VILLUPURAM: One of the fun and unique-sounding letters in Tamil language is ‘ai’ (). It had us smile as kids as we wrote the letter, given its circles and curves. But it is tragic to witness that the first usage of the letter in Tamil, in an inscription from fifth century CE on a hill, is now left to rot and misused by miscreants.
The Thirunathar Kundru (Hill of the Holy One) is a hill located on the Gingee to Singavaram road in Gingee taluk of Villupuram district. It has evidence to the maiden use of Tamil letter ‘ai’. The hill is also known as Sirukadampur Malai.
Thirunathar Kundru, along with the unique boulder hills found in the region, has links with Jain monks, who inhabited the hills in the fifth century CE. The place also has three inscriptions. The first is in mature Brahmi Script, dating back to the period when the Tamil script developed and changed into ‘Vatta Ezhuthu’ (round letters). It is in this inscription that the ancient Tamil letter ‘ai’ was first discovered, said K Ramesh, professor of archeology from Villupuram Government Arts College.
“The number ‘50’ is spelt as ‘aimbathu’ in the inscription and the script structure dates back to 5th century CE. Till date, there has been no evidence of the letter being used before that era. So, it is considered its first usage,” said Ramesh.
But when TNIE visited the hill, there was no security or informative boards to explain about the historic site. Instead, there were liquor bottles mostly broken and a huge mass of plastic cups and covers scattered all over the hill, beginning from the foothill.
Rajesh Dheena, a social activist from Tindivanam said, “One of the iconic sites is in its worst form. The government should organise educational trips to this place for children. At the least, this would stop miscreants ruining the place.”