Page:Origin and spread of the Tamils.djvu/15



4 ORIGIN AND SPREAD OF THE TAMILS all non-Brahmans in South India speaking the Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Canarese and Maharashtra lan. guages are descendants of these early Dravidians. From the point of view of race the Brahmans are considered to belong to the Aryan stock while the depressed classes who generally go by the name of Pancamas (now Harijans) are designated Adidrāvidas. The implication is that before the Dravidians entered South India and settled in large numbers the natives of the country who lived in the wilds, who were uncivilized, and who became subject to the invading conquerors came to be known as Adidrāvidas. It is generally held today that the Aryan is as much an invader to the Indian continent as the Dravidian. It is also maintained that the Dravidian invaded this land long before the Aryan. In support of this theory it is said that the Dasyus and Dāsas mentioned in the Vedic literature, especially the Rg Veda Samhita, are the early Dravidians who were conquered by the invading Aryan hosts and converted as slaves. We shall refer to this later on. Suffice it to say here that none of these theories are acceptable, on the mere fact, that the evidence cited is meagre and highly inconclusive. This leads us to examine the question, 'who are the Dravidians ?' In this again there is no unanimity of opinion among scholars. The current theory is that the time of the Aryan invasion there was in India a Dua ylätap civilization of a highly developed character, and that the Dravidians were a section of the great Mediterranean race, Consequently, it is claimed that