Some of the significant observations made by the author in the "Language" chapter are, that in the Inscriptions, (1) there are no finite verbs (2) present tense is totally absent and (3) the occurrence of rare grammatical morphemes, like -a, functioning as accusative case suffix, genitive suffix and as genitive case suffix, which is not attested elsewhere in Tamil but is found in Old Kannada as genitive suffix.
Mahadevan has brought to light in this work the influence of Old Kannada on Tamil-Br-ahm-i inscriptions from a period (Second Century B.C. to Fourth Century A.D.) anterior to the earliest Kannada inscriptions and literature. This is a very interesting observation he has made on the basis of lexical and grammatical usages showing the influence of Old Kannada.
Memorial Stela for a fighting cock, Vatteluttu inscription, Arasalapuram, Fifth Century A.D. (go to the website - mathy)
"Erme" in Old Kannada means "buffalo", and the Mysore region came to be known later as "mahisha-ma.ndala" (`the land of buffaloes' in Sanskrit). In a Tamil- Br-ahm-i inscription, there is reference to "erumin-a.tu", which would be in literary Tamil "erumainadu". In Akan-a-n-u-ru, an important Sangam work, "erumai uran" and "erumain- a.tu" find mention in three poems written by Mamulanar and Nakkirar. "Ka.vuti" was a personal name of a Jaina nun, belonging to Mysore, who was gifted a resting place by "I.layar". I.layar belonged to the martial race in the Tulu region. It looks like "ka.vuti' could also be a variant of `gavu.da,' the name strikingly similar to `Kavundhi Adigal,' a Jaina nun, and an important character in Tamil epic Cilappatik-aram (Fifth Century A.D.) The author of this great work was a Jaina monk and said to be a C-era prince.
The traditional accounts say that Jainism reached the Tamil region from Karnataka. The Tamil-Br-ahm-i inscriptions are mostly associated with the Jaina faith. The author says, "out of 30 sites with 89 Tamil- Br-ahm-i inscriptions, included in the Corpus, 28 sites with 84 inscriptions are Jaina and the remaining two sites with five inscriptions are secular, that is, having no apparent religious significance." Merchants and the chieftains in and around the P-a.ndyas and C-era countries supported this faith by giving grants to the monks and nuns to have their own resting place in the caves. A resting place was called "Pa.l.li", which meant "bed", also "a teaching centre", and in fact, it functioned as both. The the name of any place in Tamil Nadu that ends with "pa.l.li" suffix, like "Tiruchirapalli, Tirukattuppalli" one can say that was once a strong Jaina centre. Madurai in the P-a.ndyas country had headquartered as the seat of Jaina order during the early centuries before and after the Christian era.