History of Andhra
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The history of Andhra Pradesh
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[edit] Iron Age India
There are several references about an Andhra kingdom and a people of the Andhras in the Sanskrit epics Mahabharata and Ramayana, Puranas, and Buddhist Jataka Tales.
It is only in the Mauryan age, there is historical evidence of the existence of Andhra as a political power in the southeastern Deccan. Megasthenes, who visited the Court of Chandragupta Maurya (322-297 BC), mentioned that Andhras had 30 fortified towns and an army of a million infantry, 2000 cavalry and 1000 elephants.[specify] Buddhist books reveal that Andhras established their kingdoms in the Godavari Valley at that time. Asoka referred in his 13th rock edict (232 BC) that Andhra was under his rule.
The continuous political and cultural accounts of Andhra Pradesh begins with the fall of the Mauryan Empire. It commences with the rise of the Satavahanas as a political power. According to Matsya Purana there were 29 rulers of this dynasty. They ruled over the Andhra desa for about 456 years from the 2nd century BC to the 2nd century AD. According to an inscription at Nasik, it was under GautamiPutra Satakarni, the 23rd Satavahavana, the kingdom included most of the southern peninsula and some southern parts of present Indian states like Maharastra, Orissa and MadhyaPradesh. The royal language used by Satavahanas was Prakrit. Buddhism flourished throughout this age, and several Buddhist Stupas including Amaravati, Chaityas and Viharas are constructed during this time, although the kings followed Vedic religion.
The fall of the Satavahana empire left Andhra in political chaos. Local rulers carved out small kingdoms for themselves. From 180-624 AD, Ikshvaku, Brihatpalayana, Salankayana, Vishnukundina, Vakataka, Pallava, Ananda Gotrika, Kalinga and others ruled over parts of Andhra with small kingdoms. Most important among these small dynasties was the Ikshvaku. Nagarjuna Konda was their capital and they patronised Buddhism, though they followed the vedic ritualism. Sanskrit mostly replaced Prakrit as the language of inscriptions.
[edit] Andhra identity
Between 624 AD and 1323 AD a significant change came about in social, religious, linguistic and literary spheres of Andhra society. During this period the Telugu language, emerged as a literary medium subsuming the predominance of Prakrit and Sanskrit. As a result, Andhra achieved an identity and a distinction of its own. This change was brought by the Eastern and Western Chalukyas, the Rashtrakutas and the early Cholas.
The Western Chalukyas consisted of two dynasties. The Early Chalukyas ruled from Badami (550-750) and the later Chalukyas from Kalyani (973-1195). Throughout this period and up to the 11th century, Telugu language was written in old Telugu script. Al-Beruni (1000 CE) referred to old Telugu script as "Andhri" in his "Kitab Al-Hind". The emergence of the Telugu script from the old Telugu script started around 11th century and culminated in the 19th century.
The Eastern Chalukyas were a branch of the Chalukyas of Badami. Pulakesin II, the renowned ruler of Chalukyas conquered Vengi (near Eluru) in 624 and built the splendid vesara style Navabrahma temples at Alampur and installed his brother Kubja Vishnuvardhana (624-641) as its ruler. His dynasty, known as the Eastern Chalukyas, ruled for nearly four centuries in all. Vishnuvardhana extended his dominions up to Srikakulam in the north and Nellore in the south.
The Eastern Chalukyas occupied a prominent place in the history of Andhra Pradesh. Since the time of Gunaga Vijayaditya in 848, inscriptions show Telugu stanzas, culminating in the production of literary works in the coming centuries. Later in the 11th century, the Mahabharata was translated partly by the court poet Nannaya under the patronage of the then Eastern Chalukya King Rajaraja Narendra.
After a brief period of sovereignty under Gunaga Vijayaditya, the Vengi region again came under the Rashtrakuta rule and later the Kalyani Chalukya rule from the beginning of 10th century to the 11th century, when the Cholas managed to wrest control from the Chalukyas. However by 1118 AD, with the defeat of the Kulottunga Chola at the hands of Vikramaditya VI of the Kalyani Chalukya dynasty and the victory of Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana over the Cholas at Talakad, Vengi once again came under Chalukya rule. The Kalyani Chalukya power itself went into decline after the death of Vikramaditya VI. By the end of the 12th century, their empire was split into several local kingdoms, namely the Hoysala Empire, the Kakatiya dynasty and the Yadavas.
