[prox]

That really depends. I have been reading a lot recently on early Indian civilization, and really most of what we know in terms of historicity, aka writing in the earliest times, is only in the north, the Indus, the Ganges plains and so on. However there were many cultures living in the subcontinent south. Some of those “tribes” were deep in forests and survived relatively intact to the current day, with at least some features unscathed.

Then there is the trade of the early CE time. Trade between India and the Roman Empire over sea was of incredible proportions. Recently a sanskrit brahmi script was uncovered in an old Egyptian harbour port. So there must have been also a large group of people exposed to trade and exchange of ideas.

So I don’t think any broad sweeping statements can be made. To answer your question, it totally depends on the place and time you want to look at.