vedic origin of the brahmi script

7/30/2019 Vedic Origin of the Brahmi Script

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VEDIC ORIGIN OF BRAHMI SCRIPTS-FROM A ARCHEOLOGYEXPERT AND A TAMIL SCHOLAR-As recorded in ancient Tamilliterature.

Brahma valli The Final Knowledge by Dr. R. Nagaswamy

This work will come to a close with the important Taittiriya Upanishad which is apart of the Taittiriya ranyaka, appearing in three parts as the seventh, eighth andninth 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 Brahmanandavalli. 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 firsrpart 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 aspectof 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 Trisankuexperienced that the I in the individual is like the life in the tree, the fame of it is likethe peak of a hill, is extreme purity in existence; It is resplendent as the brightnessof sun and the abode of truth in soul. All these experiences of the sages are one andthe same and that is the truth about Brahmam. Having taught this the teacheradvices the student with a remarkable counseling

Then Taittirya Upanishad belongs to Taittiriya school of the Yajurveda,. It isdivided 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 isthe Brahmnanda valli and the third is the Bhrigu valli. These two deal with theknowledge of the Supreme self -Parmtma Jnna. According to Sanskrit traditionsthe 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 importantlimb of Vedic studies and relates to Phonetics, and Pronunciation. It begins with thestatement we now begin with explaining Siksh: Varnas (letters) Svara, itsstrength, Mtrs, and their continuity and combination are the rhythmicrecitation.

Sikshm vykhysymah; varnas svarah; mtra balam; sma snathnam.

Radhakrishnan translates this passage as We will expound pronunciation of lettersor sounds, pitch quality, force or stress, articulation, and combination; This is calledthe section on Siksh According to this, the first lesson on Vednga begins with thestudy of letters.
http://tisham-creativenest.blogspot.in/2012/08/brahma-valli-final-knowledge-by-dr-r.htmlhttp://tisham-creativenest.blogspot.in/2012/08/brahma-valli-final-knowledge-by-dr-r.html


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The most ancient Tamil Grammar Tolkppiyam incidentally begins with Eluttuthe letters. A study of this chapter shows Tolkppiyar wrote his work when Brhmiscript had already come into vogue in Tamailnadu for he wrote about both the

written script and phonetic sound. How Tolkppiyam deals with the phoneticsounds is brilliantly analyzed by P.S.Subrahmanya Sastry, in his work An Enquiryinto the relationship of Sanskrit and Tamil, published by the University ofTravancore, 1946, Chapter II. His following remarks are worth recalling at thispoint.

Many technical terms relating to Phonology, Morphology, Poetics and Prosody hadalready existed before his time and Tolkppiyar should have made use of them. Histext 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 ofpoetics, Dharma Sstras, the Kmasutra, the Artha sstra etc. In the chapter on theproduction 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 hedeals with only the last Vaikhari and those who wish to learn them from AntanarMarai (Vedas of the Brhmins). Prof Sastri refers to Sutra 102 of Eluttatikram ofTolkppiyam.

Ell eluttm ----

ahattelu vali isai ariltapa ndi alavir kodal Antanar maraitte It is necessary to notethat PS Sastri wrote when much inscriptional material especially about the scriptwas not discovered. A large number of Brhmi inscription have come to light inrecent times and need to be studied in relation to Tolkppiyam. The earliestinscriptions are found in Brhmi script that may be ascribed to first cent BCE. AsTolkppiyar mentions script he may be assigned to first cent CE. The followingsutras 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 uruputirindu uyirtalum yir iyala uyirtal re. All consonants without dot, appear withmodifications to their forms except the syllable of the first varga like ka which hasonly its basic form without any change.

The graphic form of script is Eluttu in Tamil which is also used to denote itsphonetic sound. So Naccinrkkiniyar, the commentator says that Eluttu stands forboth written and phonetic form. Elutap-paduvatlum eluppap-patuvatlumeluttu. i.e Eluttu is so called because it is written and is also pronounced. The root


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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 ofManu, Yajnya valkhya, Vasishta, Nrada, Brhaspati and others were available forstudy then. The Dharma sstra insists on the written document for ownership rightsand other transactions for deciding disputes. Similarly knowledge of Numerals andArithmetic is required for all transactions like laying yaga kundas, construction ofresidences, trade, Royal treasury and administration, etc. The Vedic brmhanaswere to study both written script and numerals. They were also considered aseffective ambassadors. When they learnt the Vedas, the knowledge of phonetics andpronunciation was necessary. There is a tradition of calling the Vedas unwrittentext Elutkkilavi which some scholars mistook and wrote that (Vedic ) Brhmanaswere 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 namelyBhuh, Bhuvah, and Suvah which are used extensively in Vedic recitations andrituals. A certain Maharishi Cmasya realized and introduced another Vyhriticalled Mahah as the fourth Vyhritih. These terms had multiple layers ofmeaning given in the Upanishad itself. The meanings of each layer are:- a) Bhuhmeans earth Prithvi; bhuvah means space ksah; Suvah means the whole universeand Mahah means Aditya - sun. It is from Sun all beings grow b) Bhuh means FireAgni; Bhuvah means Wind Vyuh; Suvah means Sun and Mahah means MoonChandramh. It is from Moon all luminaries shine brightly. c) Bhuh means Rigveda; Bhuvah means Sma veda; Suvah means Yajurveda and Mahah meansBrahmam It is from Brahmam everything attain pre-eminence. d) Bhuh means vitalbreadth - Prnah, bhuvah means apna out-breadth air vyna diffused breadth andmahah means Annam foodThese four Vyhritis are explained as above by the Upanishad and in which Mahahstands for Aditya, Chandrama, Brahmam, and Anna the four vital requirement ofmen. 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 Upanishadpraises everything as Brahmam identical with Om. This shows that the first prsnaof this Upanishad is devoted to emphasizing Brahmam and is therefore rightlycalled Brahma valli

