page_title: Tamil inscriptions in Sri Lanka
section_title: Tamil letters and words in Prakrit inscriptions
hierarchical_section_title: Tamil inscriptions in Sri Lanka / Early Anurādhapura period (300 BC – 300 AD) / Tamil letters and words in Prakrit inscriptions
caption_attribution_description: English: Marumakan
context_page_description: Tamil inscriptions in Sri Lanka date from the centuries before Christ to the modern era. The vast majority of inscriptions date to the centuries following the 10th century AD, and were issued under the reigns of both Tamil and Sinhala rulers alike. Out of the Tamil rulers, almost all surviving inscriptions were issued under the occupying Chola dynasty, whilst one stone inscription and coins of the Jaffna Kingdom have also been found.
  Most inscriptions are of a Hindu or Buddhist nature, or record the exploits of merchants, soldiers, officials and kings.
  The longest Tamil inscription in the island is from the Lankatilaka Vihara, for which historian K. Indrapala states the following:
  "The status of the Tamil language in the Sinhalese kingdom in the pre-colonial period would be an eye-opener to many. Where necessary, Sinhalese kings or other authorities used the Tamil language for their epigraphic records. In the fourteenth century, a record inscribed in Sinhala on the walls of the Lankatilaka Temple was provided with a full Tamil translation on the same walls, as if setting an example to future rulers of the country.
caption: Marumakaṉ
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