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Dravidians are native speakers of any of the Dravidian languages of South Asia. There are around 220 million native speakers of Dravidian languages. They form majority of the population of South India. Dravidian-speaking people are natively found in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka.〔Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania by Barbara A. West p.194〕〔Spectrum Guide to Maldives by Camarapix p.37〕 Historically the Sanskrit word "" is used to denote geographical region of South India.〔 and was devoid of any ethnic or linguistic identity〔 While in Prakrit, words such as "Damela", "Dameda", "Dhamila" and "Damila" which later evolved into "Tamila" could have been used to denote an ethnic identity. The largest-Dravidian ethnic groups are Kannada people from Karnataka, the Tamil People from Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Sri Lanka, the Telugu people from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and the Malayalam people from Kerala. Ancient Dravidians were noted for their martial, religious and mercantile activities. Urbanisation and mercantile activity along the western and eastern coast of what is today Tamil Nadu and Kerala led to the development of four large political states Chola dynasty, Pandyan dynasty, Chera Dynasty and a number of smaller states warring amongst themselves for hegonomy and dominance over the region. Some of the greatest Dynasties in Indian history were established by the Dravidian people like the Satavahana dynasty, Chola dynasty, Pandyan dynasty, Rashtrakuta dynasty, Western Chalukya Empire and Vijayanagara Empire. Among languages spoken today, Tamil is the oldest known Dravidian language with unbroken literary tradition since the 3rd century BC.〔Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: Sasay to Zorgot by Mohan Lal p.4284〕 The Chola Empire with its powerful navy was one of the biggest maritime empires in Medieval India stretching from Southern India to Southeast Asia like Malaysia, Southern Thailand and Indonesia.〔Nagapattinam to Suvarnadwipa: Reflections on the Chola Naval Expeditions to Southeast Asia by Hermann Kulke,K Kesavapany,Vijay Sakhuja p.79〕 Medieval Tamil guilds and trading organizations like the "Ayyavole and Manigramam" played an important role in the Southeast Asia trade.〔The Emporium of the World: Maritime Quanzhou, 1000-1400 by Angela Schottenhammer p.293〕 Traders and religious leaders travelled to Southeast Asia and played an important role in the cultural Indianisation of the region. Locally developed scripts such as Grantha and Pallava script induced the development of many native scripts such as Khmer, Javanese Kawi script, Baybayin, and Thai. Dravidian visual art is dominated by stylised Temple architecture in major centers and the productions of images of stone, bronze sculptures. The Nataraja sculpture from the Chola period, have become notable as a symbol of Hinduism. ==Etymology== The Sanskrit word ' is used to denote geographical region of South India. While in Prakrit, words such as ''Damela'', ''Dameda'', ''Dhamila'' and ''Damila'' are used but it is unclear if it was a self designation or a term denoted by outsiders. Epigraphic evidence of an ethnic group termed as such is found in ancient India where a number of inscriptions have come to light datable from the 6th to the 5th century BC mentioning ''Damela'' or ''Dameda'' persons. In the well-known Hathigumpha inscription of the Kalinga ruler Kharavela, refers to a ''T(ra)mira samghata'' (Confederacy of Tamil rulers) dated to 150 BC. It also mentions that the league of Tamil kingdoms had been in existence 113 years before then.〔 In Amaravati in present-day Andhra Pradesh there is an inscription referring to a ''Dhamila-vaniya'' (Tamil trader) datable to the 3rd century AD.〔 Another inscription of about the same time in Nagarjunakonda seems to refer to a ''Damila''. A third inscription in Kanheri Caves refers to a ''Dhamila-gharini'' (Tamil house-holder). In the Buddhist Jataka story known as ''Akiti Jataka'' there is a mention to ''Damila-rattha'' (Tamil dynasty). Southern Brahmins are known as Pancha Dravida while northern Brahmins are known as Pancha Gauda, denoting geographical region. There were trade relationship between the Roman Empire and Pandyan Empire. As recorded by Strabo, Emperor Augustus of Rome received at Antioch an ambassador from a king called ''Pandyan of Dramira''.〔The cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia By Edward Balfour〕 Hence, it is clear that by at least the 300 BC, the ethnic identity of Tamils has been formed as a distinct group.〔Indrapala, K ''The Evolution of an ethnic identity: The Tamils of Sri Lanka'', p.155-156〕 ''Thamizhar'' is etymologically related to Tamil, the language spoken by Tamil people. Southworth suggests that the name comes from tam-miz > tam-iz 'self-speak', or 'one's own speech'. Zvelebil suggests an etymology of ''tam-iz'', with tam meaning "self" or "one's self", and "-iz" having the connotation of "unfolding sound". Alternatively, he suggests a derivation of ''tamiz'' < ''tam-iz'' < '' *tav-iz'' < '' *tak-iz'', meaning in origin "the proper process (of speaking)."〔 at pp. x–xvi.〕 The term ''Thamizhar'' was likely derived from the name of the ancient people ''Dravida'' > ''Dramila'' > ''Damila'' > ''Tamila'' > ''Tamilar''〔Gustav Salomon Oppert, ''On the Original Inhabitants of Bharatavarsa Or India: The Dravidians'', p 41〕 While the English word ''Dravidian'' was first employed by Robert Caldwell in his book of comparative Dravidian grammar based on the usage of the Sanskrit word ' in the work ''Tantravārttika'' by .〔 The word ' in Sansrkit has been historically used to denote geographical regions of Southern India as whole. While some theories concern the direction of derivation between ' and '; such linguists as Zvelebil assert that the direction is from ' to '. The modern word Dravidian is devoid of any ethnic significance, and is only used to classify a linguistic family of the referred group.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Dravidian peoples」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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