[edit] Kakatiya Empire
The 12th and the 13th centuries saw the emergence of the Kakatiya dynasty. They were at first the feudatories of the Western Chalukyas of Kalyani, ruling over a small territory near Warangal. A ruler of this dynasty, Prola II (1110-1158 CE) extended his sway to the south and declared his independence. His successor Rudra (1158-1195 CE) pushed the kingdom to the north up to the Godavari delta. He built a fort at Warangal to serve as a second capital and faced the invasions of the Yadavas of Devagiri. The next ruler Mahadeva extended the kingdom to the coastal area. In 1199 CE Ganapati succeeded him. He was the greatest of the Kakatiyas and the first after the Satavahanas to bring the entire Telugu area under one rule. He put an end to the rule of the Velanati Cholas in 1210 CE.
The Kakatiya dynasty faced Muslim onslaughts from 1310 CE and came under the control of Delhi Sultanate in 1323. A brief period of 50 years of independence was enjoyed under Musunuri Nayaks who rebelled and liberated Telugu land from the rule of Delhi. Although short lived the Musunuri Nayaks rule was a watershed in the history of south India. Hakka (Harihara) and Bukka drew inspiration from them and consolidated Hindu opposition to Muslim invaders. Eventually, after the fall of the Kakatiya empire in 1370 CE, the Vijayanagar empire, considered the last great Hindu empire, swept across the Telugu region and the present day Karnataka. Most parts of present day Andhra Pradesh formed part of this empire (1336 - 1450 CE). Remaining few parts were under Reddys in Kondavidu and Rajahmundry regions and Recherla Velamas in Telangana region, although as vassals of Muslim kingdoms.
[edit] Vijayanagar Empire
Vijayanagar empire, one of the greatest empires in the history of Andhra Pradesh and India, was founded by Harihara (Hakka) and Bukka, who served as Treasury officers in the administration of Kakatiya empire. When Warangal fell in 1323, the two brothers were captured, taken to Delhi and converted to Islam. They were sent to the Deccan as governors of Kampili by the Delhi sultanate with the hope that they would be able to deal with the local revolt and invasions by neighbouring Hindu kings. Their first campaign was against the neighbouring Hoysala king, Veera Ballala III of Dwarasamudra. Later, the brothers reconverted to Hinduism under the influence of the sage Vidyaranya and proclaimed their independence from the Delhi sultanate. Harihara I (reigned 1336–56) then established his new capital, Vijayanagar, in an easily defensible position south of the Tungabhadra River, where it came to symbolize the emerging medieval political culture of South India. The Vijaynagar empire reached its peak under king Krishnadevaraya in the early part of 16th century. Telugu literature reached new heights during this time. Fine Vijayanagar monuments were built across South India including Lepakshi, Tirupathi and Sri Kalahasti in Andhra Pradesh.
[edit] Mughal era
In 1323 the Delhi Sultan Ghiaz-ud-din Tughlaq sent a large army under Ulugh Khan to conquer the Telugu country and lay siege to Warangal. The disastrous fall of the Kakatiya capital in 1323 brought the Andhras, for the first time in their history, under the yoke of alien rulers, the Muslims. In 1347, an independent Muslim state, the Bahmani kingdom, was established in south India by Alla-ud-din Hasan Gangu as a revolt against the Delhi Sultanate. By the end of the 15th century, the Bahmani rule was plagued with faction fights and there came into existence the five Shahi kingdoms. Of these, it was the Qutb Shahi dynasty that played a significant and notable role in the history of Telugu land.
The Qutb Shahi dynasty held sway over the Andhra country for about two hundred years from the early part of the 16th century to the end of the 17th century. Sultan Quli Qutb Shah, the founder of the dynasty, served the Bahmanis faithfully and was appointed governor of Telangana in 1496. He declared independence after the death of his patron king, Mahmud Shah, in 1518. Aurangazeb, the Mughal emperor, in 1687 invaded Golconda and annexed it to his empire. He appointed a Nizam (governor) and thus for about a period of 35 years this region was ruled by Mughal Nizams. Aurangazeb died in 1707 and the administrative machinery of the Mughal imperial regime began to crumble and it gradually lost control over the provinces. It enabled two foreign mercantile companies to consolidate themselves as political powers capable of subsequently playing decisive roles in shaping the destiny of the nation. They were the East India Company of England and the Compagnie des Indes Orientales of France.
