Grantha script
The Grantha script is a classical South Indian abugida derived from the ancient Brahmi script, specifically evolving from variants of Tamil-Brahmi used in cave inscriptions, and primarily employed for writing Sanskrit religious and literary texts in regions including Tamil Nadu and Kerala.[1][2] It features distinct consonant and vowel signs tailored to the phonetics of Sanskrit, enabling precise representation of complex sounds absent in native Dravidian scripts like Vatteluttu. Emerging prominently under the Pallava dynasty in the 6th–7th centuries CE, with innovations attributed to King Mahendravarman I, Grantha distinguished itself by adapting Brahmi-derived forms for Sanskrit while coexisting with Tamil scripts for vernacular use, as evidenced in early copper-plate grants and stone inscriptions.[3][4] This script facilitated the transcription of Vedic hymns, philosophical treatises, and ritual manuals onto palm-leaf manuscripts, preserving Indo-Aryan knowledge amid Dravidian linguistic dominance in southern India.[5] Over centuries, Grantha evolved into regional variants, influencing the Malayalam script in Kerala and serving as a liturgical medium for Brahminical traditions, though its use declined with the rise of printed Devanagari for Sanskrit and modern regional scripts.[1][3] Its enduring legacy lies in epigraphic records and digitized manuscripts, underscoring its role in bridging Sanskritic scholarship with South Indian cultural contexts.[5]Origins and Historical Development
Roots in Brahmi and Early Adaptations
The Grantha script evolved from the Brahmi script, the ancestor of most Indian writing systems, through its southern variant, Tamil-Brahmi, which emerged around the 3rd century BCE for inscribing early Tamil texts on cave walls and pottery in Tamil Nadu.[2] This adaptation preserved Brahmi's abugida structure—consonants with inherent vowels and diacritics for modifications—but simplified forms to suit Dravidian phonology, omitting letters for sounds absent in Tamil, such as voiced aspirates and sibilants prevalent in Sanskrit.[2] By the 4th to 6th centuries CE, under Pallava rule originating in Andhra Pradesh and extending to Tamil regions, scribes reintroduced and refined these Brahmi-derived glyphs to accommodate Sanskrit's fuller phonetic inventory, marking the birth of early Grantha as a distinct script for Vedic and classical texts.[1] Early Grantha, often termed Pallava Grantha, first appears in inscriptions from the 6th century CE, reflecting adaptations to render Sanskrit granthas (books) alongside local Vatteluttu script for vernacular use.[3] The script's angular, lithic forms, suited for stone carving, diverged from northern Gupta-derived scripts by retaining southern Brahmi's rounded curves in some ligatures while adding conjunct clusters for Sanskrit compounds.[2] Patronage by Pallava kings like Simhavishnu (c. 550–580 CE) facilitated this, with inscriptions at sites like Gundur demonstrating proto-Grantha traits in Prakrit and Sanskrit.[1] The earliest datable full Grantha inscriptions hail from the reign of Mahendravarman I (c. 590–630 CE), including the Sanskrit dedication at Mandakapattu cave temple, which employs 35 consonants and vowel signs mirroring Brahmi's systematic order but extended for Indo-Aryan needs.[6] These adaptations addressed causal gaps in Dravidian scripts, enabling precise phonetic representation crucial for mantra recitation and philosophical discourse, thus establishing Grantha's role in preserving northern textual traditions in the south.[2] Further refinements under subsequent Pallavas solidified its orthography by the 7th century, bridging Brahmi's archaic linearity with later curvilinear manuscript forms.[3]Pallava Grantha Period (6th–8th centuries CE)
During the rule of the Pallava dynasty in southern India from the 6th to 8th centuries CE, the Grantha script—specifically its early form known as Pallava Grantha—emerged as the primary medium for writing Sanskrit inscriptions on rock-cut caves, temples, and copper plates. This variant addressed the phonetic needs of Sanskrit, which included aspirated consonants and complex conjuncts absent in contemporary Dravidian scripts like Vatteluttu used for Tamil. The script's association with the Pallavas stems from its first attested uses in their royal grants and prasastis (eulogies), distinguishing it from northern Brahmi derivatives.