Dravidian Origins

[Venkatraman Iyer]

S. Palaniappan wrote:
 >An important factor in the advancement of this community was the
 >Christian missionary activity.  In 1858, the demand for Shanan women
 >to wear a cloth covering their breasts led to riots. But for the
 >missionary help, the Shanan women would not have been allowed to
 >wear a cloth covering their breasts in Southern Travancore which was
 > given by Sir Charles Trevelyen, the governor of Madras in 1859.

The Dravidian low caste women, especially in Kerala, not
(being allowed to)  wearing breast cloths is recorded in a
Telugu poem:

   Not entirely hidden,
   like the enormous breasts of those Gujarati women,
   and not open to view,
   like a Tamil woman's breasts,
   but rather,
   like the supple, half-uncovered breasts
   of a Telugu girl,
   neither concealed nor exposed:

   that's how a poem should be composed.
   Anything else
   is a joke.

Telugu original:

ghanatara-ghuurjarii-kuca-yuga-kriya guu.dhamu gaaka draavi.dii-
stana-gati tee.ta gaaka aracaa.t' agu aandhra-vadhuu.ti cokkapun
canu-gava-liila guu.dhatayu caa.tutanambunu leekay u.n.da cep-
pinan adipo kavitvam' anipi~ncu nagi~nc' a.tugaakay u.n.dinan

(From a poem at the right moment; VNRao, DShulman).

Happy 2001,
V. Iyer

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