Modern South India

by Rajmohan Gandhi

Book Reviews

  • One of the best books I've read recently is "Modern South India" by Rajmohan Gandhi. It covers the history of South India from the 1600s to the 2010s. Lots of interesting facts I hadn't known before https://t.co/9quVMM0IbRLink to Tweet

About Book

The South India story attempted here is of a peninsular region influenced by the oceans, not by the Himalayas. Yet it is more than that. It is a story of facets of four powerful culturesKannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu, to name them in alphabetical orderand yet more than that, for Kodava, Konkani, Marathi, Oriya and Tulu cultures have also influenced it, as also other older and possibly more indigenous cultures often seen as tribal, as well as cultures originating in other parts of India and the world. With South Indias Malayalam region being (in modern times) the most balanced in terms of religion and also the most literate, its Kannada zone occupying South Indias geographical centre and containing the sites of the Vijayanagara kingdom and also the kingdom of Haidar and Tipu, its Telugu portion the largest in area and holding the most people, and its Tamil part the most Dravidian and possessing the oldest literature, the four principal cultures are, unsurprisingly, competitive. But they are also complementary. This is a Dravidian story, and also more than that. It is a story involving four centuries, the seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth, yet other periods intrude upon it...