Nazar Khan August 4, 2004

Tags: culture , diversity , travel

Is South India unique?

href="/tag/India">India still remains shrouded in a mystery. It is not difficult to understand the reason. While there has been a consistent lingual, historical and cultural linkage with the North, South India has been just a bit out of the way. Areas falling within Pakistan and North India have had the dubious distinction of sharing all the invaders and having been a part of many empires like the Archaemenid (6 BC), the Mauriyan (326-184 BC), the Kushans (1 BC-3AD), the Dehli Sultanet (1211-1526), the Mughals (1526-1857) and the British (1700-1947). Only Greek Alexander (326 BC) and Arab Mohd Bin Qasim (711 AD) of the Umayyad confined themselves areas now falling in Pakistan.

South India has not been physically together even with the North India for long periods of time. It was primarily the Sanskrit, the high language of learning and religion that brought about a collective ethos between the North and the South India. The British were the first to get everyone under one flag and helped integrating the South with the North, a process that still remains to continue. South India has had its own comprehensive world for most part of the history and has developed a culture that in some respects is superior to the North. It did not get Arayanized and managed to retain its original Indian Dravidian flavour. That is not to say that there has been any less outside influences in the South. South India was always on the crossroads of the ancient world linking the West with the Far East. And its coastline from Karwar to Kodungalloor was an important trading shore which was the first to come across the Phoenicians, Romans, Greeks, Arabs and the Chinese.

The area that we are talking about is the monsoon fed fertile rice growing areas of Deccan or peninsular plateau below the Narbada river and Vindhya ranges. Surrounded by three huge water bodies - Arabian sea, Bay of Bengal and Indian ocean, it has an overwhelming grandeur and a pristine beauty with lush green tropical vegetation in the coastal areas. Its tropical climate is less harsh than the northern states. The place is rich in flora and fauna, biodiversity, species, habitats, and ecosystems. The word ’Deccan’ comes from the Sanskrit word Dakshina, meaning ’the south’. As such, it is also called DakshinaNad or DravidianNad. The word Dravidian implying more of a lingual-cultural identity rather than a racial difference.

That brings us to the Dravidian family of languages – Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu, which are distinctly different than the North Indian languages like Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali and Gujarati which belong to the Indo-Aryan family with a different principles for construction of words. South India not only has a language system of its own, it has its own history, literature, architecture, music, spiritual inclination, dress, food and a worldview that is rooted in its matriarchal society.

The history of the South begins with the Sangam age (200 BC-300AD). It has had a number of empires such as Cholas, Pandyas, Pallavas, Cheras, Chalukyans and the Vijayanagar Empire.

We will only touch a few of them. The Cholas (300 BC-1250 AD) were the earliest and most famous among the South Indian dynasties. They were on the eastern Coramandal coast presently Tamil Nad. Their climax period was between the 9th and 13th centuries when they ruled the entire south, east and part of the western coast. They conquered Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Srivijaya, Malaya, and the Maldives islands. They had powerful navy and their marine trade and commerce extended to the Far East. Their art and architecture have left an impact in Sumatra and Java islands of Indonesia and in many parts of Malaysia. The Chola style temples are scattered throughout the Southern peninsula and their stone inscriptions have helped to reconstruct the Indian history.

The Cheras was another ancient Tamil dynasty that ruled the southern tip of India for most of its early history. The Cheras ruled the Malabar coast in Kerala State. The Pandyas were in the south central peninsula. Despite these dynasties being in a constant conflict with one another, Tamil language, arts and literature prospered.

The Vijyanagar kingdom (1336 -1565 AD) began with resistance to the Muslim invasion of the Hoysala territory by Mallik Kafur. And within fifty years, the Vijayanagar kingdom came to be known as a powerful empire that reigned the Indian southern peninsula for nearly 200 years. It was prosperous, had a strong army and a busy maritime trade. Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagar was a great patron of art and literature and an accomplished poet himself in Telugu. Their Hampi ruins are scattered over the area of fourteen square miles known as world’s biggest open-air museum.

A fascinating aspect of the South India culture is its concept of matriarchal society. It is about celebration of the femininity and motherhood. In South Indian literature and philosophy, women are considered very powerful. A married woman is regarded as auspicious. Her shakti or mother-feminine power protects and empowers her husband and their children.

The female form is highly regarded. This translates into elaborate dance forms like the ’Bharathanatyam’ and ’Mohiniattam’ which means ‘the dance of the enchantress’. The Bharathanatyam expresses beauty and the universe, through its erect posture, a straight and pout curving stomach, a well rounded proportionate body mass, long hairs and a curvaceous waist. This brings to life the philosophy of Natyashastra ‘Angikam bhuvanam yasya’ which means that body is your world. In the araimandi posture, the performer is in half sitting position, with the knees turned sideways and in an erect posture. In this fundamental posture of the Bharathanathyam dance, the distance between the head and the navel becomes equal to that between the earth and the navel. In a similar way the distance between the outstretched right arm to the outstretched left arm becomes equal to the distance between the head and the feet, thus representing the Natyapurusha, the embodiment of life and creation.

