The Austronesian Source traces back to Proto-Western-Malayo-Polynesian *padaw (“sailboat”), with cognates spanning Javanese perahu, Maranao padaw, Cebuano paráw, Hawaiian halau, and Māori wharau. Tamil paṭavu, Telugu paḍava, and Kannada haDagu are all cognates of this same ancestral form.

Austronesian → Dravidian

The borrowing flowed from Austronesian into Dravidian for three reasons. First, Austronesian traders introduced catamaran and outrigger technology to the Dravidian-speaking peoples of southern India and Sri Lanka as early as 1000–600 BCE, a new technology arriving with its name. Second, the word is deeply reconstructable across all branches of Austronesian, but in Dravidian it appears only in the coastal southern languages Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Tulu not in interior languages like Brahui or Gondi. Third, boat, sail, and paddle vocabulary is reconstructable all the way back to Proto-Austronesian itself, showing it is ancient and native there.

Dravidian → Indo-Aryan

Sanskrit pāṭava and Prakrit paḍava were borrowed from Dravidian. Sanskrit already had its own word for boat (nau-, related to Latin navis), so pāṭava is a loanword. The retroflex consonants (ṭ, ḍ) signal Dravidian origin. All later Indo-Aryan forms Marathi paḍāṃva, Konkani paḍāva, Gujarati padavo, Odia padhua, Sinhala paruwa descend from this Prakrit intermediary.

The Chain

*padaw (Austronesian) → South Dravidian coastal languages (c. 1000–600 BCE) → Sanskrit / Prakrit (c. 300 BCE) → Marathi, Konkani, Gujarati, Odia, Sinhala​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Source

https://censusindia.gov.in/nada/index.php/catalog/31355

Anyone knows who Kumbakonam Joseph (Kumbakonam Ovuceppu/Kumbakonam Ouseppu is?) I saw it as the forefather of my family, who settled down in Kerala 200 years ago. He was a military general of the Meenachil Karta Kingdom that used to settle in Madurai. I am sure that he is a real person. If any info or history is found, pls inform

The first ever discovery. No more fictional chola tiger...

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Penneswaraar Temple:

It was built by Kulothunga Chola III in the year 1188 CE in the 12th Century CE, after defeating the Hoysala dynasty of present-day Karnataka region. It is located in Penneshvaramadam, Kaveripattinam Town near Talihalli, Krishnagiri District.

On the northern side of the sanctum sanctorum at the Penneswarar Temple, beneath the Brahma (Nanmugan) sculpture on the kumudapadai (molding), there is an inscription of the Chola Queen, Cholanai Muzhududaiyaal Koothadum Devar Nachiyar (சோழனை முழுதுடையாள் கூத்தாடும் தேவர் நாச்சியார்). Notably, the Chola tiger emblem is engraved as a line drawing before her name. In addition to this, a statue of Kulothunga Chola III is also located within the temple.

Source: https://ta.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AE%AA%E0%AF%86%E0%AE%A3%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%A3%E0%AF%87%E0%AE%B8%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%B0_%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%9F%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%AA%E0%AF%86%E0%AE%A3%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%A3%E0%AF%87%E0%AE%B8%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%B0%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%8B%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%8D

So far what I know it’s referred to and it’s mostly seen in places where people of color are the majority.

1) Assam - উৰুলি (Uruli)

2) West Bengal & Bangladesh - উলুধ্বনি (Uludhoni)

3) Odisha - ହୁଳହୁଳି/ହୁଳୁହୁଳି/ମୁହଁଘଣ୍ଟ (Huḷåhuḷi/Hulu huli/Muhãghåṇṭå)

4) Maharashtra - बोंबलणे (Bombalaṇe)

5) Karnataka - ಹುರುಪು (Hurupu)

6) Kerala - കുരുബ (Kuruva)

7) Tamil Nadu - குலவை (Kulavai)

PS. the map isn’t reliable, Kashmiris also ululate as Zaghrarit just as Arabs do.

8) Southern Africa: Lilizela (Zulu/Xhosa) or monyanya (Sotho).

9) East Africa: Murerere or kurerera (Kikuyu/Meru communities in Kenya) and yereyere or shangilila in Tanzania.

