The Dravidian Race is the name sometimes still given to the peoples of southern and central India and northern Sri Lanka who speak Dravidian languages, the best known of which are Tamil (தமிழ்), Telugu (తెలుగు), Kannada and Malayalam. The Dravidian family of languages includes approximately 26 languages that are mainly spoken in southern India and Sri Lanka, as well as certain areas in Pakistan, Nepal, and eastern and central India. ... Tamil is the first language ever to exist since human literature. ... Telugu belongs to the family of Dravidian languages and is the official language of the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. ... Kannada - aptly described as sirigannada (known to few as Kanarese) is one of the oldest Dravidian languages and is spoken in its various dialects by roughly 45 million people. ... Malayalam (മലയാളം) is the major language of the state of Kerala, in southern India. ...

Ethnology

The term arose from assumptions by nineteenth century Western scholars that Dravidian speakers were earlier inhabitants of India than the speakers of the Indo-Aryan languages in the north of the country. It was supposed that the generally darker-skinned Dravidians constituted a distinct race. This notion corresponded to racial hierarchies of the time according to which darker skinned peoples were more primitive than light-skinned whites. Accordingly, Dravidians were envisaged as primitive early inhabitants of India who had been partially displaced and subordinated by more advanced Aryans. The Indo-Aryan languages form a subgroup of the Indo-Iranian languages, thus belonging to the Indo-European family of languages. ... A race is a population of humans distinguished from other populations. ... The master race (German: Herrenrasse, Herrenvolk) is a concept in Nazi ideology, which holds that the Germanic and Nordic people represent an ideal and pure race. It derives from nineteenth century racial theory, which posited a hierarchy of races placing African Bushmen and Australian Aborigines at the bottom of the... For other uses, see White (disambiguation). ... This article is about the term Aryan. For Arian, a follower of the ancient Christian sect, See Arianism. ...

This concept has affected thinking in India about racial and regional differences and has informed aspects of Tamil nationalism, which has at times appropriated the claim that Dravidians are the earliest inhabitants of India in order to argue that other populations were oppressive interlopers from which Dravidians should liberate themselves. The discovery of the Indus Valley Civilisation in the 1920s, which was attributed to the displaced Dravidians of the north, further fuelled such Dravidianist ideas since it implied that the Indo-Aryans were uncivilised barbarians rather than a "superior race". Tamil girls in Tiruvannamalai The Tamil people are an ethnic group from South Asia with a recorded history going back almost two millennia. ... The Indus Valley Civilization existed along the Indus River and the Vedic Sarasvati River in present-day Pakistan. ...

However, most recent historians have rejected the concept of a distinct Dravidian race, though some geneticists do assert that southern Indians have a distinctive genetic history that differentiates them from Indo-Aryans. Others argue that there is no significant ethnic or racial distinction between northern Indians and southern Indians and that differences in skin color are simply caused by climate, comparable to the fact that the Mediterraneans (southern Europeans) have darker skin, eye and hair color than the Nordics (northwestern Europeans), but they are otherwise very similar. The somewhat darker skins of the Dravidians may be explained by their adaptation to the hotter and sunnier climate. Historical data for native populations collected by R. Biasutti prior to 1940. ... The Mediterranrean race was one of the three sub-categories into which the Caucasian race was divided by anthropologists in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. ... The Nordic countries (Greenland not shown) The Nordic countries is a term used collectively for five countries in Northern Europe. ...

Geneticist Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza maintained in his book The History and Geography of Human Genes that the proto-Dravidians of the Indian subcontinent were a Caucasoid people, preceded by an Australoid-type people whose linguistic origins remain unknown, and followed by Indo-European-speaking migrants sometime later. Genetics (from the Greek genno γεννώ= give birth) is the science of genes, heredity, and the variation of organisms. ... Categories: People stubs | 1922 births | Italian people | Population geneticists ... Composite satellite image of the Indian subcontinent Map of South Asia. ... Australoid describes a major race of humans primarily from Australia but also prersent in New Guinea and Melanesia. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies Indo-European is originally a linguistic term, referring to the Indo-European language family. ... Immigration is the act of moving to or settling in another country or region, temporarily or permanently. ...

