The southern states of Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are only home to about a quarter of India's total population, but they are proud of their distinctive culture and their relatively prosperous and peaceful society. South India is quite different in language and history from the north. The south is relatively (although by no means completely) free of the Hindu-Muslim tension and inter-caste conflict of the north, and significantly more prosperous - Bangalore and Hyderabad, state capitals of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh respectively, are India's high tech boom towns. One farmer I stayed with proudly told me that the state of Karnataka has fibre optic to every village – this while I was struggling to troubleshoot his incredibly slow internet connection that had to make its way down the mountain on five miles of copper wire before it could hook up to the fibre optic connection in the village. In Mysore, on the other hand, I maintained my online diary at an internet cafe run by the city's main ISP, on the fastest link I've ever used anywhere.
People in the south speak Dravidian languages that belong to a different family from the Indo-European languages of the north. The south has millenia of continuous undiluted Hindu culture – unlike the north, it wasn't conquered and ruled for centuries by Muslim invaders from central Asia. The hand of the British rested relatively lightly here, too - the “Madras Presidency” was a backwater of the Raj from the early nineteenth century onwards; unlike in the north, the army of Madras didn't rise against the British in the Mutiny/War of Independence of 1857. Large areas of present day Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh continued to be ruled by semi-independent Indian princes – Gandhi had the highest respect for the Maharajah of Mysore as a ruler (he was also the patron of some of the most influential yoga teachers of the twentieth century, and as such was arguably partly responsible for the survival and current popularity of yoga practices). His ex-subjects in the state of Karnataka still have great affection and respect for their former king.
People in the south speak Dravidian languages that belong to a different family from the Indo-European languages of the north. The south has millenia of continuous undiluted Hindu culture – unlike the north, it wasn't conquered and ruled for centuries by Muslim invaders from central Asia. The hand of the British rested relatively lightly here, too - the “Madras Presidency” was a backwater of the Raj from the early nineteenth century onwards; unlike in the north, the army of Madras didn't rise against the British in the Mutiny/War of Independence of 1857. Large areas of present day Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh continued to be ruled by semi-independent Indian princes – Gandhi had the highest respect for the Maharajah of Mysore as a ruler (he was also the patron of some of the most influential yoga teachers of the twentieth century, and as such was arguably partly responsible for the survival and current popularity of yoga practices). His ex-subjects in the state of Karnataka still have great affection and respect for their former king.
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