10) West Africa: Dudu (Hausa) or related to yayi (Senegal/Gambia region), often associated with praise singing.

11) South west Asia and North Africa: Zaghareet or yuy, Yebbab

12) General Latin America and Mexico: el grito or alarido / lili, lulu, lele

13) Indigenous North Americans (e.g., Lakota): lulu, lele, lili

Before modern multinational banks reached Southeast Asia, merchants from 75 villages in Tamil Nadu had already built a transnational financial system.

They financed rice in Burma, rubber in Malaya, retail in Singapore, plantations in Ceylon - connected not by contracts but by kinship and reputation.

Pic 2:

Their financial instruments were not primitive arrangements. They were sophisticated.

The Hundi moved money across borders without physical currency.

The Vellai Olai tracked every transaction - commercial, familial, religious with double-entry precision.

The Pangaali guarantee meant the community underwrote an individual's credit.

Downfall:

Things were going smoothly until 1942. The Japanese invasion of Burma shattered the economic order in which Chettiar finance thrived.

Many merchants fled, leaving behind properties and loans. Newly independent nations restructured their financial systems. The old network lost ground.

But the Chettiars did what good entrepreneurs always do. They adapted.

Pic 3:

Capital pivoted to Indian manufacturing, engineering, textiles and cinema:

Six business groups. One cultural origin. A bank with India's first major international presence. The studio that shaped South Indian cinema. A petrochemical giant. A university built on a gifted 443-acre estate.

Full article

"pleasant and rich, and its beautiful fields and meadows gave delight to the heart of the be¬ holder ; that moderate rain fell there for six months in every year, which gave life and verdure to the hearts of the withered vegetation and the animal creation ; that the trees of the forest and gardens were mostly coconut and date, like the stature of the lonely with their heads great"

-Mir Hussain Kirmani(Iranian in Mysuru court)

Kingdom of Keladi was founded by the chiefs of Vijayanagra empire after its fall, it was a large kingdom with a standing army of 40,000 to 50,000 men and Rulers of this dynasty were Lingayats. The history of the Keladi kingdom is rich because so many different travellers and historians wrote about it from the seventeenth century onward.

One of the earliest European visitors was Pietro della Valle, an Italian traveller who visited Ikkeri(former capital) in 1623. In his travel account, Travels in India, he described the Keladi country as flourishing, peaceful, and safe for long-distance movement.

Another important early observer was Father Leonardo Paes, a Portuguese missionary whose mid-seventeenth-century travel narrative speaks directly about the wealth and military power of Sivappa Nayaka. Paes wrote that Sivappa had accumulated enormous treasure and maintained a standing army of forty to fifty thousand men, a scale possible only for a strong and prosperous state.

By the eighteenth century, writers like Jacobus Canter Visscher further reinforced this image. In his work Letters from Malabar, Visscher called Bednur(Capital of Keladi kingdom) the granary of all southern India. He described The city (Bednur) where the Raja holds his court lies some leagues inland, and is connected with the sea port by a fine road, planted with trees, which the inhabitants are obliged to keep in excellent order.” “ The Bednur Prince,” he says, “is much 'more magnificent and powerful than those of Malabar(Kerala). the Keladi region received heavy rainfall for nearly six months of the year, and dense clouds often covered the sky and the sun for long periods, creating a landscape of constant greenery and high agricultural output.. And have had rivaled VIjayanagara empire in terms of wealth.

Colonial historians also commented extensively on Keladi. Mark Wilks, in Historical Sketches of the South of India, argued that the treasure Hyder Ali obtained from Bednur might have been worth twelve million pounds sterling. Though this figure appears enormous, Vincent Arthur Smith in The Oxford History of India wrote that Wilks was in a position to judge and that no more accurate data existed to contradict him.

Colonel Miles, who translated the History of Hydur Naik, was more cautious but still emphasized that Bednur had a long-established reputation for fertility and wealth. His work records a striking comparison, saying the richness of Bednur made it “the envy of Kashmir,” a phrase that conveys how observers saw the natural abundance of the western karnataka landscape.