Dravidian languages and Dravidian peoples

Main article: Dravidian languages

The Dravidian languages are grouped into Northern, Central and Southern categories. The Northern is mainly Brahui which is spoken in Southern or Southwestern Pakistan. The southern is the most active and mainly consists of the languages Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam. It should be noted that Malayalam,Telugu and Kannada are highly influenced by Sanskrit both in vocabulary and grammar. This could be attributed to the dominance of Brahmins in the past and also to the adaptation of Sanskrit as the principal language of Buddhism, Jainism and Saivism in those societies. In Hindu tradition the creation of the Tamil language is credited to the Rig Vedic sage Rishi Agastya, a view that secular linguists would interpret as a myth designed to link Dravidians to Vedic Indo-Aryan culture. These languages are called Dravidian for purely linguistic reasons; the peoples who use them are of varying racial types. The Dravidian family of languages includes approximately 26 languages that are mainly spoken in southern India and Sri Lanka, as well as certain areas in Pakistan, Nepal, and eastern and central India. ... The Brahui language is mainly spoken in Balochistan, Pakistan, although also in Afghanistan and Iran. ... Tamil is the first language ever to exist since human literature. ... Kannada - aptly described as sirigannada (known to few as Kanarese) is one of the oldest Dravidian languages and is spoken in its various dialects by roughly 45 million people. ... Telugu belongs to the family of Dravidian languages and is the official language of the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. ... Malayalam (മലയാളം) is the major language of the state of Kerala, in southern India. ... Malayalam (മലയാളം) is the major language of the state of Kerala, in southern India. ... Telugu belongs to the family of Dravidian languages and is the official language of the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. ... Kannada - aptly described as sirigannada (known to few as Kanarese) is one of the oldest Dravidian languages and is spoken in its various dialects by roughly 45 million people. ... The Sanskrit language ( संस्कृता वाक्) is one of the earliest attested members of the Indo-European language family and is not only a classical language, but also an official language of India. ... A Hindu is an adherent of Hinduism, the predominant religious, philosophical and cultural system of India (Bharat). ... Tamil is the first language ever to exist since human literature. ... The Rig Veda ऋग्वेद (Sanskrit ṛc praise + veda knowledge) is the earliest of the four Hindu religious scriptures known as the Vedas. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Mythology. ...

Some believe that Dravidian-speaking peoples may have been spread throughout the Indian subcontinent and even in southwestern Iran (Elam, which may have had a language similar to the Dravidian languages) before the Aryans settled much of India. The early Indus Valley civilization (Harappa and Mohenjo Daro) is often presumed to have been Dravidian. A theory which is controversial now suggests that its peoples were then forced southwards by the invasion of the Aryans. Most scholars believe that the Dravidians were not indigenous to India, and migrated to India from the Northwest, although according to Tamil tradition, the Tamils came from a submerged island in the Southeast. Some scholars like Michael Witzel (in The Languages of Harappa) believe that the Dravidians intruded upon an Indo-Aryan speaking area, after the oldest part of the Rig Veda were already composed. This theory would also further be supported if a higher antiquity of the Indo-Aryan languages could be established. However, since this theory is mainly a linguistic hypothesis, the Dravidian influence on Aryan languages must not necessarly be equated to a movement of populations. A small number of individuals, rather than populations, could have influenced the Sanskrit language. The influence of Sanskrit itself on the Dravidian languages was the result of individual Sanksrit speakers (and not of whole populations) migrating to South India. Composite satellite image of the Indian subcontinent Map of South Asia. ... Map showing the area of the Elamite Empire (in red) and the neighboring areas. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Harappa is a city in Punjab, northeast Pakistan, located beside a former course of the Ravi River; about 35km southwest of Sahiwal. ... Mohenjo-daro (literally, mound of the dead), like Harappa, was a city of the Indus Valley civilization. ... The controversial Aryan invasion theory is a historical theory first put forth by the German Indologist Friedrich Max Müller and others in the mid nineteenth century in India. ... The Rig Veda ऋग्वेद (Sanskrit ṛc praise + veda knowledge) is the earliest of the four Hindu religious scriptures known as the Vedas. ... The Sanskrit language ( संस्कृता वाक्) is one of the earliest attested members of the Indo-European language family and is not only a classical language, but also an official language of India. ...

