New discovery in Tamil Nadu

[Stefan Baums]

The Pali (and other MIA) word is vajira with epenthesis, so I
imagine that that is what was borrowed into Tamil. The further
sound change of intervocalic j to y could have happened either in
MIA (certainly in the Northwest at the same time) or, apparently,
in Tamil. – Why it would be written vayra (not vayira) in the new
inscription remains puzzling, especially if it is still vayiram in
modern Tamil, but maybe the newsreport just omitted the i. Well, I
assume photos will be published in due course, and then we will
see.

Best regards,
Stefan Baums

-- 
Stefan Baums
Asian Languages and Literature
University of Washington