Editing Tamil script (section)

==History==
{{See also|Tamil-Brahmi|Vatteluttu alphabet|Grantha script|Pallava script|Kolezhuthu|Arwi|Standardisation of Tamil script}}
[[File:History of Tamil script.jpg|thumb|350px|Historical evolution of Tamil writing from the earlier [[Tamil-Brahmi]] near the top to the current Tamil script at bottom]]
[[File:Tirukkural manuscript.jpg|thumb|350px|[[Tirukkural]] [[palm leaf manuscript]]]]
The Tamil script, like the other [[Brahmic scripts]], is thought to have evolved from the original [[Brahmi script]].{{sfn|Mahadevan|2003|p=173}} The earliest inscriptions which are accepted examples of Tamil writing date to the [[Ashoka]]n period.  The script used by such inscriptions is commonly known as the [[Tamil-Brahmi]] or "Tamili script" and differs in many ways from standard Ashokan Brahmi. For example, early Tamil-Brahmi, unlike Ashokan Brahmi, had a system to distinguish between pure [[consonant]]s (''m'', in this example) and consonants with an inherent [[vowel]] (''ma'', in this example). In addition, according to [[Iravatham Mahadevan]], early Tamil Brahmi used slightly different vowel markers, had extra characters to represent letters not found in [[Sanskrit]] and omitted letters for sounds not present in Tamil such as voiced consonants and aspirates.{{sfn|Mahadevan|2003|p=173}} Inscriptions from the 2nd century use a later form of Tamil-Brahmi, which is substantially similar to the writing system described in the ''[[Tolkāppiyam]]'', an ancient Tamil grammar. Most notably, they used the ''puḷḷi'' to suppress the inherent vowel.{{sfn|Mahadevan|2003|p=230}} The Tamil letters thereafter evolved towards a more rounded form and by the 5th or 6th century, they had reached a form called the ''early vaṭṭeḻuttu''.{{sfn|Mahadevan|2003|p=211}}

The modern Tamil script does not, however, descend from that script.{{sfn|Mahadevan|2003|p=209}} In the 4th century,<ref name="griffiths">{{cite web |last1=Griffiths |first1=Arlo |title=Early Indic Inscriptions of Southeast Asia |date=2014 |url=https://www.academia.edu/6301451 |url-access=registration}}</ref> the [[Pallava dynasty]] created a new script called [[Pallava script]] for Tamil and the [[Grantha alphabet]] evolved from it, adding the Vaṭṭeḻuttu alphabet for sounds not found to write Sanskrit.{{sfn|Mahadevan|2003|p=213}} Parallel to [[Grantha alphabet]] a new script (Chola-Pallava script, which evolved to modern Tamil script) again emerged in Pallava and Chola territories resembling the same glyph development like Grantha, however, heavily reduced in its shapes and not overtaking non-native Tamil sounds, thus, ultimately descending from Pallava script.{{sfn|Mahadevan|2003|p=212}}{{sfn|Mahadevan|2003|p=213}} By the 8th century, the new scripts supplanted Vaṭṭeḻuttu in the Pallava and [[Chola dynasty|Chola]] kingdoms which lay in the north portion of the Tamil-speaking region. [[Chola dynasty|However]], Vaṭṭeḻuttu continued to be used in the southern portion of the Tamil-speaking region, in the [[Chera dynasty|Chera]] and [[Pandyan dynasty|Pandyan]] kingdoms until the 11th century, when the Pandyan kingdom was conquered by the Cholas who inherited while being feudatory of Pallavas for a short time.{{sfn|Mahadevan|2003|p=212}}{{sfn|Mahadevan|2003|p=213}}

With the fall of Pallava kingdom, the Chola dynasty pushed the Chola-Pallava script as the de facto script. Over the next few centuries, the Chola-Pallava script evolved into the modern Tamil script. The Grantha and its parent script influenced the Tamil script notably. The use of [[palm-leaf manuscript|palm leaves]] as the primary medium for [[writing]] led to changes in the script. The scribe had to be careful not to pierce the leaves with the stylus while writing because a leaf with a hole was more likely to tear and decay faster. As a result, the use of the ''puḷḷi'' to distinguish pure consonants became rare, with pure consonants usually being written as if the inherent vowel were present. Similarly, the vowel marker ({{lang|ta|ஃ}}) called: {{Langx|ta|குற்றியலுகரம்|lit=short 'u'-sound|translit=kuṟṟiyal-ukaram}}, a half-rounded ''u'' which occurs at the end of some words and in the medial position in certain compound words, marking a shortened ''u'' sound, also fell out of use and was replaced by the marker for the simple ''u'' ({{lang|ta|ு}})''.'' The ''puḷḷi'' ({{lang|ta|ஂ}}) did not fully reappear until the introduction of [[printing]], but the marker ''kuṟṟiyal-ukaram'' ({{lang|ta|ஃ}}) never came back for this purpose into use although its usage is retained in certain grammatical conceptual words whereas the sound itself still exists and plays an important role in Tamil [[prosody (linguistics)|prosody]].

The forms of some of the letters were simplified in the 19th century to make the script easier to typeset. In the 20th century, the script was [[Simplified Tamil script|simplified even further]] in a series of reforms, which regularised the vowel markers used with consonants by eliminating special markers and most irregular forms.