nilayal ie. The natureof consonant is to appear with a dot. Pulli ill ell meyyum uru urvki akaramaodu uyirttalum, enai uyirodu urupu tirindu uyirtalum yir iyala uyirtal re. All consonants without dot, appear with modifications to their forms except the syllable of the first varga like ka which has only its basic form without any change. The graphic form of script is Eluttu in Tamil which is also used to denote its phonetic sound. So Naccinrkkiniyar, the commentator says that Eluttu stands for both written and phonetic form. Elutap-paduvatlum eluppap-patuvatlum eluttu. i.e Eluttu is so called because it is written and is also pronounced. The root

Elu means both raise (sound) and write/draw.

The Vedic Brhmanas were obliged to serve as judges in village courts and that calls for a knowledge of Dharma Sstras for him. 18 major Dharma Sstras like that of Manu, Yajnya valkhya, Vasishta, Nrada, Brhaspati and others were available for study then. The Dharma sstra insists on the written document for ownership rights and other transactions for deciding disputes. Similarly knowledge of Numerals and Arithmetic is required for all transactions like laying yaga kundas, construction of residences, trade, Royal treasury and administration, etc. The Vedic brmhanas were to study both written script and numerals. They were also considered as effective ambassadors. When they learnt the Vedas, the knowledge of phonetics and pronunciation was necessary. There is a tradition of calling the Vedas unwritten text Elutkkilavi which some scholars mistook and wrote that (Vedic ) Brhmanas were against written script. This Elutkkilavi applies only to the learning of Vedic texts and not against other subjects -vidyas like dharma sstra, mathematics, astronomy, royal administration etc. There are three words in the Vedas namely Bhuh, Bhuvah, and Suvah which are used extensively in Vedic recitations and rituals. A certain Maharishi Cmasya realized and introduced another Vyhriti called Mahah as the fourth Vyhritih. These terms had multiple layers of meaning given in the Upanishad itself. The meanings of each layer are:- a) Bhuh means earth Prithvi; bhuvah means space ksah; Suvah means the whole universe and Mahah means Aditya - sun. It is from Sun all beings grow b) Bhuh means Fire Agni; Bhuvah means Wind Vyuh; Suvah means Sun and Mahah means Moon Chandramh. It is from Moon all luminaries shine brightly. c) Bhuh means Rig veda; Bhuvah means Sma veda; Suvah means Yajurveda and Mahah means Brahmam It is from Brahmam everything attain pre-eminence. d) Bhuh means vital breadth - Prnah, bhuvah means apna out-breadth air vyna diffused breadth and mahah means Annam food These four Vyhritis are explained as above by the Upanishad and in which Mahah stands for Aditya, Chandrama, Brahmam, and Anna the four vital requirement of men. Veda stand for learning process. So the ultimate in Veda is called Brahmam. All these are called as the mystic utterance of the Veda OM. This Upanishad praises everything as Brahmam identical with Om. This shows that the first prsna of this Upanishad is devoted to emphasizing Brahmam and is therefore rightly called Brahma valli

Omiti brhmanah pravakshyan branhmoppnavan brahmaiva bhavati It is because of this unity, the Vedic scholar is called a Brahmana. The student who studies this concludes the first part of this Upanishad as I salute Brahmam Om namo brahmane.

In this connection there is interesting information provided by Naccinrkkiniyar in his commentary on the study of Vedas and Vedngas by Brhmins of Tamilnadu. According to Naccinrkkiniyar the six limbs studied by the Tamil Brhmins were Nirutta (Niruktam)study of vedic terms, Vykarana that deals with the grammar of Vedic terms and also worldly usages like Aintiram, Kalpas like that of Bodhyaniyam, Bhradvajam, Apastampam, Atreyam,and others; Ganitham Mathematics like that of Nryaniyam and Varham; Chandam classical poetics, and Brahmam standing for Eluttu raycci. In this list Ganitham stands for what is called in Sanskrit sources as Jyotisham that satnds for astronomical calculations. But the most important point for our study here is the name is Brahmam (piramam) mentioned standing for Eluttrycci which means both written and phonetic sound. This is a clear example of Tamil Brhmins learning both written script and phonetic letters. The question arises what is the connection between Eluttricci and Brhmam?

