Dravidian studies is the academic field devoted to the Dravidian languages

Dravidian languages

The Dravidian language family includes approximately 85 genetically related languages, spoken by about 217 million people. They are mainly spoken in southern India and parts of eastern and central India as well as in northeastern Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iran, and...

, literature and culture. It is a superset of Tamil studies and a subset of South Asian studies.

History

16th to 18th century missionaries who wrote Tamil grammars or lexica include Henriques Henrique, Roberto de Nobili

Roberto de Nobili

Roberto de Nobili was an Italian Jesuit missionary to Southern India. He used a novel method of adaptation to preach Christianity, adopting many local customs of India which were, in his view, not contrary to Christianity.Born in Montepulciano, Tuscany in September 1577, Roberto de Nobili arrived...

, Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg

Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg

Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg was a member of the Lutheran clergy and the first Pietist missionary to India.-Early life:...

 and Constantino Giuseppe Beschi.

The recognition that the Dravidian languages were a phylogenetic unit separate from Indo-European dates to 1816, and was presented by F. W. Ellis

Francis Whyte Ellis

Francis Whyte Ellis was a British civil servant in the Madras Presidency and a scholar of Tamil and Sanskrit.-Biography:Ellis became a writer in the East India Company's service at Madras in 1796. He was promoted to the offices of assistant-under secretary, deputy-secretary, and secretary to the...

, Collector of Madras, at the College of Fort St. George.

Pioneers of the field were Robert Caldwell

Robert Caldwell

Bishop Robert Caldwell was an Evangelist missionary and linguist, who academically established the Dravidian family of languages. He served as Assistant Bishop of Tirunelveli from 1877. He was described in The Hindu as a 'pioneering champion of the downtrodden' and an 'avant-garde social reformer'...

, Johan van Manen, U. V. Swaminatha Iyer

U. V. Swaminatha Iyer

U. V. Swaminatha Iyer , 1855–1942 C.E., was a Tamil scholar and researcher who was instrumental in bringing many long-forgotten works of classical Tamil literature to light...

, T. R. Sesha Iyengar

T. R. Sesha Iyengar

T. R. Sesha Iyengar was an Indian historian and Dravidologist who is remembered for his authorship of the book Dravidian India.- References :*...

, V. Kanakasabhai

V. Kanakasabhai

Visvanatha Kanakasabhai Pillai was an Indian lawyer, historian and Dravidologist of Sri Lankan Tamil descent. He was the first person to attempt a chronology of ancient Tamil Nadu...

, P. T. Srinivasa Iyengar

P. T. Srinivasa Iyengar

P. T. Srinivasa Iyengar was an Indian historian, linguist and educationist regarded as one of the greatest Dravidologists of the 20th century.- Academic career :...

, S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar

S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar

Diwan Bahadur Sakkottai Krishnaswamy Aiyangar was an Indian historian, academician and Dravidologist. He chaired the Department of Indian History and Archaeology at the University of Madras from 1914 to 1929....

, K. A. Nilakanta Sastri

K. A. Nilakanta Sastri

Kallidaikurichi Aiyah Nilakanta Sastri was an Indian historian and Dravidologist who is generally regarded as the greatest and most prolific among professional historians of South India.- Career :...

, V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar

V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar

Vishnampet R. Ramachandra Dikshitar was a historian, Indologist and Dravidologist from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu...

, C. P. Brown, Ferdinand Kittel

Ferdinand Kittel

Reverend Ferdinand Kittel was a priest and indologist with the Basel Mission in south India and worked in Mangalore, Madikeri and Dharwad in Karnataka. He is most famous for his studies of the Kannada language and for producing the first ever Kannada-English dictionary of about 70,000 words in 1894...

