Yup! Completely agree with the premise. Dravidians have a huge void in the raiding, defense and economy departments. So without counter-raiding, the civ will die pretty quickly in castle age when economy has to expand. I doubt slow 30 HP healing elephants even as a civ bonus can fix it.
I did the same exercise of re-working the civ. Link Here. I ended up having to make the Urumi a Knight replacement with unique way of functioning similar to eagles and woad riders. It needed squires to be faster than 1.2 tps. It may need some re-work on cost due to gambersons.
Training
Cost : 85 Food 25 Gold [**CHANGE**] Increase food by 20 and Gold 5
Training time : 12 seconds [**CHANGE**] Increase time by +3 sec
Statistics
Hit points : 55, 65 (Elite)
Melee Attack : 8, 10 (Elite) same as now
Attack bonus : +2, +3 (Elite) vs Cavalry [**CHANGE**] (Changed from Eagle)
+1, +2 (Elite) vs Siege [**CHANGE**] (Changed from Building)
Rate of Fire : 1 [**CHANGE**] (Changed from 2) 100% faster
Melee armor : 1
Pierce armor : 0
Armor class : Infantry, Unique unit
Speed : 1.15 [**CHANGE**] 0.1 Buff
Line of Sight : 3
Ability : Charges its attack by 12 (15 Elite) damage over 24 (20 Elite) seconds and
dealing a blast attack of 50% strength in 0.75 tiles radius.
[**NEW**] The charge bar is also a damage avoiding bar.
[**NEW**] The charge bar recharges only when Urumi is not attacking.
[**NEW**] Once charge attack is made on enemy unit, the bar becomes empty.
Unit evolution : Elite Urumi Swordsman
Upgrade cost : 900 food, 450 gold
Upgrade time : 45 seconds