CuAP. XXV. PEOPLING OF INDIA. 409 



commenced his wars against the Rakshasas or fiends, who 

 divided with hermits and sages the possession of the wilder- 

 ness. The simple truth probably is that these " fiends " were 

 the original inhabitants of Southern India, which was called 

 Dravida Desa, and that Rama was the first Hindu invader. 

 Dravida denotes the country of the Dravidas, who are 

 described in Sanscrit writings as men of an outcast tribe, 

 descended from degraded K^hatriyas. 



The history of the early peopling of India, by its various 

 races, is involved in much obscm'ity ; and the little light 

 which has been thrown upon it is chiefly derived from a 

 comparison of languages. The prevailing opinion is that 

 India was originally inhabited by a people whose remains 

 are to be found in the Koles, Sontals, Bheels, and other wild 

 hill tribes ; that the Dravidians, a Scythic people, came 

 from the north, settled in Hindustan, and drove the abo- 

 rigines into the hills and fastnesses ; that in their turn the 

 Dravidians were driven across the Vindhya mountains by 

 another Scythic race, and became the ancestors of the present 

 population of Southern India ; and that finally the Aryan 

 race, with its Vedic civilization, brought this pre-Aryan Scy- 

 thic race under subjection, and formed it into the servile 

 Sudra caste. 



Thus the Dravidian people of Southern India were of 

 Scythic origin, and they spoke a language from which the 

 four modern ones of the Macbas Presidency, Tamil, Telugu, 

 Canarese, and Malayalam,^ are derived. These are all 

 grouped as Dravidian languages, and their source is no 



1 Tamil is spokeu throughout the i Nagpore ; Canarese in Canara and 



Carnatic, in the southern part of 

 Travancore, and north part of Ceylon, 

 by about 10,000,000 souls. Telugu, 

 tlie first of tlie Dravidian languages 



Mysore ; and INIalayalam in Malabar. 

 The whole DravifUan race numbers 

 30,000,000 souls. The Tamil, Telugu, 

 and Malavalam languages have each 



in euphonious sweetness, is spoken in | a system of written characters peculiar 

 the Ceded districts, Kurnool, part of ; to itself : tlie Canarese letters are 

 the Nizam's territoiy, and part of i borrowed from the Telugu. 



