Question?

[Michael Witzel]

Madhav,
I  think the phrasing in Harper's make it likely that there is a confusion
(which I leave to Tamil specialists to clarify). It looks to me that the 5
famous *regions* (mountaineous. coastal, etc.) in Sangam poetry are
intended.

On the other hand,  the listing of the 5 *countries* incl. Gujarat and
Maharastra exactly fits the division of "southern" Brahmins (panca
drAviDa) --  as opposed to the 5 northern groups (panca gauDa).
The Gujarati and Maharastrian Brahmins as "Dravida!" There is a map in
Schwartzberg's Historical Atlas.

MW

> "Ancient Tamil tradition speaks of five Dravidian regions, viz., Andhra or
> Telugu and the Kanarese countries, the Maharashtra or Maratha provinces,
> and Gujarat."

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Michael Witzel                       witzel at fas.harvard.edu
                                     www.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/mwpage.htm
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