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126 its necessity for the aboriginal inhabitants of that soil.

History informs us that Emperor Asoka sent Buddhist Missionaries to the three Tamil countries about B.C. 250, and there is very little evidence to show that there were Buddhists in these lands prior to that date. The Brahmi inscriptions alluded to above are believed to belong to the Asoka or post-Asoka period. It has been shown above that Tolkapyar flourished anterior to B. C. 350, that is, at least a century before Asoka. As it has been proved that the description of the alphabet given by Tolkapyar in his grammar is applicable only to the Vatteluttu characters, but not to the Brahmi or Asoka alphabet, it is evident beyond any shadow of doubt that Vatteluttu alone was in use among the Tamils before the introduction of Buddhism in their country. The Brahmi was evidently used only by the Buddhist monks and missionaries, and perhaps by Brahmans also. This theory should hold its own against any others, until it could be established froin inscriptional sources, that the Brahmi alphabet was universally used by all classes in the Tamil country before the days of Tolkapyar (B.C. 350).

The mere fact that the Brahmi alphabet was in use all over India proves nothing concerning the origin of Vatteluttu, any more than the use of the English alphabet regarding the source of the Indian alphabets. The Moplahs of the West Coast use the Vatteluttu (Koleluttu) characters to this very day, while the