the east coast of India from Tirupati (near Madras) to Cape Comorin and for about sixty miles to the interior. The name is also loosely applied to the south of the Peninsula.
Prof. Wilson and Sir Monier-Williams give three senses in which the word is used—(1) the country in which the Tamil language is spoken; (2) an inhabitant of the country; and (3) a class of Brahmanical tribe called the 'five Dravidas'. In accepting the first meaning western scholars and Indian pandits seem to agree. As regards the second, differences of opinion exist. Whether the name Dravida was applied to all the peoples living in that country or only to a particular caste or tribe remains to be settled. The Tamil-speaking non-Brahmans have always called themselves Tamilar but never Dravidas. And the Tamil Brahmans who called themselves the mahajaniam or the 'great men’ were, and even now are, known to the other Brahmans of India as Dravidas. Sankarâcharya (A. D. 820), who was a great Sanskrit scholar and religious reformer, refers to Trignanasambanda, a Brahman Saivite Saint and Tamil poet, as Dravida Sisu (Dravida child). This use of the word obtains even to-day. A Tamilspeaking Brahman who has settled down in the Bombay Presidency is spoken of as a 'Dravid' and the word is affixed to the name of the person, e.g, Chintâman Dravid, Natesa Dravid. But the Tamil-speaking non-Brahmans are known by their caste titles-Mudaliyar, Pillai, and so on. Similarly, the