There is a similar philosophy behind the South Indian saree. The unstiched drape enhances the shape of wearer and only partially covers the midriff. The navel is left unconcealed because it is considered a source of life and creativity. This brings the realization of ‘sharira-mandala,’ where the body as the world (‘Angikam bhuvanam yasya’) uniting with the ‘sharira-mandala’ of the whole universe. In the same way, a traditional South Indian sculptor starts his sculpture of the divinities from the navel which is unclothed by the saree. A koshta or grid of the sculpture would show the navel to be right at the centre of the sculpture, representing the source of the union of the finite body with the infinite universe. This synthesis of beauty, body and universe is appealing.

South India also has its very own music called as Carnatic music. Until twelfth century, the history of Indian music was the same for whole India. After the invasions by the Muslim, there was a cultural amalgamation and the Indian music divided into two systems – the North India ’Hindustani music’ and the South Indian ’Carnatic music’ meaning old or traditional in Tamil. South Indian music which continued to develop without external influences is nearly totally unified with different schools based on the same ragas (about 300 different ragas), same solo instruments - mainly the veena, flute, violin, the mridangam and the ghatam. On the contrary, Hindustani Music has never been really unified. Many styles and genres have been developed which are patronized by family systems called gharanas. The Hindustani music genres include Dhrupad, Qawwali, Khyal, Thumri, Ghazal, Punjabi love songs with instruments such as Sitar, sarod, sarangi, vichitraveena, flute, shehenai , santoor and tabla.

While the South Indian society is mainly agrarian, education is highly valued and is seen as a gateway to better livelihood. The main spiritual tradition of South Indians has been saivism or shaivite philosophy. Shaivism is a branch of Dharma where the followers worship Shiva as their chief god. Shiva is the heart of consciousness, as Vishnu is of the moral law. The society is liberal in matters of faith. There is a very old vibrant Muslim community on the Malabar coast from the days of early trade with Arabs. The oldest Jewish Synagogue is at Kochi. Christianity has also flourished from the earliest times. The last remnants of Nasranis (christian-jewish tradition) still survive in Kerala.

Besides its own spiritual inclination, the South has also its own cuisine. The staple food being rice and fish. Coconut forms an important ingredient in many of the dishes. Strict vegetarianism is most prevalent in the south unlike the North which has been more influenced by meat-eating Aryans and Muslims. The curries tend to be hotter and eating utensils are not used. Just the right hand. Rice is combined with lentils to make dosas, idlis, vadas and uttapams. They are combined with sambhar (dal), rasam (tamarind dal), dry and curried vegetable and pachadi (yogurt). Their rice preparations are also masterpieces like the biryani from Hyderabad, lemon rice and rice seasoned with coconut peanuts, tamarind, chilies, curry leaves, urad dal and fenugreek seeds. South Indian dals and curries are more soupy than the North Indian dals and curries. Coconut milk straight from the nut is a common beverage. Coffee is very popular in South India and Madras coffee is popular in South Indian restaurants throughout the world. A typical traditional meal in South India is served on a "vazhaillai", a freshly cut plantain leaf. The sappad or food that is served on a banana leaf. The size of the leaf and food layout varies from one community to another and works like an identity card. A guest can immediately guess the community, the status, the exact wealth of the family and from where they originate. There may be a side attraction such as a puran poli, or sweetened dal stuffed into a pancake, puris, sweet rice or any one of the famed rice preparations such as pulisadam, or bisibela bath. After a final round of rice and curds, or buttermilk or both, a traditional meal concludes with a small banana, a few betel leaves and nuts.


Finally, let us call in the anthropologist who invariably brings along the fair-skinned Aryan. One theory says that the fair-skinned Aryans pushed the dark-skinned Dravidians, the earlier settlers, to the South. Another theory suggests that the racial stock is the same but there is a difference between the North and the South like the blond blue-eyed Swedes and the tanned dark hair Mediterranean. There are also some general observations like the average stature is higher in the North than in the South or the South Indians are more dolichocephalic or long-headed or they are usually medium-nosed (mesorrhine) as compared to the narrow-nosed (leptorrhine) people in the North. The Indian racial criteria is normally the skin colour, hair form, stature, shape of the head as measured by the cephalic index and shape of the nose as given by the nasal index.

Since the partition, South India has been divided into four states where Tamilnadu speaks Tamil, Andhra Pradesh speaks Telegu, Kerala speaks Malayalam and Karnataka speaks Kannada. Karnataka has a long coastline with miles and miles of tall, waving, palmgroves with a colourful history, forts, temples, mosques, and churches. Bangalore needs no introduction. Andhra Pradesh has risen from one of the poorest and least developed Indian states to a computer-friendly one with the medieval city of Hyderabad as its capital. Kerala has a mind blowing landscape and intriguing customs, high-intensity cultural life and educated public so often dressed in white. Despite its high population, the economic condition in Kerala is much better than most of the other Indian states. Tamilnadu, with Kanyakumari, as the land’s end, is known for Chennai, its capital and for its beautiful beach resorts. Pondicherry, a dot on the map, was traditionally a seat of learning and of Vedic culture.

On balance, it would seem that North and South India tend to be complimentary to each other. While the South has preserved its ancient languages, its music, its culture while being at the forefront of knowledge and technology, the North has enriched the Indian society by absorbing and assimilating outside influences.

It was a wise decision to divide South India into four states lest DakshinaNad got any wrong ideas.