CHAPTER-6 : The Linguistic Background
Ancient History of India
OLD NCERT
Short Notes or Revision Notes
Languages of Ancient India
Four Main Families
- Austro-Asiatic (earliest)
- Tibeto-Burman
- Dravidian
- Indo-Aryan
Austro-Asiatic
- Subfamilies: Munda, Mon-Khmer
- Munda: spoken by Santhals (largest tribal group) in Jharkhand, Bihar, etc.
- Mon-Khmer: Khasi language (Meghalaya) and Nicobar languages
Tibeto-Burman
- Branch of Sino-Tibetan family (300+ languages)
- Spoken in China, Tibet, Myanmar
- In India: Himalayas (Assam to Punjab), Northeast states (Tripura, Sikkim, etc.)
- 116 dialects
Dravidian Languages
- Covers South India and parts of Sri Lanka (over 20 languages)
- Brahui (earliest form) spoken in northwest Pakistan
- Migration theories:
- Genetic view: First major migration from Middle East (30,000 BCE)
- Linguistic view: Originated in Elam (6,000 BCE), dispersal started 30,000 BCE – 4,000 BCE
- Main Branches: Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam (Tamil most purely Dravidian)
- Oraon/Kurukh (Jharkhand, Central India) – spoken by Oraon tribe
Indo-Aryan Languages
- Indo-European family
- Genetic link to Central Asia suggests migration
- Sub-branches of Indo-European:
- Indo-Iranian (spoken in Iran)
- Dardic (eastern Afghanistan, north Pakistan, Kashmir) – considered by some to be Indo-Aryan
- Geographic Reach: Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal (nearly 500 languages)
- Historical Stages:
- Old Indo-Aryan (Vedic Sanskrit)
- Middle Indo-Aryan (Prakrit, Pali, Apabhramsha – 500 BCE to 1000 CE)
- Modern Indo-Aryan (Hindi, Bengali, Assamese, etc. – developed from Apabhramsha)
- Kashmiri: Dardic origin with strong Sanskrit and Prakrit influence
Language Family – Ethnic Group
- Austro-Asiatic – Australoid (Munda languages)
- Tibeto-Burman – Mongoloid
- Dravidian & Indo-Aryan – Caucasoid
Physical Characteristics
- Negrito (Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Nilgiri Hills): Short stature, dark complexion, short face/lips
- Australoid (Central/South India, Himalayas): Short stature, dark complexion, body hair
- Mongoloid (Sub-Himalayas, Northeast): Short stature, scanty body hair, flat nose
- Caucasoid (Tall, fair skin, prominent nose): Dravidian & Indo-Aryan speakers
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