Dravidian civilization

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The term Dravidian civilization refers to the civilization of the ancient speakers of the proto-Dravidian languages. Due to the obscure history of the proto-Dravidian speakers, and prevalence of several theories about their origin, the term "Dravidian civilization" is used to describe many concepts:

  • Many scholars believe that before the arrival of the Indo-Aryans in the Indian subcontinent, the speakers of the proto-Dravidian languages (Proto-North Dravidian, Proto-Central Dravidian, Proto-South Dravidian) were widespread throughout the subcontinent, including Gangetic valley. This pre-Vedic civilization is often referred to as "Dravidian civilization".[1]
  • A section of scholars believes that the people of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization were proto-Dravidian speakers, and hence refer to it as "Dravidian civilization". The hypothesized family of Elamo-Dravidian languages is also believed to be connected with the Indus Valley Civilization.[2]
  • The proponents of the now-obsolete theory identifying Kumari Kandam with Lemuria used the term "Dravidian civilization" to describe the civilization of the hypothetical "Lemuria" continent.[3] According to them, Kumari Kandam was a landmass that became submerged by the successive floods. Some Tamil writers, such as Devaneya Pavanar and T. R. Sesha Iyengar, identified Kumari Kandam with the hypothetical Lemuria continent, and claimed that in ancient times, there was a highly developed Tamil civilization in Lemuria, which was the cradle of civilization.[4]

A few scholars, such as Kamil Zvelebil and Clarence Maloney, believe that there is no tangible archaeological or literary evidence of any early purely Dravidian or Aryan civilization, and Aryan or Dravidian elements cannot be sought out in the Indian culture.[5][6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Wells, Herbert George (2004). The Outline of History, Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind. Barnes & Noble, 376. ISBN 0760758662. “The Aryan tribes who had come down into the peninsula soon lost touch with their kindered to the west and north, and developed upon lines of their own. This was more particularly the case with those who had passed on into the Ganges country and beyond. They found a civilization already scattered over India, the Dravidian civilization. This had arisen independently, just as the Sumerian, Cretan, and Egyptian civilizations seem to have arisen, out of that widespread development, of the neolithic culture, the heliolithic culture, whose characteristics we have already described. They revived and changed this Dravidian civilization much as the Greeks did the Aegean or the Semites the Sumerian.” 
  2. ^ Bellwood, Peter S. (2004). First Farmers: The Origins of Agricultural Societies. Blackwell, 211. ISBN 978-0631205661. 
  3. ^ Ramaswamy, Sumathi [2004] (2005). Fabulous Geographies, Catastrophic Histories: The Lost Land of Lemuria. Orient Longman, 120. ISBN 8178241102. 
  4. ^ Iyengar, T. R. Sesha (1995). "The Ancient Dravidians", Dravidian India. Orient Longman, 60. ISBN 978-8120601352. “"Hence we shall not be far wrong if we infer that South India gave a refuge to the survivors of the deluge, that the culture developed in Lemuria was carried to South India after its submergence, and that South India was probably the cradle of the post-diluvian human race."” 
  5. ^ Zvelebil, Kamil [1992]. Companion Studies to the History of Tamil Literature. Brill Academic Publishers, 260. ISBN 9004093656. “...there is no tangible evidence anywhere in India, conclusive and beyond doubt, of any early 'purely' Dravidian civilization. It is indeed possible that to try to seek out this or that 'Aryan' or 'Dravidian' trait or element in the enormously complex web of Indic culture is a "sterile and simplistic exercise."” 
  6. ^ Maloney, Clarence (May 1970). "The Beginnings of Civilization in South India". Journal of Asian Studies 29 (3): 603–616. doi:10.2307/2943246. ISSN 1097-2129. “It is clear that the script, formal religions, dynastic traditions, and other features of the civilization of the early Tamils developed from assimilation and adaptation of the Indian 'Great Tradition' (which cannot be termed "Sanskritization" in this case since the language media were rather Prakrit and Pali). Although there is neither archaeololgical nor literary evidence of any previous "Dravidian civilization" in the far South, the Iron Age culture was widespread throughout the peninsula.” 

[edit] See also