South India has five states called Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana. Besides this, it also has three union territories of Lakshadweep, Andaman and Puducherry. South India is surrounded by plateaus and mountain ranges. It is also surrounded by the Arabian sea. 20 different rivers flow around the south. This enhancing the beauty of south India. You will find a lot of cultures in the south side. Most of them have their owned language and festivals.
- Dravidian languages:
Most of the languages that are spoken in south India belong to the Dravidian family. It is a group of 73 languages. The language is divided into four sections on the base of where they are spoken. The four groups are south, south-central, central and north groups. Tamil Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada belong to this group. And are spoken in southern parts of India. These languages belong to 1000 A.C years ago.
- Telugu:
It is mostly spoken in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana states. It is also spoken in Puducherry by Telugu people. Telugu ranks on number four among the most spoken language in India. 7.7% population speaks Telugu. The language is known to derive from Sanskrit.
- Tamil:
It is spoken in the parts of Tamil Nadu by Tamil people. It is their official language. It is also spoken by minorities living in Karnataka, Kerala and union territory of Puducherry. It is known to be one of the most classical languages of the world.
- Kannada:
It is also known as Kanarase. It is spoken as the official language in Karnataka. Also spoken in states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Kerala. More than 48 million speak this language. In Karnataka, it is widely used as a source of communication in shops, offices etc.
- Malayalam: it is widely spoken in Kerala. Malayali people living in Puducherry and Lakshadweep also speak it. The word Malayalam is originated from two words mala means mountains and Alam means mountain. It is also called as Alealum, Malayalam, Malayali, Malean, Maliyad, and Malleable.
Hence Southern India is a mixture of beautiful cultures and languages.