Sanskrit dictionary. Tami (तमि) or Tamī (तमी). —f. 1) Night, especially a dark night; स तमीं तमोभिरभिगम्य तताम् (sa tamīṃ tamobhirabhigamya tatām) Śiśupālavadha 9.23; Bhāgavata 1.13
Dravidam is a Sanskrit word. Dravida is a variation of the Samskrt words dramila, dramira or dramida which mean South India. This again comes from the root Dra, meaning to flow, to move, from which has come Dravyam for liquid, that which flows. While the English word *Dravidian* was first employed by Robert Caldwell <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Caldwell> in his book of comparative Dravidian grammar based on the usage of the Sanskrit word *drāviḍa* in the work *Tantravārttika* by *Kumārila Bhaṭṭa*, the word *drāviḍa* in Sanskrit has been historically used to denote geographical regions of southern India as whole. Some theories concern the direction of derivation between *tamiẓ* and *drāviḍa*; such linguists as Zvelebil assert that the direction is from *tamiẓ* to *drāviḍa* The most commonly spoken Dravidian languages are Telugu <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telugu_language> (తెలుగు), Tamil <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_language> (தமிழ்), Kannada <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kannada_language> (ಕನ್ನಡ), Malayalam <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malayalam_language> (മലയാളം), Brahui <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahui_language> (براہوئی), Tulu <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulu_Language> (തᤲളᤲ), Gondi <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gondi_language> and Coorg <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodava_language>. There are three subgroups within the Dravidian language family: North Dravidian, Central Dravidian, and South Dravidian, matching for the most part the corresponding regions in the Indian subcontinent. Dravidian people residing in present day Central India are tribal people known as Gond people, Kannadigaru Dravidians are from Karnataka, northern Kerala and southern Maharashtra, and northwest Tamil Nadu, Kondha Dravidians are from eastern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, Kodavas Dravidian people from Karnataka and northern Kerala. Then there are Kurukh, Malayali, Tamil, Telugus and Tuluvas people who belong to Dravidians in India. *Dravida Sishu in Soundaryalahari* *tava stanyam manyE tuhinagirikanyE hrdayata: paya:pArAvAra: parivahati sAraswatamiva I dayAvatyA dattAm dravidasisur svAdya tava yat kavInAm praud’AnAm ajani kamanIya: kava yithA II* The Milk of your Breasts, O daughter of the Mountain, I think is as if from heart there flowed an ocean of the milk of poesy, when the Dravida child tasted this as you gave it to him in compassion, He became the poet laureate of the master poets. (Norman Brown’s translation) Now the question is who is this dravida Sisu, There is various theories on who this is. Let us see them. *Sankara* This is the legendary story about Sankara when he was a kid. Sankara's father Sivaguru worshipped Manikyamangalam Sri Katyayani Devi, who was his Ishta Devata. Sivaguru offered milk as naivedyam to this Devi and brought home a small quantity of this milk as prasadam every day. Sivaguru used to give this prasadam to the child Sankara which he thought that it was the remnant left over by the Deity. Once, Sivaguru had to proceed to a distant place. Hence, Aryamba, Sankara’s mother took care of the poojas on his behalf. Sankara, a child of four years, also assisted her during the poojas. One day, Aryamba directed Sankara to do the poojas , since she was not well. Sankara went to the temple and placed the pail of milk before the Godddess and prayed her to drink the milk. After some time, seeing that the Goddess did not consume the milk, the child started to weep loudly on disappointment. Immediately, She appeared before Sankara and drank all the milk in the vessel in order to console him. Sankara stopped weeping and looked into the pail. He again started weeping!... The Devi was surprised and asked him the reason. Sankara asked Her to give him his share! With a smile Devi placed him on her lap and fed him with the milk from Her breast. It is said that because this divine blessing, Sankara became a celebrated poet. *Sambandhar* Sambandar was born to Sivapada Hrudiyar and his wife Bhagavathiar who lived in Sirkazhi in what is now Tamil Nadu. They were Saivite brahmins. When Sambandar was three years old his parents took him to the Shiva temple where Shiva and his consort Parvati appeared before the child. His father saw drops of milk on the child's mouth and asked who had fed him, whereupon the boy pointed to the sky and responded with the song Todudaya Seviyan, the first verse of the Tevaram. His father impressed named in Ganan Sambandhar. He later was called Thiru Gnana Sambandhar. Dravida meant Brahmins in Sanskrit hymn Saundarya Lahari. It was composed by Adi Shankara. Some scholars used the reference of ‘’Dravida Sisu’’ (Dravidian baby or boy) in the hymn as a reference to the Tamil Boy Wonder, Child Prodigy Thiru Jnana Sambandhar. He composed poetry at the age of five and changed the course of Tamil religious life in the seventh century AD. So scholars thought Dravida Sisu was Sambandhar, who was a Brahmin. Religious Heads like Kanchi Paramacharya rejected it and said it may be Adi Shankara referring to himself. ( I have argued that it may be a reference of Abhinava Shankara to Adi Shankara in my Tamil article The Date of Adi Shankara through Tamil Literature). But everybody is in agreement that it referred to a Brahmin boy. So Dravida was used for Brahmins. Then why did Dravida munnetra kazhagaam(not “thravitta” as some idiots out of frustrations write, unaware of the fact that Malayalam is so only a Dravidian, besides) adopted the name Dravida in favour of Tamil? The cause arose from the authentic version of CALDWELL. However, historical sources reveal that, as Caldwell himself acknowledged, Draviḍa had a different and more restricted meaning, referring to Tamil itself. In fact, Dravida appears to be a variant of Dramiḍa, Dramiḷa, Draviḷa, Daviḷa, Daviḍa, Dameḍa, Demaḷa, Demeḷa, Dameḻa, Damiḷa, Damela, etc., all of which, as we shall see, refer to the Tamil language, people and country. Hence, it may not be unreasonable to derive Sanskrit *Draviḍa *and Pali *Damiḷa* from Tamil *Tamiḻ*. Such a deep-rooted thinking was, out of idiotic expressions, shrunk as “Tami” which has no relations at all. Thank you K Rajaram IRS 28723 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZorOnfmUraweX8hnSKWm2Gsn%3DSP0CfUBuqManOQzSnF-Jg%40mail.gmail.com.