[7] Pallava Grantha exhibits an archaic, ornamental style with bold, somewhat angular letter forms evolving toward rounded curves, reflecting adaptations from earlier Tamil-Brahmi influences. Inscriptions from this era, such as those commissioned by Mahendravarman I (r. 600–630 CE), demonstrate the script's application in recording royal achievements, religious conversions, and donative grants, often juxtaposed with Tamil text in Vatteluttu. Copper plate records dating to the 5th or 6th century CE provide the earliest epigraphic evidence, underscoring the script's role in administrative and liturgical documentation.[7][8] The period's inscriptions, carved in monolithic rathas and cave temples at sites like Mahabalipuram, highlight Pallava Grantha's aesthetic refinement, with letters proportioned for monumental visibility and durability. This script not only preserved Sanskrit Vedic and Shaivite texts but also facilitated the dynasty's cultural patronage, laying groundwork for later Grantha evolutions under Chola and Pandya rulers. Its forms influenced Southeast Asian scripts through maritime dissemination, though primary use remained Indo-centric for scholarly and religious purposes.[8]Middle and Transitional Grantha (9th–14th centuries CE)
The period from the 9th to 14th centuries CE marked the transitional and medieval phases of Grantha script, characterized by its extensive use in South Indian inscriptions and early palm-leaf manuscripts under dynasties including the Cholas, Pandyas, and Cheras. Transitional Grantha, spanning roughly the 9th to 10th centuries, evolved from Pallava-era forms in northern Tamil Nadu and southern Andhra Pradesh, featuring initial refinements in letter shapes for greater fluidity in engraving and writing.[9] This phase supported the transcription of Sanskrit religious and administrative texts, with inscriptions documenting temple constructions and land grants.[10] Medieval Grantha, from approximately 950 to 1250 CE, flourished under Chola patronage in central Tamil Nadu, as seen in Thanjavur inscriptions recording imperial decrees and endowments.[10] Script features during this time included more curved and rounded glyphs, enhanced conjunct forms for consonant clusters, and diacritics for Vedic accents, adapting to the demands of complex Sanskrit phonology and palm-leaf media.[9] These developments standardized ligatures and improved readability in stone epigraphy and manuscripts, with over a millennium of cumulative usage across Hindu temples, Buddhist sites, and Jain institutions.[11] By the 13th to 14th centuries, Grantha's transitional forms began incorporating elements precursor to modern variants, influencing regional scripts such as Malayalam while maintaining its role in Sanskrit Vedic texts and Manipravalam compositions blending Sanskrit with Dravidian elements.[9] Pandya and later Chola inscriptions exemplify this continuity, preserving the script's utility for precise phonetic representation amid expanding literary traditions.[11] The era's archaeological record, including copper plates and temple walls, underscores Grantha's enduring function in cultural and religious documentation despite regional script divergences.[10]
Modern Grantha (15th century onward)
 The modern Grantha script, having stabilized in its form by approximately 1300 CE, persisted through the Vijayanagara Empire (1336–1646 CE) and later periods, retaining features from transitional varieties including square Brahmanic and round Jain styles.[5] This era saw its widespread application in Tamil Nadu for inscribing Sanskrit texts on palm leaves, with usage extending into the early 20th century amid the patronage of regional kingdoms like the later Pandyas.[1] From the 16th to 19th centuries, Grantha manuscripts featured evolving orthographic traits, such as double loops in vowel forms during the 16th–18th centuries transitioning to simpler structures by the 19th century, often combining Sanskrit in Grantha with Tamil commentary in Manipravalam literature.[5] An example is the 1863 CE palm-leaf manuscript of the Jaiminiya Aranyaka Gana from the Samaveda, illustrating its role in preserving Vedic texts. Approximately 200,000 such palm-leaf manuscripts survive in South Indian libraries, underscoring Grantha's centrality to scholarly transmission.[2] The introduction of printing presses in the 19th century facilitated the transcription and publication of Sanskrit works from palm leaves into printed Grantha books, particularly in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.[1] By the 20th century, growing interest in Vedic studies spurred a revival, evidenced by expanded printing operations in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, alongside the development of Grantha fonts for broader dissemination.[2] Despite competition from Devanagari and regional anti-Sanskrit sentiments, Grantha endured in Vedic schools and religious contexts.[1] In contemporary usage, Grantha remains a living script for select Hindu and Jain temple texts, yoga-related materials, and digital encodings via Unicode (added in 2010), supporting its limited but ongoing role in South Indian scholarly and devotional traditions.[2]Linguistic and Script Features
