The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c15.171

v1.c15.171

At the same time, there can be little doubt that Dravidian languages were actually flourishing in the western regions of Northern India at the period when languages of the Indo-European type were introduced by the Aryan invasions from the north-west. Dravidian characteristics have been traced alike in Vedic and Classical Sanskrit, in the Prākrits or early popular dialects, and in the modern vernaculars derived from them. The linguistic strata would thus appear to be arranged in the order—Austric, Dravidian, Indo-European.