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Dravidian

  (drə-vĭd'ē-ən) pronunciation
n.
  1. A large family of languages spoken especially in southern India and northern Sri Lanka that includes Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada.
  2. A member of any of the peoples that speak one of the Dravidian languages, especially a member of one of the pre-Indo-European peoples of southern India.

[From Sanskrit drāviḍaḥ, a Dravidian.]

Dravidian Dra·vid'i·an or Dra·vid'ic (-vĭd'ĭk) adj.
 
 
Asian Mythology: Dravidians

Dravidians are people who speak non-Indo-European languages, primarily in Southern India and Northern Sri Lanka. These languages include Tamil and Malayalam. When we speak of Dravidian culture, we generally refer to an indigenous pre-Hindu culture such as the one described in the Tamil Tolkāppiyām, written in the first and second centuries CE, Dravidian culture in all likelihood developed from the Indus Valley culture in south India in the Neolithic period and, in terms of religion, was probably earthcentered and possibly dominated by a goddess cult (see Tamil Mythology and Indus Valley Mythology).

 
(drəvĭd'ēəns) , name sometimes given to the peoples of S and central India and N Sri Lanka who speak Dravidian languages. They are so called for purely linguistic reasons; the peoples are of varying racial types. It is thought that Dravidian-speaking peoples may have been spread throughout the Indian subcontinent before the invasions of the Aryans.


 
Wikipedia: Dravidian (disambiguation)

Dravidian may refer to the following about southern South Asia:



     
    Misspellings: Dravidian

    Common misspelling(s) of Dravidian

    • Dravadian

     
     

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    Copyrights:

    Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Asian Mythology. A Dictionary of Asian Mythology. Copyright © 2001, 2002 by David Leeming. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
    Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Dravidian" Read more
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