The Personality of India: Pre- and Proto-historic Foundation of India and Pakistan c10.111

c10.111

Similarly in South India, the Dravidian languages were flourishing. About this very period we see the bifurcation of *Kannada* and a little later *Telugu* from the Dravidian stem. The other aboriginal and tribal dialects described as *Nishada* and *Kirata* continued as spoken languages. It is not possible to describe their earlier position since they have never been recorded. Thus the whole group of modern Indian languages more or less emerged in the period from 700 to 1300 and it is no accident that this period politically marks a period of active centrifugal forces ( Figs. 9 & 9a ).