page_title: Grantha script
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Grantha script / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Velvikudi Grant of Nedunjadaiyan was issued about 770 CE, inscribed in a series of copper plate. The inscription is one of few where both Sanskrit language and Tamil language was written in the same grant. Sanskrit was written in Grantha script, while Tamil was written in Vatteluttu ( also called Vattezuttu ) scripts. Lines 1-30 and 142-150 were in Sanskrit, while lines 31-141 were in Tamil (except some words in these lines were borrowed from Sanskrit and were written in Grantha). The text begins by invoking the Hindu god Shiva, reverentially refers to the Pandya kings, the sage Agastya, mentions some Hindu legends such as the samudra manthan (churning of cosmic ocean), conduct of a Vedic ritual, and some historical events in the kingdom. It mentions the past charitable deeds, and records a grant of villages. It then returns to Sanskrit and reverentially recites four verses from Vaishnavism teachings (note the start of the grant is related to Shaivism). The scribe writes his name at the end as Yuddhakesari Perumbanaikkaran. The above photo shows Grantha (Sanskrit language) script inscription on a copper plate. For more, see: Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XVII (1923-24), Editor: Rao Bahadur H Krishna Sastri, pp. 291-298 This is a photo of a 2-D inscription created in the 8th-century CE. Therefore Wikimedia Commons PD-Art licensing guidelines apply. Any rights I have as a photographer is herewith donated to wikimedia commons under CC 4.0 license.
context_page_description: The Grantha script is a South Indian script, found particularly in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. In its Pallava script origins, the Grantha script is related to the Tamil and the Vatteluttu scripts. The modern Malayalam script of Kerala is a direct descendant of the Grantha script. The Southeast Asian and Indonesian scripts such as Thai and Javanese respectively, as well as South Asian Tigalari and Sinhala scripts are derived or closely related to the Grantha through the early Pallava script. The Pallava script or Pallava Grantha, emerged in the 4th century CE and was used until the 7th century CE, in India. This early Grantha script was used to write Sanskrit texts, inscriptions on copper plates and stones of Hindu temples and monasteries. It was also used for classical Manipravalam – a language that is a blend of Sanskrit and Tamil. From it evolved Middle Grantha by the 7th century, and Transitional Grantha by about the 8th-century, which remained in use until about the 14th-century. Modern Grantha script has been in use since the 14th-century and into the modern era, to write classical texts in Sanskrit and Dravidian languages.
context_section_description: In Sanskrit, grantha is literally 'a knot'. It is a word that was used for books, and the script used to write them. This stems from the practice of binding inscribed palm leaves using a length of thread held by knots. Grantha was widely used to write Sanskrit in the Tamil-speaking parts of South Asia from about the 5th-century CE into the modern times.
  The Grantha script was also historically used for writing Manipravalam, a blend of Tamil and Sanskrit which was used in the exegesis of Manipravalam texts. This evolved into a fairly complex writing system which required that Tamil words be written in the Tamil script and Sanskrit words be written in the Grantha script. By the 15th century, this had evolved to the point that both scripts would be used within the same word – if the root was derived from Sanskrit it would be written in the Grantha script, but any Tamil suffixes which were added to it would be written using the Tamil script. This system of writing went out of use when Manipravalam declined in popularity, but it was customary to use the same convention in printed editions of texts originally written in Manipravalam until the middle of the 20th century.
  In modern times, the Grantha script is used in religious contexts by Tamil-speaking Hindus. For example, they use the script to write a child's name for the first time during the naming ceremony, for the Sanskrit portion of traditional wedding cards, and for announcements of a person's last rites. It is also used in many religious almanacs to print traditional formulaic summaries of the coming year.
caption: 8th century Velvikudi grant inscription in the Grantha script (Sanskrit language).
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