The Dravidian Linguistics Association and its progeny, the Inter-national School of Dravidian Linguistics, included in their memorandum, the survey and study of Dravidian migrants as an important objective. The spread of Dravidian speakers especially in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran, in the southern border of Russia in the mid-West, and in Nepal in the Himalayan kingdom, is less known to Dravidian scholars in general than to a few specialists. The prevalence of bilingualism, leading to the replacement of mother tongue by the majority-language or retention of both, are fascinating problems for linguists and social scientists besides Dravidian specialists.
The earliest attempt in this direction by these institutions was the visit of G.K. Panikkar to Zabul in Iran where Brahui speakers live in large numbers. Simultaneously, a visit was arranged for Samuel Mathai to Sri Lanka to study the language problems dominant there. M. Chidananda Murthy was sent to USA; his travel expenses were partly met by the DLA and his brief report was received. The fellowship awarded to M.E. Manickavasagom to study the co-relation between Thailand and Dravidian culture, and his excellent monograph published by the Tamil University, Tanjavur, and the recent visit of M.V. Krishnaswamy to South Africa to study about Dravidian migrants, especially Tamil- and Telugu-speakers, are in accordance with the objectives of the ISDL.
Krishnaswamy stayed over 6 months in South Africa. He contacted the people living there, extracted newspaper reports, mingled with the Tamil-s and Telugu-s intimately and produced the report. The rigorous researcher may not find the much-needed statistics and details of the sampling techniques followed in such studies, but Krishnaswamy's observations are detailed and corroborated by settlers living there. His monograph, entitled In Quest of Dravidian Roots in South Africa, is the first attempt after visiting South Africa. Soon, we hope that serious studies will follow this monograph.
One more attempt, that of sending Ms. Sanghamitra Saha for 4 weeks to study the language situation in Bangladesh, needs to be recalled here. Her report was published recently by the ISDL
With Dravidian speakers, especially Tamil-s and Telugu-s, the loss of mother tongue among the younger generations is reported by every visitor. Only the elders speak their mother tongue, that too sparsely. The religion of the migrants has a greater hold than the language.
This is my first work and the first journey to any foreign country to conduct research on Indian immigrants. When I was offered a fellowship by the ISDL, I was really thrilled, but, I must honestly confess that I was very much diffident about my ability to perform the job entrusted to me. Prof. V.I. Subramoniam convinced me with fatherly affection to under-take the research as a challenge and plunge into it whole-heartedly. He suggested to me to read as many books as possible on the subject before going to South Africa.
Sri. Suddhananda Bharathi's Tamil book throws some light on the lives of Tamil-s and Telugus in South Africa, aptly called Rainbow Nation.
During my stay in South Africa, I met hundreds of Tamil-s and Telugu-s to delve deep into their up-s and down-s during the past 140 years and utilized the library of Durban Cultural and Documentation Centre. Much information for authenticity of the account has been collected.
It took about 6 months to complete and consolidate the data into a readable form. Sri. S. Kasipandian IAS (Retd.) encouraged me through his guidance which helped me to clear many a problem that confronts a researcher. Later, he went through the manuscripts in spite of his failing health. I offer my sincere thanks to him with utmost humility.
I once again thank Prof. V.I. Subramoniam for offering me this opportunity which brought about the present work, for which I find no words to express my gratitude.
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