|
The
term 'pre-history' in itself may appear an absurd expression.
One can think how there can be a period before history begins.
But M.C. Berkitt explains the ambiguity, when he says, "pre-history
is the subject which deals with the story of man and everything
that concerns him from that remote moment when he first emerged
from his animal ancestry until the time when the existence of
records leaves the investigator into the realm of history proper."
Not
much work has been done on the pre-historic period of Bharatiya
history. Although we are in a position to state some facts.
The earliest settlers in Bharat have been divided into two classes
- Paleolithic (old stone age) and Neolithic (new stone age).
This is because the only evidence of their existence is given
by the stone implements made by a particular stone 'quartzite'.
The
important factor which decides the settlements of Neolithic
Bharat was the availability of the black colored rock, which
is tougher than 'quartzite' . This age was followed by the age
of metals. Though it's hard to fix the dates of these ages in
Bharat, it may be stated that, Paleolithic age lasted from 35,000
B.C. to 10,000 B.C., Neolithic age lasted from 10,000 B.C. to
5,000 B.C. while the Copper age started around 4,000 years ago.
The prehistoric races in Bharat formed seven main groups- Dravidian,
Indo-Aryan, Turko-Iranian, Scytho-Dravidian, Aryo-Dravidian,
Mongoloid and Mongolo-Dravidian group. Amongst them Dravidians
were the most prominent. There are again many theories as regards
the origin of the Dravidians. One is the Mongolian theory, which
depicts that they came to Bharat from Tibet and Nepal and settled
in Bengal. Later as they went South from the fort of Tamralipti,
they came to be known as Tamils. The other theory is Scythian,
Turanian or Central Asian, which assigns the original Dravidians
to be from the Turanian homeland of Central Asia. This is because
the Dravidian languages have got many features common with those
of Scythian linguistic group. Because Marumakkattayam- the worship
of women is a common feature in Semitic and Dravidian culture,
they are regarded to be of the Semitic origin, by Semitic theory.
Similarly there are Mesopotamian, Egyptin and Mediterranean
theories also stating different beliefs as far as the origin
of the Dravidians is considered.
©
2001 vandemataram.com All rights reserved
|