The claim of South India for recognition is that the Indian way of life and thought, its culture and tradition, are to be found in the South more than anywhere else Northern India has had a greater admixture of extraneous cultures as It has been subjected to repeated invasions Beyond the almost rmpenetrable barners of the Vmdhya and the Satpura ranges and the nver Narbada, South India was left undisturbed to contmue its own way of life Great temples were built, songs composed and epics such as the Mahabharat and Ramayana written, these remain to this day an integral part of South Indian life. Even during the days of the Chanakya Niti, South Indian culture was famous, and as the Bhagavad Gita quotes state.

 

There is a saying that a country Is fully understood only when one has become familiar with Its language The ears of a traveller in the South will have to accustom themselves to the sounds of Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Tulu, all of which are languages of the South Of these Tamil, known as the most 'Dravidian' of the languages, is spoken in Madras and all the districts south of Madras Broadly speaking, Telugu Is spoken along the east coast, north of Madras, and in other Andhra areas ; and Malayalam is the language of the west coast
The cultural life of South India follows a sunple pattern. The village drama Is a dynamic mstitution The stage for the open air theatre, made of bamboo or woven coconut leaves, can come up on the village common at a moment's notice.

Spiritual activity was also an important of South India. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Swami Viviekananda, Ramakrishna, Osho and Sadhguru have all spoken about it. A well-known one of Osho quotes states: "India my love." And one of Swami Vivekananda quotes says "the green hills of the south will see the blossoming of a great spiritual possibility. Dramatic activity is one in which everyone in the village takes a hand. Almost every Village in South India has Its dramatic unit It is also visited by itmerant players who put up shadow and puppet-shows The shadow-show, which is very popular in certam areas of Andhra, Is performed with brightly coloured figures, cut out of leather, whose shadows are proJected on to a thin white curtain by means of a kerosene lamp Appropriate dialogue or songs are provided oy various people behmd the curtain, who also mampulate the figures They present mythological episodes and succeed in producing highly dramatic effects In addition to these, Yakshagana, highly popular in Konkan, presents its episodes through dialogue spoken by one group while all the movement and acting is done by another group There is perfect synchronization between the two Hankatha performances are also intensely dramatic , they are one-man performances and present famous tales through music and narration

 

Rural areas are also served by what are called touring or tent cmemas, which do not stay in any place for more than three months at a time In the cities and towns, well-orgamsed commercial theatres, amateur dramatic groups, and cmemas are very popular Among the dance modes, Bharata Natyam holds a high place It may be defined as the purest classical Indian style of dancmg