Anthropo Logos. I.

Being the anthropoHo that I am, I like to seek out the similarities and differences amongst cultures in any given locale. When I was in India, there was of course an Anthro overdose. A country with 22 official languages, almost all of the world’s faiths and then some, and where the world’s ethnicities collided – this was India.

Traveling in South India was particularly interesting because I was walking amongst some of the world’s most ancient peoples. The northern regions of the Indian Subcontinent (much of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) are Aryan or Aryanised in their languages, cultures, customs, etc. In South India however, Dravidians are the dominant group – demographically, culturally, and linguistically. Many scholars believe the Dravidians were the ones that built the ancient Indus Valley civilization. It was considered the most advanced and urbanized of the four ancient civilizations (considering China, Egypt, and Mesopotamia). According to one theory, they were displaced by the invading Aryans who came from Central Asia and pushed the Dravidians deep into the south of the continent.

Amongst the Dravidians, there are four major languages and many other smaller languages and dialects. Of the four – Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, and Kannada – Tamil is considered to be the ‘purest’ of Dravidian languages, unmarred by the Brahmins and their Sanskrit. It is truly an ancient language, with sounds and pitches that can transport you thousands of years in the past. I only wish I could’ve understood a single word!!

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