Into the 21st century, Indians, with possible justification, continue to accuse the British Raj of exaggerating differences between northern and southern Indians, beyond actual anthropological differences, to help sustain their control of India. The British Raj ended in 1947, yet all discussion of Aryan or Dravidian "races" remains highly controversial in India. In many Indian languages, Raj literally means Prince or Royalty though is often used to mean something more like the English term of empire and as such is often used in reference to the Mughal Raj and the British Raj: the period of direct colonial rule of India by the... Anthropology (from the Greek word άνθρωπος, human) consists of the study of humankind (see genus Homo). ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... A race is a population of humans distinguished from other populations. ...

Dravidian and Vedic culture

The Dravidians and South Indians have been in some respects the best preservers of ancient Vedic culture and traditions, especially when the north of India was dominated by Buddhism and later was affected by Islam. Some modern theories of the origins of both Hinduism and Buddhism focus on the resultant mixture of the "Aryan" and "Dravidian" cultures. A replica of an ancient statue found among the ruins of a temple at Sarnath Buddhism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, who lived between approximately 566 and 486 BCE. Originating in India, Buddhism gradually spread throughout Asia to Central Asia...   Islam? (Arabic: الإسلام al-islām) the submission to God is a monotheistic faith, one of the Abrahamic religions, and the worlds second largest religion. ... Hinduism (सनातन धर्म; also known as Sanātana Dharma, and Vaidika-Dharma) is a worldwide religious tradition that is based on the bedrock of the Veda scriptures. ... A replica of an ancient statue found among the ruins of a temple at Sarnath Buddhism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, who lived between approximately 566 and 486 BCE. Originating in India, Buddhism gradually spread throughout Asia to Central Asia...

According to the Puranas, the Dravidians are descendants of the Vedic Turvasha people. According to the Matsya Purana, Manu is considered as a south Indian king. In Hindu tradition the creation of the Tamil language is credited to the Rig Vedic sage Rishi Agastya, a view that secular linguists would interpret as a myth designed to link Dravidians to Vedic Indo-Aryan culture. The Puranas are part of Hindu Smriti; these religious scriptures discuss devotion and mythology. ... A Hindu is an adherent of Hinduism, the predominant religious, philosophical and cultural system of India (Bharat). ... Tamil is the first language ever to exist since human literature. ... The Rig Veda ऋग्वेद (Sanskrit ṛc praise + veda knowledge) is the earliest of the four Hindu religious scriptures known as the Vedas. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Mythology. ...

