Pallava script

{{Short description|Brahmic writing system}}

{{Unreliable sources|date=January 2023}}

{{Infobox Writing system

| name = Pallava script

| type = Abugida

| languages = Telugu, Kannada, Konkani, Marathi, Tamil, Old Khmer, Old Malay, Burmese, Thai, Sinhala, Lao, Mon, Balinese, etc.

| time = 4th century CE to Present

| fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs

| fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic

| fam3 = Phoenician

| fam4 = Aramaic

| fam5 = Brāhmī

| fam6 = Tamil-Brahmi

| sisters = Vattezhuthu, Kolezhuthu

| children = Mon-Burmese, Khmer, Cham, Kawi

| sample = Shukla Pallava.svg

| imagesize = 175px

| caption = 'Pallava' in Pallava script

| iso15924 =

}}

{{brahmic}}

The Pallava script, or Pallava Grantha, is a style of Grantha script named after the Pallava dynasty of Southern India (Tamilakam) and is attested to since the 4th century CE. In India, the Pallava script evolved from Tamil-Brahmi.{{cite book |last1=Salomon |first1=Richard |title=Indian Epigraphy |date=1998 |page=40}} The Grantha script originated from the Pallava script.{{cite web|url=https://www.omniglot.com/writing/grantha.htm |title=Grantha alphabet |access-date=13 September 2018}} Pallava also spread to Southeast Asia and evolved into scripts such as Balinese,{{cite web|url=http://www.omniglot.com/writing/balinese.htm |title=Balinese alphabet |access-date=13 July 2019}} Baybayin,{{cite web|title=Tagalog|url=https://www.omniglot.com/writing/tagalog.htm|access-date=13 September 2018}} Javanese,{{cite web|url=http://www.omniglot.com/writing/javanese.htm |title=Javanese alphabet |access-date=13 September 2018}} Kawi,{{cite web|url=https://www.omniglot.com/writing/kawi.htm |title=Kawi alphabet |access-date=13 September 2018}} Khmer,{{cite web|title=Khmer|url=https://www.omniglot.com/writing/khmer.htm|access-date=13 September 2018}} Lanna,{{cite web|title=Lanna alphabet|url=https://www.omniglot.com/writing/lanna.htm|access-date=13 September 2018}} Lao,{{cite web|title=Lao|url=https://www.omniglot.com/writing/lao.htm|access-date=13 September 2018}} Mon–Burmese,{{cite web|url=https://www.omniglot.com/writing/mon.htm |title=Mon |access-date=13 September 2018}} New Tai Lue,{{cite web|title=New Tai Lue script|url=https://www.omniglot.com/writing/tailue.htm|access-date=13 September 2018}} Sundanese,{{cite web|title=Sundanese|url=https://www.omniglot.com/writing/sundanese.php|access-date=13 September 2018}} and Thai.{{cite web|url=https://www.omniglot.com/writing/thai.htm |title=Thai |access-date=13 September 2018}} This script is the sister of the Vatteluttu script which was used to write Tamil and Malayalam in the past.{{Cite book|last1=Coulmas|first1=Florian|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y3KdxBqjg5cC|title=The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems|year=1999|isbn=9780631214816|page=542|publisher=Blackwell Publishing}}

Epigrapher Arlo Griffiths argues that the name of the script is misleading as not all of the relevant scripts referred to have a connection with the Pallava dynasty. He instead advocates that these scripts be called Late Southern Brāhmī scripts.{{Cite book |last=Griffiths |first=Arlo |url=https://www.academia.edu/6301451 |title=LOST KINGDOMS: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia |publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art |year=2014 |isbn=9781588395245 |location=New York |chapter=53-57}}