Adi Sankara (nearly thirteen centuries ago) called himself Dravid-putra, meaning most likely as belonging to a region near water (sea or river). Dravid thus could imply to be the boundary or area near water.

Consider the following,

Drav (or dravya, meaning water) + Vid (veed or beed, meaning ridge / edge) -->

--> DravVid (used initially colloquially to represent area closest to a river, lake or sea) -->

--> DraVid or Dravid (with accent on v)

Comment on the relationship between Dravid and southern peninsula

There is no circumstantial evidence for the origin or direct relation of the word Dravid with India-south-of-the-Vindhyas or southern peninsula.

Dravid also does not reflect the speakers of any particular language (Tamil or Sanskrit for example) even though it might originally be derived from Sanskrit language to express something rather small or insignificant (as indicated above). If the intention of the original people had been to come up with a word reflecting their cultural and linguistic heritage, they would have chosen a word sounding as Sanskrida or Tamida (in stead of Dravid / Dravida) for themselves and their region (whether Sanskrit or Tamil speaking).

Moreover, mentioning the word Dravidian (a derivative of Dravid), with reference to SI languages, in 150 years old dictionaries also does not prove that Dravid or Dravidian originally represented any specific region, culture or language. It simply might be that the word Dravid existed for a long time with different connotations, but lost its original meaning over time and later it was conveniently (or by mistake) used for something else - even the bigger / larger area. It could then easily find its way, along with the latest meaning, into the prevailing literature and dictionaries (even 150 years old).

In any case, the southern peninsula (identified now as Dravid) was essentially an undefined and uncharted territory until quite recently, and people generally were unaware about its northern extremities. The boundary between north India and south India is not clearly defined. Thus there would hardly be any need for people to coin a new word (e.g. Dravid) for a region of which they had very little geographical concept or idea as to how far it extended. This implies that, since the word was already in existence for a long time, Dravid first appeared to mean something other than the southern peninsula.

Dravid or Dravida most likely started as representing the area near water (as explained above), and it was even used as such by Adi Sankara long ago. Note that this territorial application of Dravid was quite relevant and specific (to a small area) and, unlike in the case of entire unknown SI region, it could be related to and understood by everyone (including the locals).

Popularity of this obscure word (representing any small coastal territory) probably grew when famous Sankara (or someone else) used it in reference to himself. Since it first gained prominence in relation to a person from southern part of the country, its meaning and scope could also be twisted and expanded in that direction. For example, people elsewhere immediately could have related Dravid with the entire southern region and not just a few coastal villages where Sankara came from.

As the time passed and people everywhere learnt more about the southern peninsula, Dravid became synonymous with the entire area south of the Vindhyas. In the process, even the adjective form of Dravid -- Dravidian (based on the English language) -- was used to categorize the southern people and languages. Needles to say, Dravid and Dravidian found their way into the subsequent literatures and dictionaries with their new and expanded meanings. But all this just represents an evolution of the very old ‘Dravid’ from its humble beginning - as a small coastal area.

Acknowledgement: The author wishes to thank Mr. (Rajaputhran) Vaidyanathan Pushpagiri for his comments, http://www.sulekha.com/groups/postdisplay.aspx?cid=112466&forumid=756949

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By: Dr. Subhash C. Sharma
Email: [email protected]
Date: Sept. 29, 2006

link to: Related topics by the author