History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c16.s4.2

v1.c16.s4.2

Having shown that Āndhra was always the country above the Ghats, we may state that the Āndhra people were principally Aryans Even now the ethnographical characteristics of the Āndhra people Brahmins and Kshatriyas are distinctly Aryan. The Brahmins of Āndhra or Telangana still continue marriage relations with the Brahmins of the Deccan and hence they must have been one with the Deccan people. The Āndhra kings who became powerful and conquered Pataliputra appear to us to be thus mixed Aryans and not Dravidians and they conquered Paithan and Mahārāshtra also. Their capital is said to be Dhana-kataka, which country too must have been conquered by them and hence its eventual inclusion in the Āndhra territory. We have therefore distinguished the Āndhras from the southern Dravidas and we hold that they were more Aryan than the latter, i.e. not only the Brahmins, but the middle class peoples also in Āndhra were mixed Aryans.