Christian missions in the Telugu country - Uecf.net

4
MISSIONS IN THE TELUGU COUNTRY
system, which has survived to so remarkable a degree
the vicissitudes of devastating war in every part of
India, is, over a great area, purely Dravidian, and over
most of the rest, mainly Dravidian, modified by the
invading Aryans. In other ways, too, the Dravidians
have held their own. In education the Madras
Presidency leads, and a part of that Presidencj',
Travancore and Cochin, which is purely Dravidian,
is more literate than any other part of India. Again,
it may be remarked that the purely Dravidian peoples
of South India have led all the rest in colonising foreign
regions.
The chief Dravidian languages are four in number,
Tamil, Telugu, Canarese, and Malayalam. Of these,
Telugu is the most widely spoken. The number that
speak it, out of a total of fifty-six milUons that speak the
Dravidian languages, is, roughly, twenty millions. It
should be noted here that in India language is only to
a limited degree an indication of race. The great
majority of the mixed Dravidian races speak an Aryan
language. It is curious that, on being conquered,
these races have easily 3delded up their own language
and adopted that of their conquerors.
The The Telugu language has been long famed for its
hi euaee
melodiousness. When well spoken it is singularly
beautiful. Visitors to the Telugu Mission are perhaps
generally disappointed at the harsh voices that they hear.
This is, unfortunately, a characteristic of the race from
which most of our Christians spring. Their early
training is bad ; no doubt better training will remedy
this defect. But it is possible, by going to the Brah-