Hi Ajit,

Thanks for these insights! I spoke to a few Indian friends to get colour on this, but they were all from the north, so I am working on fleshing out Dravidian languages in the second part. I've tried to emphasize that the North/South division to which I refer is just the linguistic one- they are in fact different families, albeit with a lot of interchange over India's long history (again, I'm working on speaking to this in the second part of this essay).I don't mean to suggest a cultural or historical barrier.

As to the map, I actually didn't make it, so unfortunately I can't add anything. Appreciate the observation though, that is very odd that all of Kashmir wouldn't be included.

Thanks again for your thoughts- India's my biggest blind spot in world linguistics, so always keen to learn more.

-Sam