One typically can understand by simple sights and sounds, the big air of difference between Southern Indian with rest of the parts of the country. The basic culture of south is essentially Dravidian culture, quite different from North India's Indo - East European culture. The people of South would remain down to earth, calm inspite of excellent talents. They respect every other's religion and sentiments unlike their Northern neighbours. Historians and Scholars across the world have always admired the culture and language of South India.
The South India has a glorious history of more than 3000 years years. With advent of Aryan civilization in early BC centuries, much of the Dravidian civilizations (said to be even base for Indus Valley civilization) resided to southern India, which soon became a major Dravidian bastion. Though Hinduism remained as the invisible thread that connected North and South, much of the culture and outlook remained entirely different with both parts of the country, thanks the mighty Vindhya Ranges that could successfully prevent Northern cultural dominance into south untill Medieval periods.
The ancient history of South India was much attributed to 3 large empires, namely Chola, Pandya and Chera, all hailing from same roots. Whereas Cholas were more famous through its large empires, cultural monuments and navy which brought much of South East Asia under its domination, the popularity of other houses, Chera and Pandiyas were nevertheless. Cheras ruled much of the modern Kerala and Karnataka was extremely popular through its extensive trading relations with West, particularly Roman and Greek Empires as well as with Egyptians. Pandiyas were renowned for their cultural achievements, concenrated much of Southern Tamil Nadu. Towards early AD Centuries, several other Hindu Dynasties like Chalukyas, Vijayanagar, Pallavas etc scrambled much of the Southern peninsula barring Kerala, which remained under Cheras.
Towards Medieval periods, Vijayanagar Empire became one of the largest empires covering two thirds of South India, particularly Karnataka and Andhara Pradesh with its capital at Hampi. The frequent attacks of Sultans of Delhi and other Northern Muslim states, slowly weakened the great Vijayanagara Empire, disintegrating it, giving raise of several Muslim states modelled on Northern Mughal styles in south. The growth of Portuguese, Dutch and other European powers, made South India, one of the major bases for European powers to fight for its share, in which British emerged victorious. British started their expansion into India setting up its base in Madras (Chennai) and slowly grew into a major power all over India. Barring a few Kingdoms like Travancore, Kochi, Mysore, Hyderabad and Coorg, most of the south Indian area came under British dominance by end of 19th century.
After Independence, South India remained one of the major economic powerhouse for the nation. Most of the south Indian cities are reputed for various industrial bases. The growth of IT in Bangalore and Hyderabad, Textiles in Coimbatore, Auto-manufacturing in Chennai, Tourism in Kerala, makes South Indian states to race much ahead than North, in terms of economic prosperity and overall social development.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Southern India
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Southern India - updated Apr 2024
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Southern India Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
