Pulli (Virama) & Double Pencil Method

The Case of Interesting Elements in the evolution of Tamil script in printing & let's dive in to learn how to do calligraphy using Double Pencil Method.

Hi friend,

Hope you're doing great. Today I wanted to share few things on Tamil Calligraphy and Tamil script in general.

Tamil without Pulli

First thing first, is that I have seen this tweet last week while I was scrolling through my timeline.

Incunabula @incunabula

Benjamin Schultze's translation of Johann Arndt's "De vero Christianismo" into Tamil, published in Halle (Saale) in 1751. Title pages in Latin and Tamil, printed in red & black. Text in Tamil throughout. Benjamin Schultze (1689-1760) served at the Danish mission at Tranquebar.

This got me thinking about a past event, when I was examining the 1742 placard from Dutch Press in Ceylon, I have noticed the same phenomena. What’s that? The Tamil letters were printed without Pulli (Virama) - You can see in the above image.

So, I quote tweeted saying this,

Tharique Azeez @enathu

This is another example of how pulli (virama) omitted in the early metal type of Tamil script. Even though, you can read the content and understand it well. Earlier on, I have noticed the similar usage without pulli in placards from 1742 by Dutch Press in Ceylon.

Incunabula @incunabula

Benjamin Schultze's translation of Johann Arndt's "De vero Christianismo" into Tamil, published in Halle (Saale) in 1751. Title pages in Latin and Tamil, printed in red & black. Text in Tamil throughout. Benjamin Schultze (1689-1760) served at the Danish mission at Tranquebar. https://t.co/c6uoi2CO70

Even though, I have noticed so many peculiarities in the 1742 placard I have seen, last year. So I wanted to share those things with a tweet,

Tharique Azeez @enathu

Speaking of Tamil letters without pulli (virama) - here is a glimpse from 1742 placard printed by Dutch Press in Ceylon. There are some more significant peculiarities we can observe throughout the placard in Tamil script. Compound letters of எ and ஏ are same. ர & ா are same.

But, it is not just limited to Tamil letterforms but it also gets interesting with the Tamil numerals. Here is the cool observation about Tamil numerals in the 1742 placard.

Tharique Azeez @enathu

Tamil numerals which are somewhat obsolete, nowadays were used in the placards religiously. This placard footer says ௲௭௱௪௰௨ which means 1742. Interesting to see that, the number 5 in Sinhala archaic numbers 𑇥 is used as a decorative element to separate the paragraphs in this.

These are some of the interesting observations from the placard. There are so many others too, I’ll keep you posted in future communication. What do you think? I’d like to know about it. Please reply to this mail, so that I can see your response on this.

Double Pencil Tamil Calligraphy

I wanted to show how I draw Tamil letters using double pencil method, so I made a video on my YouTube channel - You can watch it here and share your views on it.

That’s all for today. Will see you soon.

Until then take care, stay safe.

Thank you. Oh almost forgot, you can reply this mail and say your comments and suggestions — most importantly what are the things you’d love to learn from me! Hit that reply button and say it to me.

Tharique Azeez
Tamiltypography.com