Page 167 - Hinduism

IX.12 Cultural synthesis
In their great trek to India the colonizing groups of Aryans encountered races who professed a firm belief in the doctrine of transmigration. It has indeed been suggested that this doctrine of metempsychosis itself, the cult of serpent worship, the worship of Ganesa, of Uma or Durga, of Skanda or Subrahmanya (the hunter-god) were all adopted by the Aryans from earlier settlers in India. Even the incarnation of Krishna, it has been said, was an adaptation from an aboriginal deity; his life is an instance of the mingling of the Aryans and the Yadavas. In any case, it seems clear that there was a good measure of synthesis of the thoughts and beliefs of the Aryan and pre-Aryan races.
There are widespread traditions of the southern migration of the Vedic sage, Agastya, the reputed author of several hymns of the Rig-Veda. His ashrama was located south of the Vindhyas; and he is said to have introduced the Vedic religion and literature in the South in his capacity as a unifying factor between the Sanskritic and Dravidian tongues and ideals. When the Aryan colonizers in the wake of Agastya penetrated to the South, they found an advanced civilisation. The Ramayana describes Madurai as adorned with golden jewels. The grammarian Katyayana mentions the Pandyas and the Cholas. Asoka’s Buddhist missions were sent to the Pandya and Chola countries as far as Tamraparni River in the Tirunelveli District. An 167