Madurai: A rare Tamil Brahmi inscription, dating back to third century BC, found engraved in a cave where early Jain monks were said to have resided, has been recently found by a epigraphists team of the Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department, at Arittapatti village, about 20 km from Madurai.

According to a Department release on September 12, the latest discovery of inscription was very close to the similar discovery made in the place in 1971. The inscription is in "a single line, with 33 letters that run to a length of 3.1 ft, about the history of early Tamil politics", it said.

The inscription is written in the "Bhattiprolu casket" inscription method and so all the short consonants had long strokes. The orthography of this inscription bears resemblance of Mangulam inscription stating "this auspicious cave was carved out on the orders of Emayavan, son of Ilanjivel Mapparavan", it said.

"The word 'Ilanji' means name of the place. The word 'vel' means chief. Ilanjivel could mean chief of the small territory," the release said.

In fact there was a small village near Coutrallam by the same name. Paravar denotes the people of seashore who settled in the Southern districts of Tamil Nadu. One of the Sangam works "Madurai Kanchi" referred to Pandiyan Nedunchezhian defeating Paravars. Now the assumption "is that Paravars were the chiefs of the seashore region and ruled their areas as subordinates of the Pandyas of Sangam age. Like Pandiyas and Cheras, the Vel chiefs too patronised Jainism", it said.

PTI