[edit] Beginning of Colonial era
In 1753, a firman of Asif ad-Dawlah Mir Ali Salabat Jang, Subedar of Deccan conceded to General Bussy the paraganas of Chicacole, Ellore, Rajahmundry etc. with an annual revenue RS.2, 00,000 for the maintenance of the French troops in the Subah in recognition of the help of these Circars amounted up to 10 lakhs of Rupees per year. Bussy helped Salabat Jang to be the Subedar of Deccan. The agreement made between the French and Salabat Jang in Aurangabad bears the signature of Said Loukshur, Minister of Salabat Jang. Yanam acquired considerable importance during the occupation of the Northern Circars by the French.
Another important event in the history was the war between the French and the English fought at Chandurthi (now is in Gollaprolu mandal] in East Godavari district) in 1758 in which the French were defeated. Salabat Jang made a treaty with British and gave the Northern Circars under a firman to the English. Later Nizam rebelled against the English. A second treaty was the result of war and Northern Circars remained permanently under the control of the British. After 1760 the French lost hold in South India, especially on Northern Circars. In 1765 Lord Robert Clive, the then existing Chief and Council at Vizagapatam obtained from the Mughal emperor Shah Alam a grant of the five Circars.
[edit] Madras Presidency
Then Northern Circars became part of the British Madras Presidency. Eventually that region emerged as Coastal Andhra region. Later the Nizam had ceded 5 territories (Datta Madalālu) to British which eventually emerged as Rayalaseema region. The Nizams retained control of the interior provinces as the Princely state of Hyderabad, acknowledging British rule in return for local autonomy.
The provinces were at the time governed in a feudal manner, with Zamindars in areas such as Kulla and other parts of the Godavari acting as lords under the Nizam. The feudal or zamindari system was removed after independence.
[edit] Telugu Districts in Madras Presidency
- Vizagapatam (later Srikakulam, Vijayanagaram and Visakhapatnam districts)
- Godavari (later East Godavari district)
- Machilipatnam (later Guntur, Krishna and West Godavari Districts)
- Kurnool
- Nellore
- Cuddapah
- Anantapur
- Ongole
The Andhras (or Telugu) were at the forefront of Indian nationalism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
[edit] Post-independence history
India became independent from the United Kingdom in 1947. The Muslim Nizam of Hyderabad wanted to retain his independence from India, but his state of Hyderabad was forced to become part of India in 1948 as the Hyderabad State. When India became independent, the Telugu-speaking people (although Urdu is spoken in some parts of Hyderabad and in few other districts of Telangana) were distributed in about 22 districts, 9 of them in the Nizam's Dominions(Hyderabad state) and 12 in the Madras Presidency and one in French controlled Yanam. Andhra State was the first state in India that has been formed on a purely linguistic basis by carving it out from Madras Province in 1953. Andhra State was later merged with Telugu speaking area of Hyderabad(Telangana) to create Andhra Pradesh state in 1956. In 1954, Yanam (India) was liberated and it was merged with Pondicherry in 1963.
- See also: Telengana Rebellion
[edit] Madras Manade movement
However in 1953, Telugu speakers of Madras Presidency wanted Madras as the capital of Andhra state including the famous slogan "Madras Manade" (Madras is ours) before Tirupati was included in AP. Madras at that time was an indivisible mixture of Tamil and Telugu cultures. It was difficult to determine who should possess it. Panagal Raja, Chief Minister of the Madras Presidency in the early 1920s said that the Cooum River should be kept as a boundary, giving the northern portion to the Andhras and the southern portion to the Tamils. In 1928, Sir C. Sankaran Nair sent a report to the Central Council discussing why Madras does not belong to the Tamils. But finally it was decided that Madras would remain in the Tamil region. According to the JPC report (Jawahar Lal Nehru, Bhogaraju Pattabhi Sitaramayya, C. Rajagopalachari) "Telugu people should leave Madras for Tamils if they want a new state".
[edit] Creation of Andhra State
In an effort to protect the interests of the Telugu people of Madras state, Amarajeevi Potti Sriramulu attempted to force the Madras Presidency government to listen to public demands for the separation of Telugu speaking districts (Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra) from Madras Presidency to form the Andhra state. He went on a lengthy fast, and only stopped when Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru promised to form Andhra state. However, there was no movement on the issue for a long time. He started fasting again for attaining statehood for Andhra in Maharshi Bulusu Sambamurthy's house in Madras on 19 October 1952. It started off without fanfare but steadily caught people's imagination despite the disavowal of the fast by the Andhra Congress committee.
