Dravidian peoples
Ethnic groups associated with Dravidian languages, concentrated mainly in southern India and parts of Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and neighboring regions.
Dravidian languages: A language family spoken chiefly in southern India, with languages also spoken in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and elsewhere. Linguistic affiliation is the clearest common thread linking the peoples grouped under this name.
Proto-Dravidian: The reconstructed common ancestor of the Dravidian languages. It provides the linguistic starting point for tracing relationships among Dravidian-speaking populations.
Dravidian movement: A political and social movement in southern India that challenged caste hierarchy and North Indian cultural dominance. It made Dravidian identity a prominent basis for modern political mobilization, especially in Tamil Nadu.
Indo-Aryan peoples: Populations associated with Indo-Aryan languages, chiefly across northern and central South Asia. The contrast is linguistic and historical, not a clean division between biologically separate populations.
Tamil people: An ethnic and linguistic group whose members chiefly speak Tamil and live in India, Sri Lanka, and diaspora communities. They are among the largest Dravidian-speaking populations, with a long literary and political history.
Indus Valley Civilisation: A Bronze Age urban civilisation centered in the Indus River basin, flourishing roughly from 2600 to 1900 BCE. A proposed connection between its undeciphered script and Dravidian languages remains influential but unproven.
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy: An Indian social reformer and politician who led the Self-Respect Movement and advocated rationalism and anti-caste politics. His activism shaped influential interpretations of Dravidian identity and social equality.
Indo-Aryan languages: A branch of the Indo-European language family spoken across much of northern and central South Asia. Their long contact with Dravidian languages shaped shared vocabulary and regional language histories.
Telugu people: An ethnic and linguistic group chiefly associated with Telugu-speaking regions of India. Their language is the most widely spoken Dravidian language by number of speakers.
Indus script: A system of signs found on seals and other objects of the Indus Valley Civilisation, not yet deciphered. Its unknown language leaves open whether early Dravidian speech was present in the Indus cities.