there is so much controversy whether Dasavatharam, Ayan, Aegan are Tamil names.... what if I take a movie and name it 'Dravidian', would they be bold enough to say Dravidian is a Sanskrit word and not give tax refund? ...or would they accept it as Tamil word and give tax rebate since every other party has the word Dravidian in it? By the way how many parties have pure Tamil name? DMK,ADMK,MDMK,DMDK,DK,Conjress,BJP can be eliminated right away...only PMK and SharthKumar party(i dont know the name) left...
Is 'Dravidian' a sanskrit word???? I think 'Tamilar' turned into 'tramilar' (or something similar due to the north indians not able to pronounce it properly...ashoka's epigraph has this I think). And the europeans made the 'tramilar' from ashoka's inscription to 'dravida'.....
Otherwise i dont think the term 'Dravida' was used before the europeans. So its english and not Sanskrit.
'Dravida' is a sanskrit word used to denoted tamilians. If i am writed it was Cladwell in 18th centurey who coined the term for Linguistic purpose. Its like, we use aangilam to denote english, similarly sanskrit used Dravida for Tamilian
'Dravida' is a sanskrit word used to denote Tamilians. If I am right it was Cladwell in 18th century who coined the term for Linguistic purpose. Its like, we use aangilam to denote English, similarly sanskrit used Dravida for Tamilian >
Sorry for horrible spellings in my last mail...i was too sleepy when i Typed it, today when i saw it with my senses ,even i was stunned
I am a little confused here from Vairam's statement. However let me put what I know.
Dravida, as said by Vairam, was indeed used to refer to the Tamizhs. It is not just Tamizhs alone, but the entire region south of Vindhyas. However it was not a term coined by Caldwell in the 18th century.
For example in a lot of references to the word Dravida can been seen from the life history of Srivaishnavite Acharyas. The "Thiruvaimozhi", a magnum opus by Nammazhwar is denoted as "Dravida Vedam". The Srivaishnavite tradition has the habit of reciting a "thaniyan" before any Prabhandam recitation. As the name suggests the Thaniyan means it is a separate sloka. This is both in Sanskrit and Tamizh. This was written to glorify the Azhwar who wrote the particular Prabhandam.
So traditionally, the Thaniyan is recited first to glorify the Azhwar and then the Prabhandam recitation starts. One of these Thaniyans or Nammazhwar goes thus.....
bhakthAmrutham visva janAnu mOdhanam sarvArthatham srI saTakOpa vAng mayam sahasra sAkOpanishad samAgamam namAmyaham drAvida veda sAgaram.
The above was composed by Nathamuni, the first Acharya in the Guruparampara, who is said to have lived around 900AD.
The above is the earliest that I know. So the word Dravida was not as new as 18th century and was prevalent atleast from around 900 AD.