The government of the day however did not make a clear statement about the formation of a new state despite several strikes and demonstrations by Telugu people. On the midnight of 15 December (i.e. early 16 December, 1952), Potti Sriramulu died and laid down his life trying to achieve his objective.
In his death procession, people shouted slogans praising his sacrifice. When the procession reached Mount Road, thousands of people joined and raised slogans hailing Sriramulu. Later, they went into a frenzy and resorted to destruction of public property. The news spread like wildfire and created an uproar among the people in far off places like Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Eluru, Guntur, Tenali, Ongole and Nellore. Seven people were killed in police firing in Anakapalle and Vijayawada. The popular agitation continued for three to four days disrupting normal life in Madras and Andhra regions. On 19 December 1952, the Prime Minister of the country Jawaharlal Nehru made an announcement about formation of a separate state for Telugu speaking people of Madras Presidency.
House no. 126, Royapettah high road, Mylapore, Madras is the address of the house where Potti Sriramulu died and it has been preserved as a monument of importance by the state government of Andhra Pradesh.
On the basis of an agitation, on October 1, 1953, 11 districts in the Telugu-speaking portion of Madras State(Coastal Andhra and Rayala Seema) voted to become the new state of Andhra State with Kurnool as the capital. Andhra Kesari Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu became first Chief Minister of thus formed Telugu State.
The formation of linguistic states is the single most important event in the history of South Indian languages, as it provided an opportunity for these languages to develop independently, each of them having a state to support.
[edit] Merger of Telangana and Andhra
On November 1, 1956 Andhra State merged with the Telangana region of erstwhile Hyderabad State to form a united Telugu-speaking state of Andhra Pradesh and Hyderabad, the former capital of the Hyderabad State, was made the capital of the new state Andhra Pradesh.
In early 1950s, there was Vishalandhra movement in both Andhra and Telangana regions which called for the merger of Andhra region and Telangana region to form a single Telugu speaking state. The movement is stronger in Andhra region than in Telanagana region. Andhra mahasabha was a powerful organisation existing in Telangana which advocated a "Visalandhra"( larger Andhra). However there were concerns about the merger in Telangana.
The concerns about Telangana were manifold. The region had a less developed economy than Andhra, but a larger revenue base (mostly because it taxed rather than prohibited alcoholic beverages), which Telanganas feared might be diverted for use in Andhra. They also feared that planned dam projects on the Krishna and Godavari rivers would not benefit Telangana proportionately even though Telanganas controlled the headwaters of the rivers. Telanganas feared too that the people of Andhra would have the advantage in jobs, particularly in government and education.(Source: US Library of Congress)
The States Reorganization Commission (SRC) set up by the government of India in early 50s to examine the question of reorganization of states of the country was, in fact, not in favour of merging the Telangana region with the then Andhra state. After a very careful examination of the issues involved the SRC recommended: "... It will be in the interest of Andhra as well as Telangana if, for the present, the Telangana area is constituted into a separate state which may be known as the Hyderabad state, with provision for its unification with Andhra after the general elections likely to be held in or about 1961, if by two-thirds majority the legislature of the residuary Hyderabad state expresses itself in favour of such unification". (SRC Report: Para 386)
The commission further recommended: "Andhra and Telangana have common interests and we hope these interests will tend to bring the people closer to each other. If, however, our hopes for the development of the environment and conditions congenial to the unification of the areas do not materialize and if public sentiment in Telangana crystallizes itself against the unification of the two states, Telangana will have to continue as a separate unit". (SRC Report: Para 388)
The Commission came to this conclusion after a dispassionate assessment of feelings of the people of Telangana and the fears entertained by them. Elaborating the reasons for recommending statehood for the Telangana region the Commission observed: "One of the principal causes of opposition to Visalandhra also seems to be the apprehensions felt by the educationally backward people of Telangana that they may be swamped and exploited by the more advanced people of the Coastal areas...The real fear of the people of Telangana is that if they join Andhra they will be unequally placed in relation to the people of Andhra and in this partnership the major partner will derive all the advantages immediately while Telangana itself may be converted into a colony by the enterprising Andhras". (SRC Report: para 378)
Further, the SRC cautioned the nation against the dangers involved in reorganizing the Indian states solely on linguistic considerations. One of the rational criteria recommended by the Commission, while reorganizing the states, was: "... to reject the theory of ‘one language one state’ which is neither justified on grounds of linguistic homogeneity, because there can be more than one state speaking the same language without offending the linguistic principle, nor practicable, since different language groups, including the vast Hindi speaking population of the Indian Union, cannot always be consolidated to form distinct linguistic units". (SRC Report: para 163) . This caution was rejected by the Parliament of India when it endorsed political division of India across linguistic lines except for the language of Hindi.
