Semmozhi

Semmozhi · செம்மொழி

Four surfaces, one language

Tamil was written on palm leaf, on temple stone, on copper plates and on fired clay. Each shelf below is a tied bundle: untie one and it takes you to that surface. Everything on this page is sample content.

ஓலை, கல், செப்பு, மண் — நான்கு பரப்புகள், ஒரே மொழி.

sample · unverified மாதிரி · சரிபார்க்கப்படவில்லை

Every title, date, number and caption on this page — English and Tamil alike — is placeholder sample text used to lay out the design system. None of it is a checked catalogue record, and no claim here has been read by a Tamil speaker yet. The working tools are the Brahmi Lab, old scripts and free fonts pages.

The shelf அலமாரி

Four bundles, four sections. A bundle is a link: the thread comes off, the boards open, and the section loads. With reduced motion it is an ordinary link and follows at once; with no JavaScript at all it is still a plain link.

Open one here இங்கேயே திற

The same bundle can open a reader on this page instead of following a link. Escape closes it.

Palm leaf ஓலை

Sample section. A stylus cuts the letter into the leaf and soot is rubbed in, so the line is a groove first and ink second.

Temple stone கல்

Sample section. Wall inscriptions are read by raking light: the letters are only as deep as the chisel went. See the wall by lamplight.

கல்வெட்டு — மாதிரி

Sample carved panel, laid out with the 2D stone material. sample · unverified

Copper plates செப்பேடு

Sample section. A charter is a set of plates strung on one ring and closed with a seal.

செப்பேடு — மாதிரி

Sample engraved plate. sample · unverified

Fired clay மண்

Sample section. Short names scratched on pots are some of the oldest Tamil writing that survives.

Sample sherd with a scratched name. sample · unverified

Find-spots இடங்கள்

Map coming soon. The outline is invented and the three pins are at made-up positions.

Site ASite BSite C

Placeholder — not a map of anywhere உண்மையான வரைபடம் அல்ல

Three sample find-spots. No coordinates and no real coastline: unverified placeholder. sample · unverified

Timeline காலவரிசை

Sample dates. An entry nobody has checked gets a hollow dot and the flag, so an unverified date can never look verified.

  1. c. 300 BCE

    Cave letters குகை எழுத்துகள்

    Sample entry. Short lines cut into rock shelters.

  2. c. 200 CEunverified

    Palm leaf ஓலை

    Sample entry. No leaf this old survives; the date is a placeholder.

  3. c. 600 CEunverified

    Vaṭṭeḻuttu வட்டெழுத்து

    Sample entry.

  4. c. 1000 CE

    Copper charters செப்பேடுகள்

    Sample entry. Plates strung on a ring with a seal.