The Dravidians as Preservers of Vedic culture 

Through the long and cruel Islamic assault on India, South India became the land of refuge for Vedic culture, and to a great extent remains so to the present day. The best Vedic chanting, rituals and other traditions are preserved in South India. It is ironic therefore that the best preservers of Aryan culture in India have been branded as non-Aryan.

Dravidians do not have to feel that Vedic culture is any more foreign to them than it is to the people of North India. They need not feel that they are racially different than the people of the north. 

They need not feel that they are losing their original culture by using Sanskrit. Nor need nor they feel that they have to assert themselves against north India or Vedic culture to protect their real heritage. 

Hindu culture has never suppressed indigenous cultures or been opposed to cultural variations, as have the monolithic conversion religions of Christianity and Islam. The Vedic rishis and yogis encouraged the development of local traditions. They established sacred places in all the regions in which their culture spread. They did not make everyone have to visit a single holy place like Mecca, Rome or Jerusalem. Nor did they find local or tribal deities as something to be eliminated as heathen or pagan. They respected the common human aspiration for the Divine that we find in all cultures and encouraged diversity and uniqueness in our approach to it. 

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