The Dravidian people, or Dravidians, are an ethnolinguistic and cultural group living in South

Asia who predominantly speak any of the Dravidian languages. There are around 250 million
native speakers of Dravidian languages. Dravidian speakers form the majority of the population
of South India and are natively found in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Maldives,
Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. Dravidian peoples are also present in Singapore, Malaysia, South
Africa, Myanmar, East Africa, the Caribbean, and the United Arab Emirates through recent
migration.

Ancient Dravidian religion constituted of an animistic and non-Vedic form of religion which
may have influenced the Agamas, Vedic and non-Vedic texts which post-date the Vedic texts.
The Agamas are Tamil and Sanskrit scriptures chiefly constituting the methods of temple
construction and creation of murti, worship means of deities, philosophical doctrines, meditative
practices, attainment of six fold desires and four kinds of yoga. The worship of village deities, as
well as sacred flora and fauna in Hinduism is recognised as a survival of the pre-Vedic Dravidian
religion. Hinduism can be regarded as a religious and cultural fusion or synthesis between
ancient Dravidians and Indo-Aryans, and other local elements.

Throughout Tamilakam, a king was considered to be divine by nature and possessed religious
significance. The king was 'the representative of God on earth' and lived in a "koyil", which
means the "residence of a god".

The cult of the mother goddess is treated as an indication of a society which venerated
femininity. This mother goddess was conceived as a virgin, one who has given birth to all and
one, and were typically associated with Shaktism.

Among the early Dravidians, the practice of erecting memorial stones, Natukal and Viragal, had
appeared, and it continued for quite a long time after the Sangam age, down to about the 16th
century. It was customary for people who sought victory in war to worship these hero stones to
bless them with victory.

Literary evidence of traditional form of theatre, dance and music dates back to the 3rd century
BCE. Ancient literary works, such as the Cilappatikaram, describe a system of music.The
theatrical culture flourished during the early Sangam age. Theatre-dance traditions have a long
and varied history whose origins can be traced back almost two millennia to dance-theatre forms
like Kotukotti, Kaapaalam and Pandarangam, which are mentioned in an ancient anthology of
poems entitled the Kaliththok century. Dance forms such as Bharatanatyam are based on older
temple dance forms known as Catir Kacceri, as practised by courtesans and a class of women
known as Devadasis.

Carnatic music originated in the Dravidian region. With the growing influence of Persian and
Sufi music on Indian music, a clear distinction in style appeared from the 12th century onwards.
Many literary works were composed in Carnatic style and it soon spread wide in the Dravidian
regions.

Dravidian speakers in southern India wear varied traditional costumes depending on their region,
largely influenced by local customs and traditions. The most traditional dress for Dravidian men
is the lungi, or the more formal dhoti, called veshti in Tamil, panche in Kannada and Telugu, and
mundu in Malayalam. The lungi consists of a colourful checked cotton cloth. Many times these
lungis are tube-shaped and tied around the waist, and can be easily tied above the knees for more
strenuous activities. The lungi is usually everyday dress, used for doing labour while dhoti is
used for more formal occasions. Many villagers have only a lungi as their article of clothing. The
dhoti is generally white in colour, and occasionally has a border of red, green or gold. Dhotis are
usually made out of cotton for more everyday use, but the more expensive silk dhotis are used
for special functions like festivals and weddings.

Traditional dress of Dravidian women is typical of most Indian women, that of the sari. This sari
consists of a cloth wrapped around the waist and draped over the shoulder. Originally saris were
worn bare, but during the Victorian era, women began wearing blouse (called a ravike) along
with sari. In fact, until the late 19th century most Kerala women did not wear any upper
garments, or were forced to by law, and in many villages, especially in tribal communities, the
sari is worn without the blouse. Unlike Indo-Aryan speakers, most Dravidian women do not
cover their head with the pallu except in areas of North Karnataka. Due to the complexity of
draping the sari, younger girls start with a skirt called a pavada. When they get older, around the
age when puberty begins, they transition to a langa voni or half-sari, which is composed of a
skirt tied at the waist along with a cloth draped over a blouse. After adulthood girls begin using
the sari.