About fifty million years ago, a triangular parcel of land collided with central Eurasia, forming the Himalayas, Tibetan Plateau, and Indian subcontinent. The region described as “India” prior to 1500 encompasses the modern-day nations of Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. This vast area includes people from diverse cultural, linguistic, and ethnic backgrounds. Most of India’s languages are related to Sanskrit, which belongs to the Indo-European language family, and Dravidian, a root language of Tamil and other South Indian languages.