Joe Shearer
PROFESSIONAL
You see thats the difference. I don't like ignoring parts of the argument people make if there is a vile (non scientific) end-objective to it (whatever scientific base they initially use for the agenda). I like keeping the conversation grounded within the envelope of what that science discovers and analyses....something that often itself changes over time as seen here. When that is used to promote a non-science, quite caustic agenda, I cannot ignore it (because ignoring it is dangerous from historic perspective a lot of the time)....especially if its being hammered again and again in some Goebbels-style approach by same person/people. Anyway, not really what I want to talk with you about per se, just a passing personal commentary.
Yes I do believe there were waves of this process and counter-process (each with different level of permeation, dependent on many factors but probably most correlated to the effective power projection available during the time with the tools available etc - something that definitely physical distances play a role as we see continually in history). It probably also explains the Dravidian/Prakrit reverse-influences found in classical sanskrit compared to Vedic Sanskrit. But ultimately prakrits became the dominant lingua franca (and what really developed over time that can be measured influence wise) anyway in the subcontinent given the rules sanskrit never relinquished.
So yes the vehicle of this cultural permeation on the back of Vedic mythologies (given Sanskrit use is indeed a very good marker of this one would assume) spanned a lot of time in the Tamil core area in the deep south....simply by physical distance from the northern river systems where the Vedic civ flourished and the presence of the mighty Deccan peninsula between the two. Its compounded by the various waves of Brahmin/vedic people migration to the south.....I think the story of Parashuram in Kerala (reclaiming the land from the sea) is really more of an allegory for a migration of Vedic people to the area for example. Similar stories are found in the references of the Alvar Saints regarding the puranic waves that happened later.
During the Tamil Sangam period after all, there was very heavy Jain and Buddhist presence in the kauvery and vaigai river systems...again I feel an overall allegory of it is included in the story of the saivite saint Appar who was originally a Jain monk. This initial presence is very indicative of the overall Deccan influence you talk of given the larger "void" found in Tamilakam for the original vedic culture (thus allowing such a Jain and Buddhist culture to really take root in the area insofar as non-indigenous cultural influences of the time are concerned). Its a matter of ongoing study and debate, I hope more is devoted it, its quite fascinating.
I hope that this very reasoned analysis will also help you to understand what our Pakistani friends, especially those who are not as articulate as Kaptaan, meant by saying that the western and northern parts of the sub-continent have far greater genetic affinity to parts west than the rest of the sub-continent. It is not merely racial, perhaps. It may be more the question that grips every sensitive Pakistani - why Pakistan? From that point of view, it seems to be the more rewarding route to simply acknowledge their sense of difference, and, ignoring the pejoratives that they feel impelled to add in order to strengthen a weak position, that this gives them superiority of some sort, simply to allow them their peace of mind.
This is with reference to the weaker intellects, of which they have one-seventh the number of simple-minded Indian posters, more or less. As far as the stronger intellects are concerned, one of whom is the subject of this sub-conversation, most of them, on having tactful enquiries made of them, have already realised the farcical nature of the question, the mind-numbing stupidity of trying to find an answer. They have come to the sane and rational conclusion that the people of Pakistan having shown their support for a sovereign Pakistan (albeit with a couple of features missing), Pakistan exists and shall continue to exist. There is no point any longer quibbling about fundamentals, for instance, except fundamentals and fundamentalists of the terrorist variety
