The Personality of India: Pre- and Proto-historic Foundation of India and Pakistan c14.s1.t7.24

c14.s1.t7.24

The strongest objection to Prof. Haimendorf's identification is the linguistic one. Burrow¹ has shown that the greatest influence of the Dravidian languages on Sanskrit is in the Post-Rigvedic and Pre-Buddhist period. If this is true, we revert to the earlier hypothesis of a wider distribution of Dravidian languages and their gradual displacement or southward movement and their survival in the South. One of the major structural lines of Indian historical geography follows the edge of the Deccan plateau, abutting against the Indo-Gangetic plains. With the infiltration of the Aryan cultural elements into the South, one sees the remarkable feature of increasing resistance to alien influences. For example, depending on the distance and the length of the thrust, there is a descending order of Northern influences in Maharashtrians, Andhras, Kannadigas and the Tamilians. Tamil preserves its comparative purity due to what Eickstedt has called "the double mountain barrier". Hence it is premature to make any attempt to identify the Dravidians. At one time Heine Geldern suggested the Neolithic people. Then we had the identifications of Dr. Heras with the Indus valley people. Guha attributed the megalithic traits to the Palaeo-Mediterraneans.