We have seen that the first lessons on phonetic letters is called Siksh-valli in Taittirya Upanishad. We have also seen that this section teaching Varna letters emphasizes brahmam So Naccinrkkiniyar gives the name Brahmam to Siksh valli which by this time included written script as well Eluttu. Naccinrkkiniyar is an extraordinary commentator who cites hundreds of examples for the sutras but almost all of them are from Sangam literature and none from later period there by showing his primary concern as a stickler to tradition. The tradition of calling Siksh valli as Brahmam two thousand years ago, is preserved for us by Naccinrkkiniyar, because of the importance given to Brahmam in that first section. It is certain that the study of script and Phonetic letters were very closely and largely used in the learning of Vedic Brhmanas and so the script itself is came to be called Brhmi i.e of the Brhmanas. It naturally was also called Bammi in Prakrit.

Scholars who have studied the Brhmi script has shown that it was designed for Sanskrit phonetics like the varga sounds and invented by those well versed in Sanskrit. There is also a 7th Cent Chinese annals that mentions the Brhmi and Kharoshti scripts were invented in India which shows that Brhmins who used to study the phonetics of Sanskrit invented this script. We may add that Paninis Vykarana came into vogue in the North West Frontiers of India and this school was very active in that region. Asoka Maurya (3rd cent BCE) in whose time the script emerges was the Governor of this province when he started his career as a young prince before he went to Avanti and then became the Ruler of Mgada. He was an enterprising king who had already the knowledge of writings in Greek (Balkan states) and Persia that had

Aramaic script. It is not unlikely that he was responsible in encouraging the Sanskrit scholars to invent a script for his administrative and judicial functions. Asokas edicts have been found in Greek and Aramaic characters are known. Also he used Kharoshti script which also emerges in that region from that times onwards. So he preferred the use of Brhmi in his kingdom upto Mgadha and Kharoshti in NWFP. Asokas instruction to enter all the gift made by his queen should be entered in her name, in one of his edict, shows that he was using it in his administrative and judicial systems. I have shown in the chapter on Brhmins and Brhmi under Asoka, that the Dharma he preached was the same as the Siksh valli of the Taittirya Upanishad, which teaches the study of letters.

It is necessary to point out that the Tolkppiyam has a prologue Payiram written by Tolkppiyars co student Panam pranar who categorically states that Tolkppiyam fully followed a grammar named Aintiram Aintiram nirainta Tolkppiyam. We have seen that Naccinrkkiniyar says the Vykarana studied by the Tamil Brhmins in their study of Vedas was Aintiram which deals with Vedic tradition. Aru angamva (Shadanga) ulakiyal collai olittu Vaidika collai rayum Nirukta; avvirandaiyum (ulakiyal and Vaidikam) udan arayum aintiram todakkattu vyakaranamum; bharadvajam, bodhayanaiym, Apasthambam, Atreyam mudaliya karpangalumNarayaniyam, Varhammudaliya ganitangalum elttrycykiya biramamum,, Ceyyul ilakkanamkiya Chandamum m (Naccinrkkiniyar s commenaray on Tolkppiyam sutram 75, in Purattinai).

Also Naccinrkkiniyar in his commentary on Ahattinai of Tolkppiyam mentions that the nomenclature used by Tolkppiyar was the ones used by Agastya in his Tamil grammar Agattiyam. He further state These technical words were coined by Agastya. So the terms Ahattinai, Purattinai, etc used in Tolkppiyam were wholly Vedic terminology. It should be remembered that the Early Pandyas repeatedly claim that their ancestors learnt both Sanskrit and Tamil from Agastya. All evidences in Tamil and Sanskrit point to the fact that the Tamil and Tamil society followed Vedic Traditions.