History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c16.s5.2

v1.c16.s5.2

The Pāndyas are the southern-most Indian people throughout ancient Indian literature. They were known to Megasthenes whose account of them shows that they were believed to be mixed Aryans and Dravidians. We may, therefore, believe that the Aryans in small numbers did go right upto Cape Comorin sometime before Buddha and impressed their religious thought, not their language, upon the people. The Pāndyas are frequently mentioned in the Mahābhārata, but their name does not, strangely enough, occur in the Bhishmaparva list of Indian peoples. Probably their name is given as Dravida which heads the list of the southern mlechhas and the Pāndyas were unquestionably Dravidas par excellence.