The theory of a separate Dravidian ideology as claimed by the Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu has been demolished again, this time by the findings of late BGL Swamy, a scholar from Karnataka.
Swamy who was a former professor and principal of Presidency College in Chennai (1953- 1978) has found that Robert Caldwell, founder of Dravidian ideology, had said that Tamil literature originated only in the 10CE while the Dravidians claim that it dated back to 1800 BCE.
The edifice of Dravidian identity and related politics has been built on an ideology introduced by Caldwell, an Irish evangelist who came to India in 1838 to spread the Word of Gospel and made Tamil Nadu his home till he died in 1891. Caldwell has been accorded the status of the Father of Dravidian ideology by diehard Dravidians.
"A Comparative Grammar of Dravidian or South Indian Family of Languages" authored by Caldwell is considered as a seminal volume on the identity of the South Indian languages. He claimed in his work that the South Indian languages of Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Tulu and the Brahui language spoken in Pakistan and Afghanistan belonged to the distinct Dravidian family and had no relation with Sanskrit or Hindi spoken in North India.
The notes chronicled by Swamy, which were examined and translated into English by author Sandeep Balakrishna based in Karanataka proves that the original work of Caldwell has been tampered by Madras University.
“Caldwell’s book was first published in 1856. Its second edition saw light in 1857. It contained an elaborate preface (154 pages) in a book totalling 608 pages. In 1936, the Madras University published an abridged version of this book in which the preface was chopped off in several places. The Dravidianists are smart. If someone shows them evidence that goes against their current train of opinion, they ensure that such evidence vanishes completely. They have ensured that the first and second editions of Caldwell’s book have similarly vanished in order to protect the current and future generations of innocent Tamils from being corrupted,” reads the noting made by Swamy.
Caldwell says in his book that ‘beginning of Tamil literature is not earlier than 10CE . M S Purnalingam Pillai, a Dravidian ideological scholar, dates the Third Sangam literature to a period between 1750 BCE and 100 CE while M. Srinivasa Aiyangar places it between 5th Century BCE and 6th Century CE. Still others date it variously from the 2nd Century BCE and the 1st Century CE’, says Swamy’s notes.
The deleted pages from the preface of the book authored by Caldwell holds the key to the whole Dravidian theory, according to Swamy. He wrote to British Museum Library where the original editions of Caldwell’s books are kept, photocopied the original pages and distributed the same among hardcore Dravidians of Presidency College and Madras University.
‘Their response: “You’re very tough! You have managed to fool even the officials of the Museum!” ,’Swamy wrote in his memoirs. Swamy had authored an academic paper “The Art of Making Things Disappear” based on his studies.
This is not the first time Caldwell’s efforts to divide India on the Aryan and Dravidian lines are being exposed. Rajiv Malhotra and Aravindan Neelakandan, in their work “Breaking India” has quoted what Timothy Brook and Andre Schmid mentioned about Caldwell in their work “Asian Elites and National Identities”.