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Grantha

Grantha is the script in which the Tamil country wrote Sanskrit. In its Pallava form it sailed to Southeast Asia and became the parent of Khmer, Kawi and Cham.

Photo: Ms Sarah Welch · CC BY-SA 4.0
Kind
Scripts
Date
c. 6th–7th century CE onward
Family
Brahmic, southern branch
Earliest record
Pallava inscriptions, such as Mahendravarman I’s at Mandagapattu, early 7th century CE
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Cite

MLA

“Grantha.” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/lipi/grantha-script/. Accessed .

APA

Hindu History. (2026). Grantha. Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/lipi/grantha-script/

01Sanskrit in the Tamil land

The Tamil script has no letters for sounds like gha, sha or ja, so Sanskrit needed its own. Grantha, the ‘book’ script, filled that need. Its Pallava form is seen at its finest on the monuments of Kanchipuram and Mamallapuram, where the kings Mahendravarman I and Narasimhavarman I had their titles cut in elegant, flowing letters. Later Chola copper plates set the Sanskrit portion in Grantha and the Tamil portion in Tamil script, side by side.

02Across the Bay of Bengal

Merchants and priests from the Pallava coast took this script across the sea. The oldest Sanskrit inscriptions of Southeast Asia, the Vo Canh stele in Vietnam and the yupa pillars of Kutai in Borneo, are in a southern Brahmi close to it, and from the Pallava letters came Old Khmer, Old Mon, Cham and the Kawi script of Java. Thai, Lao, Burmese, Balinese and Javanese writing all descend from that line.

03Palm leaves and today

For centuries the Vedas, the Agamas and the works of the acharyas were copied in Grantha on palm leaf across Tamil Nadu and Kerala; the Malayalam and Tigalari scripts both grew from it. Printed Devanagari has taken over most of that work, but Grantha is still taught in some vedapathashalas and used in temple ritual books. It was added to Unicode in 2014.

Family tree

Grew fromBrahmiGrantha
Tigalari (Tulu-Tigalari)12th century CE onwardKawi (Old Javanese script)c. 8th century CE onwardKhmer scriptSanskrit inscriptions from the 5th century; Khmer language from 611 CE

More in this family

Indus scriptc. 2600–1900 BCE (mature Harappan)Brahmic. 3rd century BCE onwardKharoshthic. 3rd century BCE – 4th century CEGupta scriptc. 4th–6th century CESiddham (Siddhamatrika)c. 6th century CE onwardSharadac. 8th century CE onwardTamil script (Tamil-Brahmi, Vatteluttu, Tamil)c. 2nd century BCE onwardNagari and Devanagaric. 7th–8th century CE onward; fully formed by the 10th

People 2

Mahendravarman IRuler
Reigned c. 600–630 CE

Mahendravarman I

Pallava king, cave-temple builder, playwright

Narasimhavarman I MamallaRuler
Reigned c. 630–668 CE

Narasimhavarman I Mamalla

Pallava king who took Vatapi

Evidence 3

Kudumiyanmalai music inscriptionInscription
c. 7th century CE

Kudumiyanmalai music inscription

A large rock inscription in Grantha script that sets down musical exercises in svara notation, arranged under seven ragas.

Võ Cạnh inscriptionInscription
c. 2nd–3rd century CE

Võ Cạnh inscription

A Sanskrit stele from the coast of central Vietnam, the oldest Sanskrit inscription found in Southeast Asia.

Yupa inscriptions of Mulavarman, KutaiInscription
c. 400 CE

Yupa inscriptions of Mulavarman, Kutai

Seven stone yupas, the sacrificial posts of a Vedic yajna, inscribed in Sanskrit for King Mulavarman.

Places 3

Kanchipuram, city of learningStanding
The Age of Great Kingdoms

Kanchipuram, city of learning

One of the seven Mokshapuris and the Pallava capital, whose ghatika, a college of Vedic learning, drew students from across the south. Shaiva, Vaishnava, Jain and Buddhist teachers all taught here.

Shore Temple, MahabalipuramStanding
The Age of Great Kingdoms

Shore Temple, Mahabalipuram

Rajasimha’s granite temple on the sea at the Pallava port of Mamallapuram, with two Shiva shrines and a reclining Vishnu between them. It has faced the waves for thirteen centuries.

Pancha Rathas and Arjuna’s Penance, MahabalipuramStanding
The Age of Great Kingdoms

Pancha Rathas and Arjuna’s Penance, Mahabalipuram

Five temples, an elephant and a lion, each carved from a single outcrop of granite in the reign of Mamalla. Near them, the great relief of the Descent of the Ganga covers a whole rock face.