Dravidian

Dravidian, name applied to a linguistically related group of people in India that includes the Tamil and more isolated highland tribes such as the Ghats and the Todas. The Dravidian language has remained relatively intact despite a considerable amount of contact and intermarriage with other peoples of the Indian subcontinent (see Indian Languages). Because of this contact, contemporary Dravidian culture is very diverse, with some groups maintaining more traditional customs (such as totemism and tracing kinship through the female line) while others have adopted the lifestyles of a modern technological society. Since India’s independence in 1947, Dravidian groups have actively protested attempts to make Hindi, an Indo-European language, the only official language of India. Today the Dravidians make up one of the largest linguistic groups in the world.