Tamil literature and Tamil epics and classics have many references to Vedic gods and culture. The Tolkaappiyam mentions non-Vedic, early-Vedic (Indra, Varuna) and Puranic (Vishnu) gods. The Paripadal (8; 3; 9 etc.), one of the "Eight Anthologies" of poetry (or ettuttokai), has homages to Vishnu, Lakshmi, Brahma, the twelve Adityas, the Ashwins, the Rudras, the Saptarishis, Indra, the Devas etc. The Kural, written by Tiruvalluvar, mentions gods like Indra (25) and Lakshmi (e.g. 167). Tolkāppiyam (தொல்காப்பியம் in Tamil) is a book on the grammar of the Tamil language. ... Indra (इन्द्र), god of weather and war, and Lord of Heaven or Swargaloka, was the supreme deva of Hinduism during the early Vedic period. ... This article is about the god. ... Vishnu For other uses of the name Vishnu, see Vishnu (disambiguation). ... Vishnu For other uses of the name Vishnu, see Vishnu (disambiguation). ... Popular image of Lakshmi In Hinduism, Lakshmi or Laxmi (Sanskrit: लक्ष्मी) is the goddess of wealth, light and fortune, as well as (secondarily) luck, beauty and fertility. ... Brahma, the Creator, is depicted with four heads, each reciting one of the four Vedas. ... Who dare interfer in my wrk# In Hinduism, the Adityas are a group of solar deities, sons of Aditi and Kasyapa. ... Indra (इन्द्र), god of weather and war, and Lord of Heaven or Swargaloka, was the supreme deva of Hinduism during the early Vedic period. ... Kural is one of the most important forms of traditional Tamil poetry. ... Tiruvalluvar was one of the greatest Tamil poets. ...

The Tamil epic Shilappadikaram, begins with invocations to Chandra, Surya, and Indra, and has homages to Agni, Varuna, Shiva, Subrahmanya, Vishnu-Krishna, Uma, etc. The epic states that “Vedic sacrifices [are] being faultlessly performed” and has many references to Vedic culture and Vedic texts. In the Buddhist work Manimekhalai, the submersion of the city Puhar in Kumari Kandam is attributed to the neglect of the worship to Indra. Cilappatikaram (The Ankle Bracelet) also spelled as Cilappadhikaram or Silappadhigaram, is one of the five great epics of ancient Tamil Literature. ... In Hindu mythology, Chandra is a lunar deity, later identified with Soma. ... In Hinduism, Surya is the chief solar deity, son of Dyaush or Indra. ... Indra (इन्द्र), god of weather and war, and Lord of Heaven or Swargaloka, was the supreme deva of Hinduism during the early Vedic period. ... The word Agni can have these meanings:- A fire-god in three religions: described below. ... This article is about the god. ... Lord Åšiva. ... Manimekalai is one of the masterpieces of Tamil literature and belongs to The Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature. ... Kumari Kandam is a legendary sunken landmass to the south of Kanyakumari, at the tip of South India. ... Indra (इन्द्र), god of weather and war, and Lord of Heaven or Swargaloka, was the supreme deva of Hinduism during the early Vedic period. ...

Kumari Kandam

According to Tamil Tradition, the Dravidians originally came from a submerged island Kumari Kandam in the south of India. The Epics Shilappadikaram and Manimekhalai describe the submerged city of Puhar. Kumari Kandam has also been linked to Lemuria. Kumari Kandam is a legendary sunken landmass to the south of Kanyakumari, at the tip of South India. ... Cilappatikaram (The Ankle Bracelet) also spelled as Cilappadhikaram or Silappadhigaram, is one of the five great epics of ancient Tamil Literature. ... Manimekalai is one of the masterpieces of Tamil literature and belongs to The Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature. ... Kumari Kandam is a legendary sunken landmass to the south of Kanyakumari, at the tip of South India. ... Lemuria is the name of a hypothetical Lost Land variously located in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. ...

At Mahabalipuram, near Chennai, submerged ruins have been found in the ocean. Mahabalipuram (also known as Mamallapuram) is a 7th century port city of the South Indian dynasty of the Pallavas around 60 km south from the city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu. ... Chennai (சென்னை in Tamil), formerly known as Madras, is the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu and is Indias fourth largest city. ...

