Vatteluttu alphabet

The Vaṭṭeḻuttu alphabet, also spelled Vattezhutthu (literally "rounded script", Tamil: வட்டெழுத்து, vaṭṭeḻuttu, [ʋaʈːeɻut̪ːu]; Malayalam: വട്ടെഴുത്ത് vaṭṭeḻuttŭ) is an abugida writing system originating from the ancient Tamil people of South India. Developed from Tamil-Brahmi, Vatteluttu is one of the three main alphabet systems developed by Tamil people to write the Proto-Tamil language, alongside the ancient Grantha or Pallava alphabet and the Tamil script. The syllabic alphabet is attested from the 6th century CE to the 14th century in present-day Tamil Nadu and Kerala states of India.[1] It was later supplanted by modern Tamil script and Malayalam script. Vaṭṭeḻuttu replaced Tamil-Brahmi for writing Tamil after the 2nd century CE. This rounded form of writing was also used in Kerala to write in Tamil as well as in proto-Malayalam and Malayalam language. Currently, Malayalam uses the Malayalam script. Inhabitants of Kuccaveli, located north of Trincomalee, used the Vaṭṭeḻuttu script between the 5th and 8th centuries, attested to on rock inscriptions found there. Inscriptional records in Tamil date from 300 BCE to 1800. Grantha was an alphabet in which extra letters were created specifically for Sanskrit words. It was also a modified form of Tamil script to write Sanskrit granthas or books. In Tamil, many of the letters which are found in Sanskrit do not exist.