THE DRAVIDIAN PEOPLE OF SOUTH ASIA

Dravidians are the most ancient ethno-linguistic group of South Asia. The migrations of the Indo-Aryans pushed them deeper into the subcontinent. But a few isolated groups still remain to tell the tale. They may not have the Ancestral South Indian (ASI) of most of the Dravidian people, but the Brahui language still spoken in Balochistan in the areas around Quetta, is tell tale evidence of our history. 

The Brahui is an ethnic group residing in Balochistan and Sindh, in Pakistan. Their distant linguistic cousins reside in the states of Karnataka and Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana in India. 

The Brahui are an excellent example of this phenomenon. A Dravidian ethnic group residing in the deserts of Sindh and Balochistan in Pakistan, they share DNA with their Sindhi, Balochi and provincial neighbours of different ethnicities. But their nearest cousins are located in the states of Karnataka in India.

Causal relationships between ethnic groups in the Indian Subcontinent are no strange feat. As a matter of fact, the subcontinent is composed entirely of different ethnic groups constantly mixing and interpolating with each other. However, the separation of an ethnic group from its closest linguistic cousins entirely is a rare phenomenon found in isolated communities.

The Brahui is one such community. Their language, culture and traditions are seen as idiosyncratic and differing in nature from the Sindhi and Balochi cultures surrounding them. There is more to the story. The unique music, linguistic syntax and even the style of dressing of the community are somewhat unique as compared to their neighbours.

The Dravidian peoples are historically linked to the southern most tip of the Indian Subcontinent, which today forms part of modern India. A portion of these people are settled in Sri Lanka, some in Southeast Asian countries. However, a Pakistani link to this ethnic group had yet to be identified before the Brahui.

Perhaps it is the relatively isolated nature of this community which makes it difficult for the connections to be drawn. Now well integrated into the framework of Pakistan, the Brahui community has largely been underrepresented in popular culture and at organisational and legislative levels due to their relatively smaller size and unique language, differing from the provincial and national languages of Pakistan.

Thank you Srinivas Kakkilaya