PURE CONSONANTS

PURE CONSONANT OR MUTE CONSONANTS - மெய்எழுத்துக்கள்

There are 18 consonants :

க்  ங்   ச்   ஞ்   ட்   ண்   த்   ந்   ப்   ம்   ய்   ர்   ல்   வ்   ழ்   ள்   ற்   ன்

This sequence is nowadays followed in line with the Hindi letters. Originally the sequence followed according to the sounds which is more scientific. The 18 consonants are divided in to three divisions:

vallinam (வல்லினம்)

க் - k as in bucket
ச் - ch as in match
ட் - t as in pit
த் - th as in both
ப் - p as in pack
ற் - tr as in citric

mellinam  (மெல்லினம்)

ங் - ṅ as in long
ஞ் - ng as in sygringe ; gyan
ண் - iN as in Cinderella
ந் - n as in panther
ம் - m as in plum
ன் - n as in sin

idayinam (இடயினம்)
ய் - y as in yak
ர் - r as in stir
ல் - l as in lamp
வ் - v as in victory
ழ் - (tongue retracted) like zh
ள் - l as in marble

The ‘pure’ consonants all have a dot over them. It is difficult to pronounce them. So we add consonants + vowel (அ) and at the end we say dot above (மேற்புள்ளி).
When we add vowel to consonants, it becomes உயிர்மெய்எழுத்துக்கள் (Uyir Mei Ezhuthukkal) or Soul body letters .for eg: க் + அ equals க which is Soul body letters. When vowels are added to such pure consonants to form syllables, this dot is removed and a secondary symbol representing the vowel is included except for the vowel (அ).

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