The Eastern Ethiopians

Herodotus, Homer and other Greek authors called the Dravidians the Eastern Ethiopians. Greek writers sometimes identified the Aethiopians of Egypt with the Eastern Aethiopians. Also the Egyptian and Indian geography were sometimes compared or identified: Arrian (vi. i.) mentions that the Indus River was thought by some ancient Greeks to be the source of the Nile. It is usually assumed that by 'Aethiopian' Herodotus simply means 'black person', so that the term really only functions to characterise southern Indians as Eastern black people. Bust of Herodotus Herodotus of Halicarnassus (Greek: ΗΡΟΔΟΤΟΣ, Herodotos) was an ancient historian who lived in the 5th century BC (484 BC-ca. ... Bust of Homer in the British Museum For other uses, see Homer (disambiguation). ... Herodotus, Homer and other greek authors called the Dravidians the Eastern Ethiopians or Eastern Æthiopians. ... Lucius Flavius Arrianus Xenophon (c 92-c 175), known in English as Arrian, was a Roman historian. ... The Indus is a river; the Indus River. ... The Nile in Egypt Length 6 695 km Elevation of the source 1 134 m Average discharge 2 830 m³/s Area watershed 3 400 000 km² Origin  Africa Mouth  the Mediterranean Basin countries Uganda - Sudan - Egypt The Nile (Arabic: النيل an-nÄ«l), in Africa, is one of the two...

Herodotus wrote about the Dravidians: They differed in nothing from the other Ethiopians, save in their language, and the character of their hair. For the Eastern Ethiopians have straight hair, while they of Libya are more woolly-haired than any other people in the world. (Herodotus: from The History of the Persian Wars, VII.70., c.430 BCE) Hair is the filamentous outgrowth of the epidermis found in mammals. ...

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, however, took up this connection between Dravidians and Ethiopians in order to claim a direct racial and cultural link between the two peoples. She was attempting show that Indian culture influenced Ancient Egypt via Ethiopia. She described many parallels between Egypt and India in her works. After the discovery of the Indus Valley Civilisation Gottfried de Purucker remarked (referring to Secret Doctrine, vol.2, p.417): A highly advanced urban civilization of Mohenjo Daro has been discovered on the Indus "between Attock and Sind," exactly the location mentioned in The Secret Doctrine as the abode of the Aethiopians.(Encyclopedic Theosophical Glossary). Helena Blavatsky Helena Petrovna Hahn (also Hélène) (July 31, 1831 (O.S.) (August 12, 1831 (N.S.)) - May 8, 1891 London, England), better known as Helena Blavatsky or Madame Blavatsky was the founder of Theosophy. ... Gottfried von Purucker (January 15, 1874, Suffern, New York - September 27, 1942) was an author and Theosophist. ... Mohenjo-daro (literally, mound of the dead), like Harappa, was a city of the Indus Valley civilization. ... The Indus is a river; the Indus River. ... The Secret Doctrine, the Synthesis of Science, Religion and Philosophy, a book originally published as two volumes in 1888, is Madame Blavatskys magnum opus. ...

Dravidian tradition and Hinduism

Interestingly, the original Indo-Aryan gods like Indra, Agni, Vayu etc. are not the principal gods of present day Hindus. Those Indo-Aryan gods have their equivalents in other Indo-European gods in European countries. Those gods occupied the highest position, until the advent of Christianity in those societies, driving the Pre-Indo-European deities to minor position. However, this situation was reversed in India. Here the phallus worship, associated with Shiva, and goddess worship remained supreme throughout India along with two other gods, Brahma and Vishnu, that don't have parallels with other Indo-European gods.

The decidedly Dravidian phallus worship (Shiva lingam) and goddess (Shakti or Devi) worship (basically "yoni" to complement phallus) raises many questions as to the origins of the priestly class of Hindus, the Brahmins. Linga worship (Estate of Cynthia and Harlen Welsh) Lingam or Linga (Sanskrit: Gender as in purusha-linga : Phallus) by some etymologists, is used as a symbol for the worship of the Hindu God Shiva. ... In most South Asian languages, Shakti translates literally as power. ... Devi as Vaishnodevi Commonly known as Devi (goddess), Vaishnodevi (देवी, DevÄ« in Hindi and Sanskrit) is the Divine Mother of Hinduism. ... The word yoni is the Sanskrit word for the female reproductive organ. Translated directly into English, it could mean vulva or vagina. ... A Brahmin (less often Brahman) is a member of the Hindu priestly caste. ...

