chap2
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Art and Culture of Tamilnadu
R. Nagaswamy
2. FRESH LIGHT ON DRAVIDIAN PEOPLE
The recent find of a bi-lingual coin of a Satavahana ruler in the excavation at Dhulikatta, Karimnagar District, Andhra Pradesh adds a new diamension to the study of Dravidian problem. The coin was found in an excavation by Dr Krishna Shastri of the Andhra Pradesh State Department of Archaeology and is published here with the kind permission of the Director of Archaeology, Andhra Pradesh.
The coin bears on the obverse the portrait-head of the ruler with a Prākṛt legend running around it. A part of the coin is damaand two holes punched on the head side show tha the coin wa sed as a pendant at a later date. Hower, the legend is clear enough and reads "Rāno Vasisṭi Putasa Śiva Siri Pulamāvisa", in Brahmi characters of the Second century A.D. On the reverse of the coin is a six-arched mountain in the centre topped by crescent. To the side is another symbol called Vajra, also topped by a crescent and inbetween is the Sun. Below is a wavy line representing a river. Running around the group of symbols is a legend, reading Arachanku Vachiṭṭi Ma (kanku Śiva) Tiru Purūmāviku. The letters are in chracters found in early cave inscriptions of Tamil Nadu assignable to 1st-2nd century A.D. It would be clear that the reverse legend is a word to word rendering of the observe in a southern language; for exmple Rano=Archanku; Vasisṭi putaku=Vachiṭṭi Makanku; Śiva Śri=Śivatiru; Pūlamāvisa=Purumāvikku. The words Arachan, Makan, Tiru and the doubling of the consonant ṭṭi in Vachiṭṭi would show that the language on the reverse of this coin is akin to Tamil.
It is the fourth coin of the Satavahana rulers to have come to light bearing a legend in two languages, and were issued by successive Satavahana rulers, Vasiṣṭiputra Pulamavi, Vasiṣṭiputra Śiva Śrī Pulamāvi, Vasiṣṭiputra Satakarni and Gotami Putra Yagnasri Satakarni. In the issues of all these rulers, the coins bear on the obverse the name of the ruler in Prākṛt and on the reverse in a southern language and script very close to Tamil. The coins were intended for circulation according to historians in the north-western part of the Satavahana empire that is in the Maharashtra and southern part of Saurashtra and Gujarat.
One of the interesting problems in the history of India is the identification of the Dravidian speaking people. It has been demonstrated by Physical Anthropologists, that the word Dravidian does not denote a distinct race, for, an analysis of the early skeletons from various parts of south India shows only a mixed race, so that the term Dravidian could not be used in a racial sense. It is now generally accepted by eminent scholars that the word Dravidian is used only in a linguistic sense referring to a group of spoken languages having common word formations, syntax and grammatical structure distinctly different from the Indo-European group of languages. From the earlier available records, it is evident that the word Drāviḍa is derived from the word Damilica standing for Tamil. When writers refer to Dravidian problem, they take the modern Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam and other minor dialects and speak of the origin and development of the Dravidian language. Telugu and Kannada begin to appear in records and literature only from about 5th-6th centuries A.D. Malayalam appears still later around 9th-10th centuries A.D. So when one speaks of Dravidian language, with reference to the beginning of the Christian era, the question of Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam have to be kept out. But Tamil is found both in records, inscribed on stone walls in and literature from the middle of 2nd century B.C. and it is admittedly the earliest classical language of the Dravidian group. So with reference to a given point of time, particularly the beginning of the Christian era, the only language which could be specifically identified with the Dravidian group is Tamil. As mentioned earlier Tamil and Drāviḍa are synonyms.
It has already been mentioned that the successive Satavahana rulers have issued bilingual coins bearing on the obverse, a legend in prakṛt the language of the court and on the reverse the legend in Tamil (or may be called Drāviḍa); Telugu and Kannada having come at a later date. This was obviously for the benefit of the people speaking the language in the territory. Now this clearly shows that the Dravidian speaking people were spreadout atleast upto the lower Saurashtra and Gujarat region in 2nd century A.D. and from the lower Andhra-Karnataka regions. The motivation for the use of Dravidian language on the reverse of all the Satavahana rulers, clearly shows that the Dravidians formed a considerable section of the society under their rule upto that region. Whether the Dravidian speakers were present in the Surashtra or Gujarat region before the second century B.C. is an important question. But this question cannot be answered by lingustic history, because no indisputable datable written records from that region have survived.
