South India. What does the term remind you of? The food? The culture? The ancient architecture? Or simply the better part of India? Although no political realm named South India ever existed, a cultural, geographical and geopolitical space of that description has been there in common parlance. In fact, it was long recognised in history as we learn from Rajmohan Gandhi’s book Modern South India: A History from the 17th Century to Our Times.
You probably know the about the Deccan, the entire southern peninsula of India south of the Narmada River, marked centrally by a high triangular tableland. The Deccan, Dakkan or Dakhan (from the Sanskrit word Dakshin or Prakrit Dakkin, meaning south) has been a widely used term throughout history.
The Four Pillars
The history of South India is a story of four powerful cultures — Kannada, Malayali, Tamil and Telugu. There have been a number of influences too, such as that of Kodagu, Konkani, Marathi, Oriya, Tutu, and possibly many more indigenous cultures as well.
With South India’s Malayalam region (in modern times) the most balanced in terms of religion and also the most literate, the other three have competed quite strongly in different ways. For instance, the Kannada zone occupies South India’s geographical centre and contains the sites of Vijayanagara kingdom and also the kingdom of Haidar and Tipu. The Telugu portion, the largest both in terms of area and population, has been home to Nizams of Hyderabad for more than two centuries. The Tamil part, or the Dravidian, possesses the oldest literature and cultural and religious monuments. These cultures competed as well as complemented each other significantly, which laid the foundation of this new entity called the South India.
Before you read Gandhi’s book, some context of the earlier history of the region would be helpful. Enterprising Chola and Pandian rulers were known to Asoka in the 3rd century BCE. In the sixth and seventh centuries, Pallava rulers had Mamallapuram’s rock-cut temples carved. Later, in the thirteenth century, the Yadavas ruled the Marathi world and the Kakatiyas the Telugu world, while the Kannadiga and Tamil worlds were ruled, respectively, by the Hoysalas and the Pandians. Earlier ruled by Cheras, Kerala struggled to find its feet.
For conquerors, Kanyakumari always seemed a stronger magnet than the Himalayas. Many a covetous eye in northern India peered southwards, while there were very few south-to-north invasions in comparison.
In the first half the fourteenth century, armies led by commanders of Delhi’s Turkic rulers, swept down deep into the South, unseating kings in their way, destroying palaces and temples, and establishing their hegemony. But Delhi’s rule was not easily established in the South. What emerged was an independent Bahmani Sultanate of the Deccan, which separated into at least five distinct units under chiefs who ruled from modern Karnataka’s Gulbarga, Bidar and Bijapur, from Maharashtra’s Ahmadnagar, or from Golconda (Hyderabad).
To the south of the Bahmani kingdoms rose the Vijayanagara Empire, which flourished from the middle of the fourteenth century. Governed for much of its impressive history from the Bellary area in Karnataka, this empire lasted until 1565, when a combination of Bahmani chiefs destroyed it.
It was only at the end of the seventeenth century, after Aurangzeb had devoted years of his life and the bulk of the Mughal empire’s resources to overpower the Deccan sultanates that rule by Delhi encompassed the great part of southern India. By this time the Marathas too were pushing into the south. More significantly, so were European powers.
What follows next? For that, you will have to read the book.
Reference books:
Kalampedia 