Tamil alphabet and language

Tamil alphabet and language:
"* This is a syllabic alphabet in which all consonants have an inherent vowel. Diacritics, which can appear above, below, before or after the consonant they belong to, are used to change or mute the inherent vowel.
* When they appear the the beginning of a syllable, vowels are written as independent letters.
* Some of the non-standard consonant-vowel combinations are not used in official documents.
* The alphabet was originally written on palm leaves. As a result, the letters are made up mainly of curved strokes which didn't rip the leaves. "