, Constantine Beschi, T. Burrow, M. B. Emeneau, B. L. Rice, Hermann Gundert

Hermann Gundert

Rev. Dr. Hermann Gundert was a German missionary and scholar, who compiled a Malayalam grammar book, Malayalabhaasha Vyakaranam , the first Malayalam-English dictionary , and translated the Bible into Malayalam. He worked primarily at Tellicherry on the Malabar coast, in Kerala, India...

, Kamil Zvelebil

Kamil Zvelebil

Kamil Václav Zvelebil was a distinguished Czech scholar in Indian literature and linguistics, notably Tamil, Sanskrit, Dravidian linguistics and literature and philology.- Biography :...

 and Bhadriraju Krishnamurti

Bhadriraju Krishnamurti

Bhadriraju Krishnamurti ; IAST: ) is an eminent Dravidianist and the most respected Indian linguist of his generation. He was born in Ongole on June 19, 1928...

.

Contemporary programs

The Dravidian University

Dravidian University

The Dravidian University, Kuppam, Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh, India was founded on October 20, 1997 by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, with the initial support extended by the governments of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala for an integrated development of Dravidian...

 at Kuppam

Kuppam

Kuppam is a census town in Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh. It is 105 km from Bangalore and 250 km from Chennai by rail. It is known for its granite quarries and a granite variety, Kuppam Green, is named after the town. Kuppam has now become an educational hub with an engineering...

, Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...

has created Chairs in the names of Western and Dravidian scholars to encourage research in individual Dravidian languages as well as comparative Dravidian studies: Bishop Caldwell

Robert Caldwell

Bishop Robert Caldwell was an Evangelist missionary and linguist, who academically established the Dravidian family of languages. He served as Assistant Bishop of Tirunelveli from 1877. He was described in The Hindu as a 'pioneering champion of the downtrodden' and an 'avant-garde social reformer'...

's Chair for Dravidian Studies, C. P. Brown's Chair for Telugu

Telugu language

Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...

 Studies, Kittel

Ferdinand Kittel

Reverend Ferdinand Kittel was a priest and indologist with the Basel Mission in south India and worked in Mangalore, Madikeri and Dharwad in Karnataka. He is most famous for his studies of the Kannada language and for producing the first ever Kannada-English dictionary of about 70,000 words in 1894...

 Chair for Kannada Studies, Constantine Beschi

Constanzo Beschi

Constanzo Beschi, also known under his Tamil name of Vīramāmunivar or Constantine Joseph Beschi was an Italian Jesuit priest, Missionary in South India, and renowned poet in the Tamil language.-Early years and formation:Born in Castiglione delle Stiviere, Mantova, Italy, a place very close to...

 Chair for Tamil Studies and Gundert

Hermann Gundert

Rev. Dr. Hermann Gundert was a German missionary and scholar, who compiled a Malayalam grammar book, Malayalabhaasha Vyakaranam , the first Malayalam-English dictionary , and translated the Bible into Malayalam. He worked primarily at Tellicherry on the Malabar coast, in Kerala, India...

 Chair for Malayalam Studies.

Literature

• Robert Caldwell
  Robert Caldwell
  Bishop Robert Caldwell was an Evangelist missionary and linguist, who academically established the Dravidian family of languages. He served as Assistant Bishop of Tirunelveli from 1877. He was described in The Hindu as a 'pioneering champion of the downtrodden' and an 'avant-garde social reformer'...
  
  , Comparative Grammar of Dravidian Languages (1856; revised edition 1875).
• Thomas R. Trautmann, Languages and nations: the Dravidian proof in colonial Madras, University of California Press, 2006, ISBN University of California Press, 2006.

External links

• Dravidian studies in the Netherlands, IIAS newsletter (2005) http://www.iias.nl/nl/36/IIAS_NL36_21.pdfhttp://www.iias.nl/nl/37/IIAS_NL37_21.pdf
• Extracts from T.R.Sesha Iyengar's "Dravidian India" by Dr. Samar Abbas, Bhubaneshwar, 4/8/2003
• Literary Contributions of select list of Tamil Scholars from Overseas