Consonants and Conjunct Forms
The Grantha script employs 34 consonant akṣaras to represent the full range of Sanskrit phonemes, including stops, nasals, semivowels, sibilants, and the aspirate ha. These consonants are systematically grouped into five vargas based on articulatory phonetics: gutturals, palatals, retroflex (cerebral), dentals, and labials, supplemented by ya-group semivowels and sibilants. Each consonant inherently carries the vowel a, which is suppressed via the virāma (halant) mark when forming clusters or standing alone without vocalization. This structure derives from Brahmi-derived conventions, enabling precise rendering of Sanskrit's consonant-heavy morphology.[12][13] The consonants are as follows, romanized for clarity:| Varga | Consonants |
|---|---|
| Guttural (ka) | ka, kha, ga, gha, ṅa |
| Palatal (ca) | ca, cha, ja, jha, ña |
| Retroflex (ṭa) | ṭa, ṭha, ḍa, ḍha, ṇa |
| Dental (ta) | ta, tha, da, dha, na |
| Labial (pa) | pa, pha, ba, bha, ma |
| Semivowels | ya, ra, la, va |
| Sibilants | śa, ṣa, sa, ha |
Vowels, Syllables, and Diacritics
The Grantha script, as a Brahmic abugida, employs an inherent vowel sound of /a/ attached to each consonant glyph unless modified by a diacritic or virama.[9] This structure forms the basis for syllable construction, where a basic syllable consists of a consonant with its inherent vowel or a dependent vowel sign replacing it.[17] Independent vowel letters are used when a syllable begins with a vowel, comprising 14 forms: five short vowels (a, i, u, ṛ, ḷ) and nine long vowels (ā, ī, ū, ṝ, ḹ, e, ai, o, au).[18] The short vowels typically carry one mātrā (unit of duration), while long vowels have two, reflecting Sanskrit phonetics.[18] Dependent vowel signs, or matras, attach to preceding consonants to indicate non-inherent vowels, with positions varying: right-side for ā, o, au; left-side for i, ī; above for e, ai; and below for u, ū, with vocalic ṛ, ḷ, ṝ, ḹ appearing sub-base or post-base.[9] The au diacritic often splits into two parts in older styles, one pre-consonant and one post.[9] Syllables with consonant clusters employ the virama to suppress the inherent /a/ of the first consonant, allowing vertical stacking or ligature formation for the subsequent consonant, up to three levels in complex cases.[18] Special diacritics include anusvāra (a nasal dot above, denoting homorganic nasalization or pure nasal /m/), visarga (two dots indicating voiceless /h/-like breath after the vowel), avagraha (for eliding initial a/ā in sandhi), and candrabindu (crescent with dot for vowel nasalization).[18][17]| Vowel | Independent Form | Dependent Diacritic (with ka example) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | 𑌅 | inherent in consonant | Short, default |
| ā | 𑌆 | 𑌕𑌾 (kā) | Long, right-side |
| i | 𑌇 | 𑌕𑌿 (ki) | Short, left-side |
| ī | 𑌈 | 𑌕𑌿𑌿 (kī) | Long, left-side |
| u | 𑌉 | 𑌕𑍁 (ku) | Short, below |
| ū | 𑌊 | 𑌕𑍂 (kū) | Long, below |
| ṛ | 𑌋 | 𑌕𑍃 (kṛ) | Vocalic, short/sub-base |
| ṝ | 𑌌 | 𑌕𑍃𑌿 (kṝ) | Vocalic, long |
| ḷ | | 𑌕𑍄 (kḷ) | Vocalic, short, two forms |
| ḹ | | 𑌕 (kḹ) | Vocalic, long |
| e | 𑌏 | 𑌕𑌏 (ke) | Above, diphthongal |
| ai | 𑌐 | 𑌕𑌐 (kai) | Above, left pulli |
| o | | 𑌕𑌔 (ko) | Right-side composite |
| au | | 𑌕𑌔𑌹 (kau) | Two-part in old style |
Numerals and Punctuation
The Grantha script employs numeral glyphs identical to those of the Tamil script for digits zero through nine, reflecting their shared South Indian Brahmic heritage. These forms, distinct from northern Indic numerals such as Devanagari, are attested in Grantha inscriptions and manuscripts from the Pallava period onward, where they denote quantities in dates, quantities, and colophons.[19] Unicode unification confirms their interchangeability, assigning them to the Tamil block (U+0BE6–U+0BF2) rather than a separate Grantha-specific range to avoid redundancy, as historical evidence shows no consistent divergence in basic digit shapes.[19] The numerals are rendered as follows:- 0: ௦
- 1: ௧
- 2: ௨
- 3: ௩
- 4: ௪
- 5: ௫
- 6: ௬
- 7: ௭
- 8: ௮
- 9: ௯[19]
Representative Sample Texts
