It is generally believed that Dravidians were the earliest inhabitants of India, whose descendants are still found in southern India. Before the advent of the Aryans, they inhabited large portions of north and south India.
Culturally, they were quite advanced and were conversant with the art of warfare, use of metals and the art of building houses, forts and even dams to irrigate their lands. Agriculture was their chief occupation but they also carried on a brisk trade with foreign countries.
They had a matriarchal society, where children lived with their mothers and men lived separately. They worshipped the sun, snakes, trees, the Mother Goddess and many kinds of demons. Human sacrifice was an important feature of their worship. The caste system was not known to them. The Indus Valley Civilisation
The excavations at Mohen-jo-daro in the Larkana district of Sindh and Harappa in the Montgomery district of Punjab (both in Pakistan) as also, lately, in Ropar (Punjab), Kalibangan (Rajasthan) and Lothal (Gujarat), show that in these regions a highly civilised, urban society existed about 5,000 years ago, roughly between 3250 to 2750 B.C. Since its chief centres flourished around the River Indus and its tributaries, it is called the ‘Indus Valley Civilisation’.
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The Indus Valley people lived in well-planned cities, with excellent underground drainage systems built on scientific lines, and they had a highly efficient civic organisation. These people had made great progress in the fields of art and architecture. One of the striking examples of their architecture is the ‘Great Bath’ at Mohen-jo-daro. They invented some sort of script which has yet to be deciphered.
Idol worship was practised in this civilisation, the most popular deity being Shakti or Mother Goddess. Shiva Pashupati was also worshipped alongwith certain trees, birds and animals.