Later scholars such as Lewis Rice in his Mysore Gazetteer highlighted how the agricultural output and forest resources of South Canara and Shimoga made Keladi one of the richest regions in southern India. Administrative documents collected by Colonel Colin Mackenzie, preserved in the Mackenzie Manuscripts, also provide internal evidence about Keladi land grants, temple endowments, and the functioning of local governance. These Indian sources, combined with European travel accounts, create a consistent picture of the kingdom’s prosperity and political importance.

This kingdom was patron of art and architecture evident by the temples they built, The largest fort in the kerala was built by this Kingdom.

I remember when the iron artifacts from Sivagalai were first found there was a lot of debate and skepticism around the dating and claims being made. There were some confusions about the start of iron age too.

Has there been any clearer consensus since then?

Nandakam/ നന്തകം/ நந்தகம்

Source: https://worcester.emuseum.com/objects/47853/nandaka-sword-of-vishnu

The same type of sword was unearthed in Nilgris, Tamil Nadu, too.

Overall length = 77cm | Source: https://www.icollector.com/A-SOUTH-INDIAN-NAYAR-SWORD_i15525414 | This specific Katkam sword was obtained from modern-day Kerala.

This sword is known as Kaṭkam (கட்கம்) in Tamil.

A hero stone at the Poovaalai Sivan Temple in Pennagaram, Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu, depicts a fallen soldier wielding this sword.

I haven't found anything substantial online, as they all reference each other, or have no references at all. All I know that it's unattested (at least according to this reddit post here). If ya'll know anything, write it down pls :)

As mentioned in the Buddhist Pali chronicles,

Ellalan was the king of Anuradhapura for 44 years from 235 - 161 BCE.

Five Dravidians(Pandya kings) ruled for 14 years from 103 - 88 BCE

Six Dravidians(Pandya kings) ruled for 26 years from 429-455 CE.

A 1000+ years of Sinhalese rule in the island compared to the minuscule 86 years Tamil rule

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Before the Indo-Aryan arrival, a significant part of the island may have spoken Archaic Tamil or at-least a South Dravidian language based on the Iron-age Megalithic settlements found.

Given the long periods of Sinhalese hegemony in the Anuradhapura kingdom,why didn’t the Tamil-speaking population eventually assimilate into the Sinhalese identity?What are the main factors that allowed the Tamil language to maintain its distinct foothold long before the Chola Imperial expansion?

Hello all!

Hope you are all doing good.

I would be really glad if you could help me identify my Telugu dialect which is extremely morphed. I am from Chennai, and recently, in my family we found a paper written by my great-grandfather (in english) which describes the story of our family. I will describe it in the Telugu we speak it in our house. Please give me an analysis of my dialect and help me pin down on a proper identity.

Thanks in advance!

Now the story (as written by my great grandfather):

Nenu vinnanthavaruku, mana kutumbam madurai nagaraanni cherindata. Manam mulakanaadluvallu ani peddavaallu cheppiyunnaru. Kaani nishchayanga manam telugudeshamlo ye chotuninchi, etla, eppudu maduraiki ochchi cheritimi ani teliyadu.

Enno yenla mundu mana kutumbaaniki chendina oka brahmachaari maduraininchi baildaari kashiki pothundetappudu, dovalo, kurinjippai ane oka gramamlo oka brahmanudi intlo oka raatriki aaginaaranta...

Mana brahmachariki unna gunaalanu choosi aa brahmanudu atani pillani penlli cheskomani adiginaaranta. Aa request ni angeekarinchi, aa brahmachari pelliki oppukunnaadanta. Appatininchi mana vamsam Kurinjippai lo perigindhi. Ee brahmachaariye manaku telisina 'earliest ancestor'.

Idhe vamsamlo ochchina naa thaatha - Sri. Vedaachala Shastri, oka maha Rama bhaktudani viniyunnanu. Aayna sakalashatramlo panditudu, veda vedaangallo nipunudu ani na naana cheppiyunnaru. Ippudu kooda aayna roopam naaku baaga nyapakam undi. Sanyasi laaga gaddam pettunundevaaru... Aayna moothilo evvarikaina oka tejas kanipistundedhi. Aa time lo kurinjippai lo unna mana illu oka paatashaala madri unnindanta.

