The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c15.205

v1.c15.205

At the present time Dravidian languages are stable only in the countries of the south where they have developed great literatures like Tamil, Malayālam, Kanarese, and Telugu. In the northern borders of the Dravidian sphere of influence, the spoken languages which have not been stereotyped by literature are, as each succeeding Report of the Census of India shows, still continuing to retreat before the onward progress of Indo-Āryan. The process, as it may be observed at the present day in India as elsewhere, has been admirably described by Sir George Grierson, whose observations are most valuable as explaining generally the manner in which the language of a more progressive civilisation tends to grow at the expense of its less efficient rivals.