The Velvikudi copper plates, issued circa 770 CE by Pandya ruler Nedunjadaiyan, exemplify Grantha script in royal grants. This set of ten plates records the restoration of a village grant to a Brahmin lineage, with Sanskrit portions—detailing genealogy, royal praises, and donation terms—rendered in Grantha, while Tamil employs Vatteluttu. The script's forms here reflect 8th-century Pandya adaptations, blending angular strokes suited for metal engraving.[24][25] Inscriptions at the Kailasanatha Temple in Kanchipuram, dating to the 7th–8th centuries CE under Pallava kings like Rajasimha, feature Grantha for Sanskrit dedicatory hymns to Shiva. These wall engravings include verses extolling the temple's construction and divine attributes, showcasing early mature Grantha's rounded curves and diacritic precision on granite surfaces. Fragments preserve administrative notes on temple endowments, underscoring the script's liturgical and epigraphic versatility.[10][26]
Transitional Grantha appears in 9th-century Chera-era inscriptions, such as those mixing Sanskrit eulogies with local contexts, evidencing the script's southward spread and evolution toward cursive traits. These samples, often on stone slabs, record land donations or victories, with conjunct consonants and vowel markers illustrating adaptations for fluid rendering amid Dravidian influences. Mutharaiyar inscriptions from Senthalai, around the same period, further demonstrate Grantha in military and territorial claims by Chola affiliates.[10][27]
Usage, Influence, and Cultural Role
Primary Application to Sanskrit Texts
The Grantha script was principally employed for transcribing Sanskrit literary works in South India, where it addressed the phonetic inadequacies of the Tamil script for rendering Sanskrit's distinct sounds, such as aspirates and sibilants. Originating around the 6th century CE, it facilitated the inscription and copying of sacred and classical texts, including portions of the Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, and Kavya poetry.[28] This adaptation from the Brahmi-derived Pallava script ensured fidelity to Sanskrit's phonological system, making Grantha the standard for scholarly and religious documentation in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.[1] In epigraphy, Grantha inscriptions predominantly featured Sanskrit prose and verse for royal charters, temple endowments, and dynastic praises, with examples dating from the Pallava period onward, such as the 8th-century Velvikudi grant plates detailing land donations and administrative details.[10] These copper-plate records, often mixing Sanskrit eulogies with Tamil administrative sections, preserved historical and legal Sanskrit compositions, numbering in the thousands across South Indian sites.[1] Stone inscriptions in Hindu temples similarly utilized Grantha for Sanskrit hymns and foundational texts, underscoring its role in public religious expression.[10] Manuscript traditions relied heavily on Grantha for Sanskrit works on palm leaves, enabling the transmission of Vedic recensions like the Jaiminiya Aranyaka of the Samaveda and philosophical treatises through monastic and temple libraries.[28] From the medieval period, Grantha palm-leaf codices housed comprehensive collections of Puranic narratives and Agamic rituals, vital for Shaiva and Vaishnava practices, with surviving examples from the 16th century onward demonstrating meticulous scribal techniques for conjunct consonants and vowel matras.[28] This manuscript corpus, though diminished by environmental factors, remains a key repository for unaltered Sanskrit transmissions in Dravidian regions, distinct from northern Devanagari traditions.[1] Grantha's application extended to printed editions in the 19th century, where Sanskrit texts like Puranas were reproduced to aid scholarly access, bridging traditional copying with modern dissemination before the script's partial obsolescence.[28] Its enduring use in specific sacerdotal contexts, such as Sri Vaishnava recitations, highlights Grantha's specialized efficacy for Sanskrit's metrical and ritual precision over vernacular adaptations.Extensions to Dravidian Languages and Manipravalam
