[Compiled by: Kandiah Thillaivinayagalingam]
conclusion
There are many theories and studies that explain the
origin of Dravidians,their link to Africa,Aryan invasion and Dravidian’s
migration to South India and try to answer whether the Dravidians are the
originators of the Indus Valley Civilization?whether Dravidians are
autochthonous to the subcontinent? Or should their origins be sought in the
Proto-Elamite,the Sumerian,the Proto-Saharan?,But all the theories & answers
state the fact that Dravidians were a very classy and skilled race of people.
The issue of the linkage between Africans and Dravidians
is not something that can be dismissed as something that has no substance in it
at all.In Godfrey Higgins' seminal work Anaclypsis[is a lengthy two-volume
treatise written by religious historian Godfrey Higgins, and published after
his death in 1833,he relates a story of Herodotus giving an account of his
travels to the lands of the Blacks: "And upon his return to Greece they
gathered around and asked,"Tell us about this great Land of the blacks
called Ethiopia." And Herodotus said,"There are two great Ethiopian
nations,one in Sind (India) and the other in Egypt".Herodotus' account of
the great African civilizations that spanned both the African continent and
much of South East Asia,was not the first nor would it be the last observation
by travelers and historians alike,of the black civilizations in South East
Asia.Dravidian people have dark complexion,dark black hair and eyes and large
foreheads.Because of structural similarities,it is also believed that
Dravidians has an African origin.However,Physical trait similarities does not
always equal closer relation.Modern geneticists suggest that the color of skin
may have had more to do with adapting to sunnier
conditions in the southern
part of India than actual racial differences.Everyone came from Africa our skin
adapted to different climates overtime.The african similarity may be due to the
same climatic conditions that prevailed in these countries.Further,Southern
India is in the same latitude as Senegal, Mali, Niger,Chad,Sudan,Ethiopia and
Somalia.More than this,only the Indian Ocean separates the eastern coast of
Africa from the south of India.As a matter of fact,geologists maintain that the
Indian sub continent was formerly attached to East Africa.Many scholars have
recognized the linguistic unity of Black African and Dravidian languages.These
affinities are found not only in the modern African languages but also that of
ancient Egypt.For example,Eminent Tamil scholar Dr Aravaanan,Dr Clyde
Winters,Dr. U. P. Upadhyaya have written extensively on the African and
Dravidian relations.All of them wrote in the 70's and none of them are
geneticists. Also the Afro-Dravidian hypothesis argues that the Dravidian
language is a derivative of an African language from the Niger-Congo family of
languages,and that much of the cultural and technological packet associated
with Dravidian culture has African origins.Even some researchers due to the
genetic relationship between the Dravidians and Niger-Congo speaking groups
they call the Indians the Sudroid (Indo-African) Race.Leopold Sedar Sengkor
(President of Senegal),while delivered a lecture in Madras[Chennai] under the
auspices of the International Institute of Tamil Studies on the 23rd
May,1974,asked archeologists and pre-
historians to have a chance to explore the
depths of the seas,to discover old lithic industries or human skeleton
fossils,in the area stretching from East Africa to Southern India. Unless,of
course,the Indian Ocean existed long before the human race appeared.This is
perhaps a reference to that stretch of land which was supposed to have linked
India and Africa and was presumably engulfed by the ocean during the Neolithic
revolution,called Lemuria or Kumari Kandam.The story of humanity is written in
our genes,and thanks to modern science and technology,we are finally able to
read it.so If we able to Piecing Together with all archaeological and
linguistic studies we have made so far with this new scientific studies of
DNA,and proposed or write a Historical Narrative,then that Makes Sense.Typical
Racial Characteristics of Dravidians are 1]They are short people with stature
usually 5 ft 4 inches[1.626 m] .2] Their skin ranges from brown to almost
black.3]Eyes are Black or dark brown,4] Dravidians generally possess a
dolichocephalic head with a long, narrow face and well-developed
forehead.5]Hair is black or dark brown, straight or wavy, long. 6]The nose is
straight, long and narrow. and 7] The most prevalent blood types among
Dravidians are O (37 per cent), A (22 per cent), B (33 per cent).and AB (7 per
cent)
The Tamils have legends that their ancient history
extends up to about
ten thousand years,sea swallowing up their lands twice and
kings establishing new capitals and fostering Tamil in three successive
academies.This legend is one of the reasons- one of the excuses- for connecting
up the Tamil civilization with some prehistoric ancient civilizations,such as
Indus Valley Civilization and Sumerian Civilization. Father Heras argued for
the Dravidian identity of the Indus Valley people.In the 1960s,the Scandinavian
Institute of Asian Studies issued many announcements,trying to establish this
identity.This hypothesis is defended seriously by Japanese Professor Noboru
Karashima, President of the International Association for Tamil Research in
1994.Also Many modern studies of the ancient Indus Valley civilization presumed
that the inhabitants who occupied a wide range of ancient city-states all along
the Indus (including the very large urban centers at Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro)
were all Dravidian.Many Tamils trace their origins to the people of Mohenjodaro
in the Indus Valley around 6000 years before the birth of Christ.There is,
however, a need further systematic study
With today's DNA technology to further ascertain their belief.
Four human skeletons dating back to the 5000-year-old
Harappan era have been recovered from a cemetery located at Rakhigarhi village
in Hisar, Haryana disctrict, in northwestern India, where archaeologists have
been carrying out excavation at the site since January 23,2015.Archaeologists
hope forensic scientists will reconstruct the DNA extracted from bones to help
decipher the history and origin of the human settlement,which is part of the
Indus Valley civilisation as the soil at Rakhigarhi is sandy so the skeletons
are better preserved.Hence the results could shed light on the identity of the
Harappan people soon.
The Dravidian Identity of the Sumerians is also strongly
advocated by certain scholars.such as the late ProfessorA.Sathasivam from Sri
Lanka and Dr. Loganathan Muttarayan from Malaysia.Also,Eminent historians of
the caliber of K.A. Nilakantta Sastri, have pointed out similarities in temple
worship. A hypothesis,connecting the ancestors of the Dravidians,if not the
Tamils.to the Mediterranean area,is still advocated by certain scholars,such
as,Dr. N. Lahovary.Eminent historian K.A. Nilakanta Sastri,demonstrate that the
Dravidian Languages of South India are more or less closely related to a near
Eastern and Mediterranean agglutinative group of languages of Pre Indo-European
Times.There are two further lines of investigation one may adopt to confirm
this hypothesis.The first is to explore for other groups in India with a
similar language and the second is to carry out a physical examination of the
Sumerian skeletons as available at the present time to detect racial
similarities.
PART :81 WILL FOLLOW
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