To trace the history of the people who spoke this language, archaeology comes to our aid. It is well-known that the Dravidian speakers are now mainly centred in the southern part of India. Archaeological Excavations have been carried out in many of the ancient burials in southern part of India assignable to 7th-8th century B.C. In these burials a particular type of pottery called Black and-Red ware occurs in profusion. It is a special type of pottery with exterior of the vessel being red in colour and the interior and the rim portion being black. This pottery is clearly different from the pottery used in the Mauryan court, as for in instance, in the court of Aśoka Raja or the immediately preceding period associated with the Aryans.
Quite appropriately the Archaeologists have associated this Black-and-Red ware pottery, with the speakers of the Dravidian languages. It is interesting to point out that this Black-and-Red ware Pottery is found from the lower Saurashtra, Gujarat region down upto Kanyakumari. This particular pottery continues to be used till atleast 3rd-4th century A.D., is also noted from excvations in various part of South India. From this it is evident that the speakers of the Dravidian group of languages, whose presence in Maharashtra, lower Gujarat and Saurashtra region attested by the Satavahana bilingual coinage were also present in the region prior to this period and that their existence in the region could be traced back to 7th-8th century B.C.
The interesting question then would be, whether it would be possible to connect these Black-and-Red ware people (or the Dravidian people) with the Indus Valley people. It is necessary to show that this special type of pottery was also in use in the Indus Valley period. The recent excavation at Lothal, the Black-and-Red Ware pottery has been found at the latest phase of the Indus Valley people which shows that the Dravidian people were in contact with the Indus people towards the end of the Indus Civilisation. The question whether the Indus people themselves, towards the end of the mature civilisation switched over to the use of Black-and-Red ware pottery and so were themselves the Dravidian speaking people or the latter came from some other region and got assimilated with the Indus people is yet to be decided.
It is well-known that towards the end of the Indus Civilisation in the Punjab, the Indus people seem to have met an invading group of people identified with the Aryans. Sir Mortimer Wheeler once propounded the theory that the Indus Valley Civilisation was totally exterminated by the invading Aryans. But later he withdrew his suggestion when the existence of Indus Civilisation was proved beyond Mohanjodaro and Harappa regions. But that the Aryans came into contact with the Indus Valley people has received general acceptance among Scholars. The question again whether the Indus people themselves were the Aryans, is yet to be proved. It is evident that the Indus Valley people came into cantact with the Aryans on the one hand and the Dravidians on the other.
We have shown above three definite points of verifiable facts with reference to the Dravidian problem: (l) The presense of Dravidian speakers in the Maharashtra, lower Saurashtra-Gujarat region is attested by the issues of bilingual coins by successive Satavahana rulers; (2) The Dravidian speakers made use of a special type of pottery called Black-and-Red Ware; and (3) the presense of this pottery in the last phase of Indus Civilisation shows that the Dravidian speakers were in contact with the Indus people, almost at the same period when the Indus people came into contact with the Vedic speaking people.
Quite an intellectual dialogue is now going on in the country, regarding the decipherment of Indus script. It is an indisputable fact that a clue to the language of the Indus people lies in the decipherment of the script. The claim on the one hand that the Indus language is Vedic Aryan and on the other that it is Dravidian should be viewed in the above context. A point worthy of note is that the Indus script remained astonishingly constant for nearly one thousand years from about 2500 B.C. to 1500 B.C., a rare example in the history of world writing. It neither showed decay or signs evolution but only suddenly disappeared from the scene and no script worth the name has been recognised from about 1500 B.C. to the rise of Aśoka in 3rd century B.C., for nearly 1200 years. In sense the Indus people were less prone to innovation or change and that their civilisation shows almost monotonous uniformity for over one thousand years.
Once Aśoka intorduced the scripts, the Brahmi and Karoshthi, and arranged for their propagation with sufficient force and authority the scripts showed a spirit of dynamism, and changed gradually and evolved, suited to various regions and dialects. the Brahmi script assuming two different forms even as early as the benning of the Christian era, found in the coins of Satavahanas with 200 years of its introduction, shows that the Indian society has become more virile, ready to adjust and assimilate new ideas and concepts, placing itself on the right path of progress. The find of this bilingual coin of the Satavahana ruler has opened new lines of enquiry in the study of Dravidian problem.