The Grantha script, originally optimized for Sanskrit phonology, underwent adaptations to represent Dravidian languages by incorporating additional graphemes for sounds absent in Indo-Aryan tongues, including distinct markers for short and long vowels like ɛ and ɔ, as well as enhanced retroflex series. This extended form, termed Tamil Grantha, facilitated the writing of Tamil and related Dravidian vernaculars alongside Sanskrit, particularly in religious and scholarly manuscripts from the medieval period onward.[29] Such modifications addressed Dravidian-specific agglutinative structures and phonetic inventories, enabling precise orthographic rendering without reliance on separate scripts.[30] In Kerala and Tamil Nadu, these extensions proved instrumental for Manipravalam, a macaronic literary idiom that interwove Sanskrit lexicon and syntax with Dravidian grammar, prevalent in commentaries, poetry, and exegetical works from the 12th to 15th centuries CE. Grantha characters denoted Sanskrit constituents, such as nouns, verbs, and compounds, while Dravidian matrix elements—often in Malayalam or Tamil—were supplemented using rounded Vatteluttu-derived forms to preserve phonological fidelity in a bilingual orthography.[1] This dual-script approach in Manipravalam texts, like those by scholars such as Lilatilakam authors, underscored Grantha's versatility for hybrid compositions, though it demanded reader proficiency in both systems to parse the fused linguistic layers.[31] The practice declined with the standardization of reformed Malayalam script, which absorbed select Grantha elements for consonant representation.[29]Impact on Malayalam and Other Regional Scripts
The modern Malayalam script evolved primarily from the medieval Grantha script, which was employed in Kerala and adjacent Tamil regions for rendering Sanskrit texts from around the 9th century CE onward, incorporating Grantha's distinct consonant forms to accommodate Sanskrit phonemes absent in indigenous Dravidian scripts like Vatteluttu.[32] This integration occurred as Sanskrit loanwords proliferated in Malayalam vocabulary during the Chera and later Kerala kingdoms, prompting scribes to adapt Grantha glyphs—such as rounded forms suited for palm-leaf engraving—into a hybrid system by the 11th–12th centuries CE, marking the emergence of a Kerala-specific Grantha variant that diverged from Tamil usages.[1] By the 14th century CE, this variant had coalesced into the proto-Malayalam script, evident in inscriptions and manuscripts where Grantha-derived letters for aspirated and retroflex sounds supplanted earlier Vatteluttu approximations, enabling precise phonetic representation of Manipravalam literature blending Sanskrit and Malayalam.[32] Grantha's influence extended to the Tigalari script of the Tulu language in coastal Karnataka, deriving from a transitional Grantha form around the 8th–9th centuries CE, which split into distinct Tulu-Malayalam branches used for Vedic and religious texts in the region.[33] This adaptation preserved archaic Grantha features, such as elongated vowel diacritics and conjunct clusters, facilitating Sanskrit scholarship among Tulu-speaking Brahmin communities, though the script saw limited vernacular expansion beyond liturgical purposes.[1] Direct impacts on Telugu and Kannada scripts were more circumscribed, as these evolved from Kadamba-Pallava lineages sharing a distant Brahmi ancestry with Grantha but developing independently through local innovations in consonant rounding and vowel harmony by the 10th–12th centuries CE; Grantha occasionally informed Sanskrit orthography in bilingual inscriptions but did not fundamentally reshape their core glyph sets.[34] In Tamil Nadu, Grantha's role remained supplementary for Sanskrit, enriching but not supplanting the native Tamil script's evolution, underscoring Grantha's niche as a vector for Indo-Aryan phonology in Dravidian contexts rather than a wholesale progenitor.[1]Contributions to South Indian Religious and Scholarly Traditions
![1863 CE palm leaf manuscript in Grantha script of Jaiminiya Aranyaka Gana, Samaveda][float-right] The Grantha script played a pivotal role in South Indian religious traditions by enabling the precise transcription of Sanskrit texts essential for Hindu rituals and doctrines, particularly from the 6th century CE onward. Developed to accommodate the phonetic complexities of Sanskrit absent in local Dravidian scripts like early Tamil, it facilitated the preservation of Vedic literature on palm-leaf manuscripts in regions such as Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Under Pallava patronage from the 3rd to 9th centuries CE, Grantha was employed for inscribing sacred verses and temple endowments, as seen in the Kailasanathar temple at Kanchipuram, ensuring the accurate recitation of mantras critical to Shaiva and Vaishnava practices.