Information of Telugu

The Telugu people or Telugus are an ethnic group of India. They are the native speakers of the Telugu language, the most commonly spoken language in India after Hindi and Bengali. They are one of the many Dravidian ethnic groups that inhabit South India. They are mostly native to Andra Pradesh, with significant populations in Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Orissa.

Telugu Actress

Tamils, in their Sangam literature in the beginning of Christian era, called Telugu people Vadugu, Vadagu, Vadugar etc., meaning "northerners". Jayagondar’s work called Kalingattupparani used words like Telungaru and Vadugu to describe Telugus.

History

Antiquity
The Andhras were nomads for several centuries. Some tribes migrated and others did not and remained in their older settlements. Apastamba Rishi states that around 700 BC some Andhra tribes inhabited the Salva Kingdom (Salva Desa) on the banks of the Yamuna River. Apastamba sutra has been widely practiced among Andhra Brahmin families and continues to be followed even today. A single Rishi was the teacher (acharya) of each tribe. Apastamba was one such teacher. Apastamba wrote these rules in Salva Desam on the banks of the Yamuna river. After Apastamba's death the Andhra tribes crossed the Vindhya mountains, reached the south, and merged with the other Andhra tribes. The Atreya Brahmana says that the Andhras lived on the south side of Vindhya Range along with the Pundras, Pulindas, Sabaras and Mootibas.

Some of those Andhras who came to the south of the Vindhya mountains settled in the regions north of present-day Hyderabad. Another tribe crossed the Eastern Ghats.

The Sanskrit epics mention the Andhra Kingdom, named for the Aryan tribe of the Andhras. They are mentioned again at the time of the death of the great Mauryan King Ashoka in 232 BC. This date has been considered to be the beginning of the Andhra historical record. Various dynasties have ruled the area, including the Andhra (or Satavahana), Shakas, Ikshvakus, Eastern Chalukyas, the Vijayanagar Kingdom, the Qutb Shahis of Golconda, and the Nizams (princes) of Hyderābād.

Telugu Actress

The term Kalinga, has been historically relevant to this region, incorporating north-east Andhra Pradesh and modern day Orissa. People from the Kalinga region were responsible for colonizing Sri Lanka, spreading Buddhism and are ancestors to a large portion of the Sinhalese population.

Andhras and Kalingas supported the Kauravas during the Mahabharata war. Sahadeva defeated the kingdoms of Pandya, Dravida, Odra, Chera, Andhra Pradesh, and Kalinga while performing the Rajasuya yajna. Chanoora was killed by Krishna in Mathura. Hari Vamsa Purana corroborates the fact that Chanoora was the king of Karoosa Desa (to the North of the Vindhyas and on the North Bank of the Yamuna river) and was an Andhra. Buddhist references to Andhras are also found.

The Jataka Tales were written during 200–250 BC. The Tel river is a Tributary of the Mahanadi in Orissa. The tribe in this region were called Kalingas. The books cited above describe the Andhras and Kalingas as two different branches of a single tribe. Sometimes these two words (Andhras and Kalingas) are used as synonyms.

Andhra tribes established relationships with Naga, Yaksha, and Dravida tribes of the Vindhya mountains who were already living there. A tribe called Tailang in Burma is proposed to be related to Telugu people.

Satavahanas
The first great Andhra empire was that of the Satavahanas, who came to power when the last Kanva emperor Sisuman, was assassinated by his prime minister Sipraca, of the Andhra tribe. They reigned for 450 years and the last was Puliman or Puloma the pious, who after conquering India put an end to his life by drowning himself in the holy waters of the Ganges river, after the example of his grandfather. Because of this king, India was called Poulomeun-koue, the country of Puliman by the Chinese. While in the west the inhabitants of the Gangetic provinces were denominated Andhra Hindus. The Satavahana rulers are said to have been held in the highest veneration all over India; and their fame was extended to the Malay Archipelago, the Maharajas of India being a favorite subject of Malayan poetry.

Language
Telugu speakers in Jaganath Puram during 2010

Telugu is a Dravidian language Early inscriptions date from 400 BC and literary texts from the 11th century, written in a Telugu script adapted from the Bhattiprolu script of the early inscriptions.

Culture
Kakateeya Sculpture at Warangal

Telugu Actress

Literature

Padya Sahithyam and Gadya Sahithyam
Bhagavatam by Sri Bammera Pothana
Ramayanam by Rayana Baskara
Ramayanam by Kummari Molla
Maha Bharatam by KaviTrayam (Nannaya, Yerrapragada and Tikkana)
Sataka Sahityam by Vemana, Baddena, Marana Venkana, Yenugu Lakshmana Kavi, Dhoorjati, Kavi Coudappa and Bhakta Ramdas
Telugu Chatu Padhyalu
Tenali Ramalinga Kavi
Kavi Sarvabhouma Srinathudu
Telugu Vaggeya Karulu
Annamayya
Tyagaraju
Kshetrayya