Meanwhile, the Dravidics ventured eastward again. They took the same path taken by their ancestors, married the local Mongoloids and settled in the mountainous regions of Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

The Tamils called these ‘medium-brown’ people ‘Malai’, which translates to ‘hill people’. It is no surprise that when the Dravidics arrived at Lembah Bujang in Malaya in the second century, they would have insisted on calling the Malayan Austronesians ‘Malai’ as well.