Omiti brhmanah pravakshyan branhmoppnavan brahmaiva bhavatiIt is because of this unity, the Vedic scholar is called a Brahmana. The studentwho studies this concludes the first part of this Upanishad as I salute BrahmamOm namo brahmane.


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In this connection there is interesting information provided by Naccinrkkiniyar inhis commentary on the study of Vedas and Vedngas by Brhmins of Tamilnadu.According to Naccinrkkiniyar the six limbs studied by the Tamil Brhmins wereNirutta (Niruktam)study of vedic terms, Vykarana that deals with the grammar of

Vedic terms and also worldly usages like Aintiram, Kalpas like that ofBodhyaniyam, Bhradvajam, Apastampam, Atreyam,and others; GanithamMathematics like that of Nryaniyam and Varham; Chandam classical poetics,and Brahmam standing for Eluttu raycci. In this list Ganitham stands for what iscalled 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 andphonetic sound. This is a clear example of Tamil Brhmins learning both writtenscript and phonetic letters. The question arises what is the connection betweenEluttricci and Brhmam?

We have seen that the first lessons on phonetic letters is called Siksh-valli inTaittirya Upanishad. We have also seen that this section teaching Varna lettersemphasizes brahmam So Naccinrkkiniyar gives the name Brahmam to Sikshvalli which by this time included written script as well Eluttu. Naccinrkkiniyar isan extraordinary commentator who cites hundreds of examples for the sutras butalmost all of them are from Sangam literature and none from later period there byshowing his primary concern as a stickler to tradition. The tradition of callingSiksh valli as Brahmam two thousand years ago, is preserved for us byNaccinrkkiniyar, 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 andlargely used in the learning of Vedic Brhmanas and so the script itself is came to becalled 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 forSanskrit phonetics like the varga sounds and invented by those well versed inSanskrit. There is also a 7th Cent Chinese annals that mentions the Brhmi andKharoshti scripts were invented in India which shows that Brhmins who used tostudy the phonetics of Sanskrit invented this script. We may add that PaninisVykarana came into vogue in the North West Frontiers of India and this schoolwas very active in that region.

Asoka Maurya (3rd cent BCE) in whose time the script emerges was the Governorof this province when he started his career as a young prince before he went toAvanti and then became the Ruler of Mgada. He was an enterprising king who hadalready the knowledge of writings in Greek (Balkan states) and Persia that had


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Aramaic script. It is not unlikely that he was responsible in encouraging theSanskrit scholars to invent a script for his administrative and judicial functions.Asokas edicts have been found in Greek and Aramaic characters are known. Alsohe 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 enteredin her name, in one of his edict, shows that he was using it in his administrative andjudicial systems. I have shown in the chapter on Brhmins and Brhmi underAsoka, that the Dharma he preached was the same as the Siksh valli of theTaittirya Upanishad, which teaches the study of letters.

It is necessary to point out that the Tolkppiyam has a prologue Payiram written byTolkppiyars co student Panam pranar who categorically states that Tolkppiyamfully followed a grammar named Aintiram Aintiram nirainta Tolkppiyam. We

have seen that Naccinrkkiniyar says the Vykarana studied by the TamilBrhmins 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 todakkattuvyakaranamum; bharadvajam, bodhayanaiym, Apasthambam, Atreyam mudaliyakarpangalumNarayaniyam, Varhammudaliya ganitangalum elttrycykiyabiramamum,, Ceyyul ilakkanamkiya Chandamum m (Naccinrkkiniyar scommenaray on Tolkppiyam sutram 75, in Purattinai).

Also Naccinrkkiniyar in his commentary on Ahattinai of Tolkppiyam mentionsthat the nomenclature used by Tolkppiyar was the ones used by Agastya in hisTamil grammar Agattiyam. He further state These technical words were coined byAgastya. So the terms Ahattinai, Purattinai, etc used in Tolkppiyam were whollyVedic terminology. It should be remembered that the Early Pandyas repeatedlyclaim that their ancestors learnt both Sanskrit and Tamil from Agastya. Allevidences in Tamil and Sanskrit point to the fact that the Tamil and Tamil societyfollowed Vedic Traditions.

vedic origin of the brahmi script

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