Note 75 — Introductory Essay on Caste
Reading edition
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.