The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c41.s7.1

v2.c41.s7.1

The desire to prove that Dravidian or pre-Dravidian peoples affected deeply Vedic thought and life is natural, and is supported by the generally accepted view that the population of India is predominantly Dravidian or at least of non-Indo-European origin. It is true, however, that in the absence of any real certainty of the physical characteristics of the Indo-Europeans this belief cannot be made the subject of strict proof. Assuming, however, the validity of the doctrine, there remains the question whether the invaders were essentially responsible for the Vedic religion and philosophy, imposing a superior culture on inferior races, or whether the process as regards culture was reversed; instances of analogical cases can be easily adduced.³ Here again, however, we must remember that we have no satisfactory evidence of the relative numbers of the invaders and the earlier settlers; we are left in this matter wholly to conjecture.