Consider the following statements: 1. Archaeological evidence such as burial urns and earthen pots in South India indicates cultural exchange between the Indus Valley Civilization and the early Tamil culture. 2. The presence of a significant number of Dravidian words in the Brahui language of Baluchistan suggests prehistoric cultural contact between North-West India and South India. 3. The treatise Tolkappiam, written around 1000 BC, deals exclusively with Tamil grammar and provides no information about the social life of ancient Dravidians. How many of the statements given above are correct?

• Urn burials and pot burials found in South India, along with pottery types and beads, have been used by scholars to argue for contact and cultural exchange between the Harappan world and the early cultures of the peninsula. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• Brahui, spoken in Baluchistan, is a Dravidian language surviving in the north-west. Its survival is taken as evidence that Dravidian speech was once widespread in north-western India and suggests prehistoric contact between the north-west and the south. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

Tolkappiyam

• Tolkappiyam, ascribed to Tolkappiyar, is the earliest extant Tamil work and deals with grammar and poetics.
• Besides grammar, its third book, the Porulatikaram, deals with the subject matter of poetry and gives valuable information on the five tinais or eco-zones, on love and war, and thus on the social and economic life of the ancient Tamils. Hence, statement 3 is incorrect.
• Therefore, only two statements are correct.