Type Abugida Sister systems Vatteluttu alphabet | Child systems Grantha, Kawi, Khmer | |
 | ||
Languages Tamil, Prakrit, Sanskrit Time period 6th century AD to 9th century AD Parent systems Brāhmī
Southern Brāhmī
Pallava | ||
The Pallava script, a Brahmic script, was developed under the Pallava dynasty of Southern India around the 6th century AD.
Contents
Southeast Asian scripts such as Grantha, Javanese, Kawi, Baybayin, Mon, Burmese, Khmer, Tai Tham, Thai Lao, Sinhalese, and the New Tai Lue alphabets are either direct or indirect derivations from the Kadamba-Pallava alphabet.
Form
The form shown here is based on examples from the 7th century AD. Letters labeled * have uncertain sound value, as they have little occurrence in Southeast Asia. (Chart of images based on Pallava glyphs presented at SkyKnowledge.com.)
Consonants
Each consonant has an inherent /a/, which will be sounded if no vowel sign is attached. If two consonants follow one another without intervening vowel, the second consonant is made into a subscript form, and attached below the first.