ABSTRACT
South Indian civilization survives because it represents a web of ecological relationships that greatly increase the efficiency and productivity of the farmers who support it. The strands of the web are held together by the principles of the South Indian world view—by the image of harmony, unity, and right action that is dharma. The persistence of villages—of permanently settled communities—is made possible by the fact that South Indian farmers have been able to produce grain continuously on the same lands over a period of several thousand years without exhausting the fertility of the soil. The South Indian ecological system is dominated by a symbiotic relationship among cereals, cattle, and human beings. South Indian farmers pay as little as possible for goods and services and in taxes and interest. The urban centers of the major South Indian states and kingdoms have always been close to large acreages of irrigated land.