[1][35] In Vedic scholarship, Grantha manuscripts preserved core texts like the Samaveda and its subdivisions, such as the Jaiminiya Aranyaka Gana, dating back to pre-17th century examples from Tamil Nadu, supporting oral transmission and ritual performance in South Indian mathas and temples. Saiva Agamas, foundational to temple worship and Shaiva Siddhanta, were exclusively documented in Grantha, a script adapted by Tamil scholars specifically for Sanskrit scriptures, thereby sustaining esoteric doctrines and architectural guidelines across Chola-era (9th–13th centuries CE) institutions. This script's use extended to Grihya sutras, outlining domestic rituals derived from Vedic sources, underscoring its utility in maintaining orthodox Hindu samskaras.[36][37][38] Scholarly traditions benefited from Grantha's application in philosophical commentaries and prakarana granthas, allowing South Indian acharyas to engage with Advaita Vedanta and other darshanas; for instance, epigraphs referencing Adi Shankara (8th century CE) incorporate Grantha for Sanskrit terms amid Tamil inscriptions, reflecting its integration in Kerala and Tamil Nadu's intellectual centers. In Kerala, "Thali Ola Granthas" on palm leaves in Grantha documented Tantric and Smarta texts, fostering interdisciplinary studies in grammar, poetics, and theology until the 19th century. By distinguishing Sanskrit from vernacular commentaries—often in mixed Grantha-Tamil or Grantha-Malayalam formats— the script advanced causal analysis of ritual efficacy and metaphysical inquiry, countering phonetic distortions that could alter doctrinal interpretations.[5][39][40]Comparative Analysis
Similarities and Divergences with Tamil Script
The Grantha and Tamil scripts share a common ancestry in the Brahmi script, with both evolving through intermediate forms such as the Pallava script in southern India during the early centuries CE. This shared origin results in fundamental structural similarities, as both are abugidas where consonants carry an inherent vowel sound (typically /a/) that can be modified or suppressed using diacritics for other vowels. Visually, modern iterations of the scripts exhibit resemblances in basic glyph shapes, particularly for shared phonetic elements, reflecting parallel evolutionary paths from angular Brahmi forms to more cursive styles adapted for palm-leaf inscriptions.[1][41] A key similarity lies in their historical coexistence and mutual influence in Tamil-speaking regions, where Grantha was employed alongside Tamil script from around 600 CE to transcribe Sanskrit texts, while Tamil script handled vernacular Dravidian content. This biscriptual practice facilitated the borrowing of Grantha consonants into Tamil for rendering Sanskrit loanwords, such as ஜ (ja), ஷ (ṣa), ஸ (sa), ஹ (ha), and க்ஷ (kṣa), which modern Tamil script incorporates as supplementary letters to accommodate non-native phonemes without altering core Dravidian phonology. Both scripts also utilize a virama (pulli in Tamil) to indicate consonant clusters or vowel suppression, though implementations vary slightly in glyph rendering.[42][29] Despite these parallels, divergences arise primarily from their phonetic adaptations: Grantha accommodates the full inventory of Sanskrit sounds, featuring 34 consonant letters including aspirated stops (e.g., kha, gha) and sibilants absent in native Tamil, which limits its consonants to 18 focused on Dravidian phonetics lacking aspiration and certain fricatives. Grantha's vowel system includes 14 forms, encompassing short/long distinctions, diphthongs, and vocalic liquids (ṛ, ḷ), contrasting with Tamil's 12 vowels tailored to its simpler syllabic structure. Glyph-wise, Grantha retains more complex, elongated conjunct forms for Sanskrit clusters, often stacking or ligating letters, whereas Tamil script favors simplified, rounded shapes with fewer ligatures, reflecting optimizations for Tamil's agglutinative morphology and avoidance of consonant clusters. These differences underscore Grantha's role as a specialized vehicle for Indo-Aryan phonology in a Dravidian context, while Tamil prioritizes economy for indigenous linguistic features.[36][1][41]| Aspect | Grantha Script | Tamil Script |
|---|---|---|
| Consonant Count | 34 (full Sanskrit set, including aspirates) | 18 (Dravidian core, plus 5-6 Grantha borrowings) |
| Vowel Count | 14 (with vocalic r/l, diphthongs) | 12 (short/long pairs, no vocalic liquids natively) |
| Conjunct Handling | Complex ligatures and stacks for clusters | Simplified, often avoids clusters via vowel insertion |
| Primary Phonetic Focus | Indo-Aryan (Sanskrit) sounds | Dravidian (Tamil) sounds |