Early Tamil Scripts

If you look from top to bottom, you can see how the letters have changed over the years. Before, Tamil manuscripts were written on palm leaves, so the letters were more curved so the leaves wouldn’t rip, and with the onset of better writing mediums, the letters have become more defined. These palm (olai) manuscripts could last three or four centuries. Take a look at some of the old olai manuscripts below. Now you know why we have so many curves in our letters!