Does draviḍadeśa (द्रविडदेश) indicate the land of Dravidians or an ethnic/racial group in South India?

 

a) The word Dravida - to indicate a proper land - appears in the interpolated portions of Mahabharata, and hence, we cannot take it as authentic reference to conclude that the word Dravida is in existence since long.

For example: In the interpolated Chapter 10 of the Bhishma Parva, Sanjaya mentions to Dhritarashtra, the Dravida land existing in the Southern parts of the then India.

अथापरे जनपदा दक्षिणा भरतर्षभ ॥

द्रविडाः केरलाः प्राच्या भूषिका वनवासिनः ।

athāparē janapadā dakṣiṇā bharatarṣabha ॥

draviḍāḥ kēralāḥ prācyā bhūṣikā vanavāsinaḥ ।

b) In Manusmṛti 10.44, the word Draviḍa was mentioned alongwith certain other names, to indicate names of fallen Kshatriya tribes (as mentioned in Verse 10.43), but not a specific land area.

पौण्ड्रकाश्चौड्रद्रविडाः काम्बोजा यवनाः शकाः ।
पारदापह्लवाश्चीनाः किराता दरदाः खशाः ॥ ४४ ॥

pauṇḍrakāścauḍradraviḍāḥ kāmbojā yavanāḥ śakāḥ |
pāradāpahlavāścīnāḥ kirātā daradāḥ khaśāḥ || 44 ||

The Puṇḍrakas, the Coḍas [=Cauḍras], the Draviḍas, the Kāmbojas, the Yavanas, the Śākas, the Pāradas, the Pahlavas, the Cīnas, the Kirātas, the Daradas and the Khaśas.—(44)

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c) In the Shloka no.75 of Soundaryalahari, a phrase draviḍaśiśur was used. It was generally translated as the child of Dravida land.

 

One of the meanings of the sanskrit word Draviḍa (द्रविड) is group of grammarians.

Hence, the original meaning of draviḍadeśa (द्रविडदेश) might be the land of grammarians.

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d) In his influential 1856 work, A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian Family of Languages, Bishop Robert Caldwell popularized the term "Dravidian" (derived from the Sanskrit Draviḍa) to define a distinct linguistic and, by extension, ethnic/racial group in South India.

He had popularised this narrative to propagate Christianity in South India.

While focusing on linguistics, Caldwell used the term "Dravidian" to describe a "race" that was socially and culturally distinct from the Aryan communities, arguing that the Dravidians were indigenous to the South and had been largely influenced or subjected by northern, Aryan Brahmanical culture.

His work is considered the catalyst for the "Dravidian" identity, which was later adopted in the 20th century to create a social and political narrative of an anti-Brahmin, non-Brahmin movement.