Page:An introduction to Dravidian philology.djvu/44

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the country where the Narmada takes its rise of which Vidarbha is the capital. Sudheena is a certain forest tract. Bota is the hilly country of Assam. Haima is a hilly country at the foot of the Himalayas. Some call it Haiva and identify it with Hai, in the forest region of Nepal and Bhutan. These languages are perhaps to be designated as the Asuddha Paisacikas mentioned by Markandeya.

The wide distribution of these languages throughout India and the general concensus of opinion that the language of Kekaya represents the standard Paisaci points to the fact that there must have been at a very remote time, long before the Sanskritic Aryans entered India, an extensive eruption of the Paisaci speaking people overrunning the whole of India in gradual stages and mixing themselves with the aboriginal peoples. While these advanced in civilization