[[दक्षिणी भारत]], के निवासी हैं। यह लोग [[तमिल भाषा|तमिल]], [[मलयालम भाषा|मलयालम]], [[तेलुगु]] और [[कन्नड]] जेसी भाषाएँ प्रमुख रूप से बोलते हैं।
Recent studies (2019) about the population history of India found strong evidence that Dravidians were the native population of northern India, Pakistan and eastern Iran. The population of the Indus Valley culture was of predominantly Dravidian origin and formed the main stock of modern Indian ancestry. Analysed samples belong predominantly (98%) to an ancient Iranian hunter gatherer lineage, which is closely related to Iranian and Anatolian farmer lineages, and are linked to proto-Dravidians. According to the scientists, proto-Dravidians began to migrate and conquer other parts of India, where they partially mixed with tribal groups (mostly only on maternal side). Later, Indo-Aryan peoplesarrived from Central Asiaand migrated into northern India during and after the decline of the Indus Valley culture were they started to dominate the political and cultural history of India. Local Dravidians in northern India adopted Indo-Aryan languages (see elite dominance).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Reich|first=David|last2=Rai|first2=Niraj|last3=Patterson|first3=Nick|last4=Meyer|first4=Matthias|last5=Thangaraj|first5=Kumarasamy|last6=Kaushik|first6=Amit|last7=Patel|first7=Himani|last8=Yadav|first8=Yogesh|last9=Waghmare|first9=Pranjali|date=2019-09-05|title=An Ancient Harappan Genome Lacks Ancestry from Steppe Pastoralists or Iranian Farmers|url=https://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(19)30967-5|journal=Cell|language=English|volume=0|issue=0|doi=10.1016/j.cell.2019.08.048|issn=0092-8674|pmid=31495572}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190905145348.htm|title=Largest-ever ancient-DNA study illuminates millennia of South and Central Asian prehistory|website=ScienceDaily|language=en|access-date=2019-09-20}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.razib.com/wordpress/category/india-genetics/|title=India Genetics « Razib Khan|website=www.razib.com|access-date=2019-09-20}}</ref>
