Pancha-Dravida


Pancha Dravida is one of the two major groupings of Brahmins in Hinduism, of which the other is Pancha-Gauda.

In ''Rajatarangini''

, in his Rajatarangini, classifies the following five Brahmin communities as Pancha Dravida, stating that they reside to the south of the Vindhyas:
A fragment of the Sahyādrikhaṇḍa, featured in Hemadri's Chatur-varga-chintamani, quotes Shiva to name the following divisions of the Pancha Dravidas:
  • Drāviḍa
  • Tailaṅga
  • Karnāṭa
  • Madhyadeśa
  • Gurjara

    In the ''kaifiyat''s

The Maratha-era kaifiyats of Deccan, which give an account of the society in the southern Maratha country, mention the following Brahmin communities as Pancha Dravida:
The kafiyats classify the Gurjara Brahmins as Pancha Gauda. They also mention the following 16 sub-castes of the Pancha-Dravidas: