ஏடும் எழுத்தாணியும்

[DEV RAJ]

ஏடும் எழுத்தாணியும் - டாக்டர் ஜயபாரதி

http://maniyinpakkam.blogspot.com/2012/01/blog-post_18.html

தேவ்

[N. Ganesan]

Pazhamai,

I wrote in CTamil. Forwarded message:

----------------


Last month, JLC asked me a question
about the pronunciation of piLLaiyaarcuzi sign.

JLC> "If Professor Y. Subbarayalu says that something is a GRAFFITI,
it means he thinks that the symbol cannot be read as a letter
(i.e. cannot be PRONOUNCED, as far as I understand)
[a "graffiti" in that case does NOT have phonological value
((of course, it would probably have been better to choose another
word,
rather than "graffiti" (because of the laukika value of "graffiti")
[[and because of the book called "Sigiri graffiti"]],
but, as Ferdinand de Saussure put it, there is such a thing as
"l'arbitraire du signe"))
[[one should simply understand what are the local conventions]]

(India is not like Rome, or like Sri-Lanka)

BTW, that reminds me of a question I have been having for a long
time.

Is there any standard "pronunciation" (உச்சரிப்பு // பலுக்கல்]]
for the sign/symbol called பிள்ளையார் சுழி?

Best wishes ” [...]
from
http://groups.google.com/group/mintamil/msg/f029396e231e5c83

In a nice video demonstration of writing Tamil or Grantha scripts on
palm leaves and preparing the palm leaves for writing, Dr. Jaybee
aiya
explains how the PiLLaiyarcuzi shape originated:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0qZnlPGz2w
For PiLLaiyaarcuzi sign done to check out the palm leaf,
watch Dr. Jaybee speaking, esp. in time between 4:12 and 4:53.

Its traditional sound is praNavam, Om & hence the name, piLLaiyArcuzi.
(Usually, Ganesha's trunk (esp. valampuri vinAyakar at Aruur, brought
from Badami) is considered as Om shape:
http://sahityam.net/wiki/Vatapi_ganapatim )
In copper plates where "entiram" (< yantra) are engraved
and kept in Puja rooms, Om is written as just the letter O (Tamil
Grantha lipi)
with anusvara, m left out. Note the PiLLaiyaarcuzi sign shape
closely resembles the Tamil Grantha letter O glyph.

Perhaps, the shape of letter O itself has ultimately to do with
PiLLaiyaar cuzi roots.

N. Ganesan