Tamil 17,494,901 Malay[=a]lam 6,022,131 Kanarese 10,368,515 Tulu 535,210 Kodagu 39,191 Toda 805 K[=o]ta 1,300 Kuru[chi] 609,721 Malto 60,777 G[=o]nd[=i] 1,125,479 Kui 494,099 Telugu 20,697,264 Br[=a]h[=u][=i] 48,589 ---------- Total 57,497,982
Of these Tamil and Malay[=a]lam can be considered as two dialects of one and the same language, which is, in its turn, closely related to Kanarese. Tulu, Kodagu, Toda and K[=o]ta can be described as lying between Tamil-Malay[=a]lam and Kanarese, though they are more nearly related to the latter than to the former. The same is the case with Kuru[chi] and Malto, while Kui and G[=o]nd[=i] gradually approach Telugu, which latter language seems to have branched off from the common stock at an early date. Finally, the Br[=a]h[=u][=i] dialect of Baluchistan has been so much influenced by other languages that it is no longer a pure Dravidian form of speech.
The Dravidian languages have for ages been restricted to the territory they occupy at the present day. Moreover, they are gradually losing ground in the north, where they meet with Aryan forms of speech. If we compare the caste tables and the language tables in the Indian census of 1901 we find that only 1,125,479 out of the 2,286,913 G[=o]nds returned were stated to speak the Dravidian G[=o]nd[=i]. Similarly only 1505 out of 17,187 K[=o]l[=a]ms entered their language as K[=o]l[=a]m[=i]. Such tribes are gradually becoming Hinduized. Their language adopts an ever-increasing Aryan element till it is quite superseded by Aryan speech. In the north-eastern part of the Dravidian territory, to the east of Chanda and Bhandara, the usual state of affairs is that Dravidian dialects are spoken in the hills while Aryan forms of speech prevail in the plains. The Dravidian Kui thus stands out as an isolated island in the sea of Aryan speech.
This process has been going on from time immemorial. The Dravidians were already settled in India when the Aryans arrived from the north-west. The fair Aryans were at once struck by their dark hue, and named them accordingly _krisna tvac_, the black skin. In the course of time, however, the two races began to mix, and it is still possible to trace a Dravidian element in the Aryan languages of North India.