at the Dravidians, the Gonds, Khonds and Oraons came afterwards. The
grounds for this view are the more advanced culture of the Dravidians;
the fact that where the two sets of tribes are in contact those of the
Munda group have been ousted from the more open and fertile country,
of which, according to tradition, they were formerly in possession;
and the practice of the Gonds and other Dravidian tribes of employing
the Baigas, Bhuiyas and other Munda tribes for their village priests,
which is an acknowledgment that the latter as the earlier residents
have a more familiar acquaintance with the local deities, and can
solicit their favour and protection with more prospect of success. Such
a belief is the more easily understood when it is remembered that
these deities are not infrequently either the human ancestors of the
earliest residents or the local animals and plants from which they
supposed themselves to be descended.

39. Of the Dravidian tribes.

The Dravidian languages, Gondi, Kurukh and Khond, are of one family
with Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Canarese, and their home is the
south of India. The word Dravida comes from an older form Damila
or Dramila, and was used in ancient Pali and Jain literature as a
name for the people of the Tamil country. [75] Afterwards it came to
signify generally the people of southern India as opposed to Gaur or
northern India.

As stated by Sir Edward Gait there is at present no evidence to
show that the Dravidians came to southern India from any other
part of the world, and for anything that is known to the contrary
the languages may have originated there. The existence of the small
Brahui tribe in Baluchistan who speak a Dravidian language but have no
physical resemblance to other Dravidian races cannot be satisfactorily
explained, but, as he points out, this is no reason for holding that
the whole body of speakers of Dravidian languages entered India from
the north-west, and, with the exception of this small group of Brahuis,
penetrated to the south and settled there without leaving any traces
of their passage.

The Dravidian languages occupy a large area in Madras, Mysore and
Hyderabad, and they extend north into the Central Provinces and Chota
Nagpur where they die out, practically not being found west and north
of this tract. As the languages are more highly developed and the
culture of their speakers is far more advanced in the south, it is
justifiable to suppose, pend