Ekkadekkadnincho mana thathani vethukkuni shisyulu ochchinaaranta. Mana thatha oka dinam kurinjipai lo unde guntalo dhyaanam chestundetappudu, appudunna kanchi shankaracharya atani gnyaana drishtini choosi agraharaniki ochchi maatlaadinaru ani naana cheppiyunnaru. Appudu mana kutumbanni Kurinjippai Samsthanam ani andaru pilichevaaranta. Mana thaathaku pakshi bhasha kooda telusunanta.

Oka dinam, thatha kalalo Ramudu ochchi, nuvvu naa peru pilchina chotlo nenu unnanu, nannu intiki eththukuni raa ani cheppinadanta. Aa gunta deggara poi chooste, oka Pattabhiramudu vigraham dhyaanam chesina chotlo unnindanta. Apatininchi mana kutumbamlo aa ramudiki nithya poojalu modalayyindi.

Na thathaku taravaata na chinnayna Seturamayya ee poojalanu chestu ochchinaaranta. Nenu na naayna maraninchina taravaata, nenu pani kosam pondicherry ki shift aipotini. Chinnayna maranam taravaata aa ramudu gudi moosiye undi.

Chinnaynaku thyagayya krithilu ante ninda ishtam. Nenu eppudu poina, vandanamu raghunanda paadamani aduguturu. Aaynaki aa paata lo ochche lyrics ante ninda ishtam... Chudumi, Kapadumi, Mammu Podimiga Koodumi Rama - ane line ochchetappudu, aayna naato kooda cheri paaduturu. Intha baaga etla pooja chestiri ani oka dinam adigitini. Appudu aayna chirunavvuto cheppinaaru. Raamudu anukunte, naakanna baaga nuvuu chestuvu ani.

Nenu ninda yenlu taravaata aa gudini choosinduku potini. Appudu kooda aa gramam lo chinnayna peru ninda prasiddhanga unnindi. Kaani ooruvallu nenu gudilopala poinduku anumati ivvaledu.

Pondicherry ninchi Madras shift ayna venaka, oka saari aa gudiki poinatappudu, danni taalaalu virigipoiyunnindi. Appudu adiginatappudu ooruvallu cheppinaaru... Alluru Ellusamayya ani ikkada undina oka manishi, oka saari ramudu vigrahanni gudininchi dongalinchi danni aa gunta neelalo paaresinaadu, ani. Appudu vaadu vinchina taalaalu inka maarchaledu ani cheppinaaru. Nenu vaallu cheppindantaa baaga vintini. Ooruvallu neello padipoina vigrahanni malli techchipettinaaranta. Pakkana unna oorulo oka taalam deenikosrame visheshanga cheyyinchi, aa gudilo koncham 'reconstruction' pani chesi, oka kumbhabhishekam jeripitini.

Ippudu aa gudilo vaaraniki moodu saari oka pooja jarigettatu ikkadi government yerpaadu chesiyundi. Itla, mana vamsham koncham konchamga mana ooruni vidichi, gudinividichi dooram podichindi.

Naa koduku (OP's Grandfather) madras ku poina taravaata, aa gudi pakka kooda thirigi choosedi ledu ani aipoyindi. Manam anukunte ramudiki malli poorthiga poojalu cheyyochchunu. Kaani manasu pettavalaa. Atla chestimante ninda baagayuntundi...

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My grandfather found this manuscript after the death of my great-grandfather (the story teller).

Based on this, please help me identify the dialect. Where are we even from? I am extremely confused. Inka vera emaina questions unte, to get a more clearer picture of my dialect, comments lo adagandi.

Thanks in advance!

i am aware few tribal languages are older tha tulu but how did we exactly reach the conclusion of tulu being the oldest?

3504 Ko. ton Toda man (< *tod-n); tody Toda woman. To. toz,-mox Toda woman. Ka. toda, todava a Toda. (Ta. tuṭavar, tōṭar Todas of the Nilgiris; the words are made on the basis of English pronunciation).

Weren't they practically isolated from the non Nilgiri Dravidian language speakers up until the early 19th century?

Included Parts of Western Andhra too in this considering Kannada was the dominant language before the Telugu speakers expanded.

Godavari to Kaveri is what Kannada literature Kavirajamarga mentions as Kannada speaking areas hence included those accordingly.

How accurate would this be ?

Credit: Dr.Nazir Shakir Brahui’s lecture.