Page:Tamil studies.djvu/157

130 அருகே பெற்ற புள்ளியை இக்காலத்தார் காலாக எழுதினார். மகரம் உட்பெறு புள்ளியை வளைத்து எழுதினார். கொ,கோ, ஙொ, ஙோ முதலியன புள்ளிபுங் கோடும் உடன்பெற்றன--Tol. I., 17. Here, விலங்கு means a curve, கோடு is a loop or curl, புள்ளி is a dot, and கால் is a vertical stroke. Thus in கி the consonant க் has received the upper curve and in கு a nether one. The letter கெ is formed by prefixing a loop or coil to it. In the early stage the loop which was only the first half of the vowel எ was attached to the consonant, though now separated from it. The case of கோ and கை is peculiar, and it clearly proves that the Grantha-Tamil system of forming vowel-consonant has been adopted instead of the old Vatteluttu system. The letter கொ is formed by the addition of a loop and a vertical stroke (originally the sign of long ஆ), the one preceding and the other succeeding the consonant. But the dot or புள்ளி was never used for this purpose, either in the Grantha-Tamil or in the Vatteluttu characters. The statement of Nacchinarkiniyar that அருகே பெற்ற புள்ளியை இக்காலத்தார் காலாக எழுதினர் seems, therefore, purely unauthorized. In the Vatteluttu the stroke was horizontal, and it always stood for a long vowel ; but in the Grantha-Tamil it is vertical and does not always indicate a long vowel, except in the case of ஆ. The long vowel ஆ and the vowel-consonants ணு, ரு and னு have received a nether curve, while a perpendicular stroke is put after the other consonants. This is surely unsymmetrical, though not more anomalous than the joining of such parts of உ to consonants (as in கு, சு, and து) as fit in