One scenario would place the invasion/migration of the Indo-Aryans in a specifically Indian context requiring the merging of Dravidian priestly classes with Indo-Aryan priestly classes, creating a proto-caste system somewhere in the North-West of Indian subcontinent.

By this time, Indo-Aryans did have a structured religious system in their Indo-European language. The rapid adaptation of this system and its spread in North Indian Dravidian population led to linguistic Aryanisation of that population. However, the influence of Dravidian priestly class might also have ensured a dominant place for Dravidian religious practices and symbols.

Those South Indian Brahmins who were migrants from North India, invariably speak Dravidian languages and culturally have been totally integrated with Dravidian society. This might show that transition from Dravidian to Indo-European languages was a gradual process. The later migrants to South India like Konkani Saraswat Brahmins and Sourashtrians have kept their linguistic identities intact showing the clear linguistic boundaries of the later period. Sourashtra (alternate names and spellings: Palkar, Sowrashtra, Saurashtra, Saurashtri, Patnuli) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in parts of the Southern Indian State of Tamil Nadu. ...

Southern Maharashtra was thought to be linguistically Dravidian until a millenium back, considering that a number of stone scriptures of that period were actually written in Kannada. Also, there are many examples in South India itself to show how the language of religion becomes mother-tongue of a whole community. The Dravidian muslim converts have made Urdu their mother-tongue in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Kannada - aptly described as sirigannada (known to few as Kanarese) is one of the oldest Dravidian languages and is spoken in its various dialects by roughly 45 million people. ... Urdu(اردو) is an Indo-European language which originated in India, most likely in the vicinity of Delhi, from whence it spread to the rest of the subcontinent. ... Karnataka (ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ in Kannada) is one of the four southern states of India. ... Andhra Pradesh (ఆంధ్ర ప్రదేశం in Telugu) (Ä€ndhra Prādesh), a state in South India, lies between 12°41 and 22°N latitude and 77° and 84°40E longitude . ...

It is also worth noticing that even linguistically Indo-European Brahmins like Saraswat Brahmins and Kashmiri pandits were historically known to be Shiva and Shakti worshippers. The Saraswat Brahmins claim descent from a Brahmin caste mentioned in ancient Hindu scriptures as inhabiting the Saraswati River valley, the geographic location of which is not known. ... A pandit or pundit(पन्दित् in Devanagari) is a Hindu Brahmin who has memorized a substantial portion of the Vedas, along with the proper rhythms and melodies for chanting or singing them. ...

A possible conclusion of all these arguments would be that Hindu India was basically a product of the traditions of the Dravidian race, with North-West Indians and Brahmins (since they were the one first merged their identities with Indo-Aryans) showing higher Indo-Aryan admixture.

See also

• Aryan Invasion Theory
• Dravidian languages
• Eastern Ethiopian
• Kumari Kandam
• Tamil language
• Tamil people

The controversial Aryan invasion theory is a historical theory first put forth by the German Indologist Friedrich Max Müller and others in the mid nineteenth century in India. ... The Dravidian family of languages includes approximately 26 languages that are mainly spoken in southern India and Sri Lanka, as well as certain areas in Pakistan, Nepal, and eastern and central India. ... Herodotus, Homer and other greek authors called the Dravidians the Eastern Ethiopians or Eastern Æthiopians. ... Kumari Kandam is a legendary sunken landmass to the south of Kanyakumari, at the tip of South India. ... Tamil is the first language ever to exist since human literature. ... Tamil girls in Tiruvannamalai The Tamil people are an ethnic group from South Asia with a recorded history going back almost two millennia. ...

External links

• The Aryan-Dravidian Controversy Article by David Frawley
• Vedic roots of early Tamil culture by Michel Danino
• Telugu - Italian of the East
• An Atlantis in the Indian Ocean - Tamil Kumarikhandam