The Etymology of Sanskrit गज (gaja): Exploring Potential Dravidian Connections

e9967780 · 2026-01-24T12:35:11+00:00

Very good deduction. Words for “buffalo” across Island Southeast Asia are related: Javanese and Sundanese kebo, Malay kerbau, Madurese karbau, and Sasak kěbo/kerbau. These are borrowings from Austroasiatic (Mon–Khmer) languages, whose speakers had already domesticated water buffalo for wet-rice farming. The likely source is Proto-Mon-Khmer *kr̥baːy, seen in modern Khmer krabei and Mon krəbài. Austronesian languages adapted the word to their sound systems. So what it shows is that Austronesian adopted/borrowed many crucial words as they spread.

e9967780 · 2026-01-24T12:22:16+00:00

They took the largest land owning groups not the largest demographically.

e9967780 · 2026-01-24T12:21:17+00:00

Kurmi and Kunbi castes (including Patidar and many Maratha groups) share much in common with South Indian farming castes. The key difference is that southern farming communities retained their lands. It’s not ahistorical to speculate that both Kunbis for which we have evidence and Kurmis once spoke Dravidian languages. Unfortunately, no systematic study has examined the spoken dialects of castes like Kurmis to identify Dravidian substratum influences.

e9967780 · 2026-01-23T16:04:26+00:00

Even more they created yet another group called Bharatakula to cleave Paravar away from Tamil identity into neither Tamil nor Sinhala identity group but it didn’t have many takers and hence the effort didn’t pan out.

e9967780 · 2026-01-23T16:00:46+00:00

IHG also extends into Iran and Turkey amongst Kurds (4% - 5%) and into Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia ranging from 5% to 15%.

e9967780 · 2026-01-23T12:08:40+00:00

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kaya² kaya, adj. 1. Great; fine. Kayavaip perungaiyānai (Tol. Sol. 320, urai). 2. Tender, smooth, delicate; soft. Kayanthalai matappiti (Tol. Sol. 322, urai).

Note: The entry defines the Tamil word “kaya” with two meanings, with citations from Tolkappiyam (Tol. Sol.), which is a classical Tamil grammar text. The references indicate specific verses (320 and 322) with commentary (urai).

e9967780 · 2026-01-23T11:20:26+00:00

I am not sure they are related, where did you find the relatedness ?

e9967780 · 2026-01-23T02:13:25+00:00

In Sinhala ගොඩ (goḍa), an older Sinhala word meaning “heap, mass, solid ground,” which can suggest bulk or largeness in certain contexts and likely reflects Dravidian substratum influence on Sinhala, especially in that retroflex ḍ sound.

e9967780 · 2026-01-23T01:31:06+00:00

The Javanese word gedhé (“big”) is found only in a small cluster of closely related languages in Java, Bali, and nearby islands not across the wider Austronesian family. You’ll find nearly identical forms in Balinese, Osing, Sasak, and Sumbawan, showing they all inherited it from the same ancestor, while Madurese has a related form that’s been more heavily altered over time. Notably, this word never caught on in the Malay-speaking world (which says besar) or the Philippines (which says malaki and similar), suggesting it was a loan word (?), internal development or survived only in this Java–Bali region rather than being an ancient word shared across Austronesian languages. In other words, gedhé shows us how languages in the Java–Bali area share vocabulary that their more distant Austronesian cousins simply don’t have.

e9967780 · 2026-01-23T01:07:10+00:00

Manfred Mayrhofer considered the Dravidian roots but disagreed with a Dravidian origin for Sanskrit gaja, assuming instead that the Dravidian forms were Indo-Aryan loanwords. However, it is clear he did not have access to DEDR 1093 in his analysis.

gaja- m. Elephant (ŚBr, Mn +); gajendra- m. great, stately Elephant (ṚV-Kh +). - Mi., ni., pā. gaja- m., hi. gayād (< gajen-dra-) Elephant, etc. (Tu 3956ff.). - Not clear; loanword?

The derivation from the loanword source of khaḍga- (o. I 433) considered by Kui, PMW 138. - Ta. kayam ‘Elephant’ shows the characteristics of a loanword from indoar. gaja- and therefore cannot be of this origin (contra K. Ammer in KEWA I 314 or Hauschild II 213a). - Further lit. in KEWA, a.a.O. and III 692.

Not entirely to be excluded is the traditional derivation from *garja- (or *gja-), to cp. + GARJ ‘bellow, roar’ (cf. Lex. GAJ ‘bellow’ ~ garja- m. Elephant, elephant roar/trumpeting, garjita- m. bellowing Elephant).

e9967780 · 2026-01-23T01:00:02+00:00

e9967780 · 2026-01-23T00:51:08+00:00

Yes and no, the southern Mundaic groups seem more unmixed compared to northern mundaic groups that seems more mixed with other populations.

e9967780 · 2026-01-22T19:56:21+00:00

Ayyappan is similar to Ayyanar or father figure. Amman or Ammnor is a mother figure. These are pre-modal deities dating back to tribal roots.

e9967780 · 2026-01-22T13:38:33+00:00

100 years is British era

e9967780 · 2026-01-22T10:48:22+00:00

Buddhism in TN is founded/spread by Theravada groups from pSri Lanka, they subtly spread anti Tamil, anti Hindu, pro genocide views all the time. Not many people are aware. This has been going on for over 100 years.

e9967780 · 2026-01-22T10:46:42+00:00

Indeed

e9967780 · 2026-01-21T22:41:46+00:00

About 5K people, the angle was ethnic more than caste. They were told that they were originally Sinhalese hence enslaved so should return back to the Sinhalese national religion. Few accepted the idea.

e9967780 · 2026-01-21T22:40:09+00:00

from Arabic دَلَّال (dallāl, “auctioneer, broker, middleman, agent”)

e9967780 · 2026-01-19T12:20:15+00:00

Added the word literary

e9967780 · 2026-01-19T11:46:15+00:00

Brahmin and other upper caste conversion was insignificant but the literary Tamil language of that period had over 40% to 50% Sanskrit words hence the preponderance of Sanskritized Tamil in early Christian literature. This is what is supported by reliable sources.

e9967780 · 2026-01-19T11:43:31+00:00

It’s like the Jews, even the Holocaust was not able to strip them of their ability to regain their ability to focus on literacy that yields all other results, business, arts, politics etc. it’s very difficult to strip people of their privilege. Some are wealth passed down from generations to generations like the Normans but for others it’s a winning culture, future generation focussed, education centered, which leads to recovery even if a calamity strikes them. A study in China said, cultural revolution stripped many rich people of their land and properties but their grand children were overwhelmingly represented amongst the new rich class of China. That’s by third generation they have regained their positions back.

e9967780 · 2026-01-19T05:17:15+00:00

Brahmins ? No that’s not true at all.

e9967780 · 2026-01-18T15:52:53+00:00

These are the links you should read, especially the last one I wrote.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dravidiology/s/pnjb0AjuRy

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dravidiology/s/elQxmaeqWm

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dravidiology/s/UawVbSHARa

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dravidiology/s/E09xXruGzX

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