In addition, the Prime Minister of the time, Jawaharlal Nehru, also was not in favour of merging Telangana with the Andhra state. He ridiculed the demand for Visalandhra as an idea bearing a "tint of expansionist imperialism". (Indian Express, October 17, 1953).
The central government decided to ignore the recommendation to establish a separate Telangana state and, instead, merged the two regions into a unified Andhra Pradesh. However, a "gentlemen's agreement" provided reassurances to the Telangana people. For at least five years, revenue was to be spent in the regions proportionately to the amount they contributed. Education institutions in Telangana were to be expanded and reserved for local students. Recruitment to the civil service and other areas of government employment such as education and medicine was to be proportional. The use of Urdu was to continue in the administration and the judiciary for five years. The state cabinet was to have proportional membership from both regions and a deputy chief minister from Telangana if the chief minister was from Andhra and vice versa. Finally, the Regional Council for Telangana was to be responsible for economic development, and its members were to be elected by the members of the state legislative assembly from the region.(Source: US Library of Congress)
(See also History of Hyderabad, States Reorganisation Act , Telanaga movement article in US Library of Congress)
[edit] Separate Telanaga movement
In the following years after the formation of Andhra Pradesh state, however, the Telangana people had a number of complaints about how the agreements and guarantees were implemented. The deputy chief minister position was never filled. Education institutions in the region were greatly expanded, but Telanganas felt that their enrolment was not proportionate to their numbers. The selection of the city of Hyderabad as the state capital led to massive migration of people from Andhra into Telangana. Telanganas felt discriminated against in education employment but were told by the state government that most non-Telanganas had been hired on the grounds that qualified local people were unavailable. In addition, the unification of pay scales between the two regions appeared to disadvantage Telangana civil servants. In the atmosphere of discontent, professional associations that earlier had amalgamated broke apart by region.
Discontent with the 1956 gentlemen's agreement intensified in January 1969 when the guarantees that had been agreed on were supposed to lapse. Student agitation for the continuation of the agreement began at Osmania University in Hyderabad and spread to other parts of the region. Government employees and opposition members of the state legislative assembly swiftly threatened "direct action" in support of the students. This movement also know as Jai Telangana movement. The Congress-controlled state and central governments offered assurances that non-Telangana civil servants in the region would be replaced by Mulkis, disadvantaged local people, and that revenue surpluses from Telangana would be returned to the region. The protesters, however, were dissatisfied, and severe violence, including mob attacks on railroads, road transport, and government facilities, spread over the region. In addition, seventy-nine police firings resulted in twenty-three deaths according to official figures, the education system was shut down, and examinations were cancelled. Calls for a separate Telangana state came in the midst of counter violence in Andhra areas bordering Telangana. In the meantime, the Andhra Pradesh High Court decreed that a central government law mandating replacement of non-Telangana government employees with Mulkis was beyond Parliament's constitutional powers.
Although the Congress faced dissension within its ranks, its leadership stood against additional linguistic states, which were regarded as "antinational." As a result, defectors from the Congress, led by M. Chenna Reddy, founded the Telangana People's Association (Telangana Praja Samithi). Despite electoral successes, however, some of the new party leaders gave up their agitation in September 1971 and, much to the disgust of many separatists, rejoined the safer political haven of the Congress ranks.
In 1972 the Supreme Court reversed the Andhra Pradesh High Court's ruling that the Mulki rules were unconstitutional. This decision triggered agitation in the Andhra region(also know as Jai Andhra movement) that produced six months of violence.
The Telangana movement grew out of a sense of regional identity as such, rather than out of a sense of ethnic identity, language, religion, or caste. The movement demanded redress for economic grievances, the writing of a separate history, and establishment of a sense of cultural distinctness. The emotions and forces generated by the movement were not strong enough, however, for a continuing drive for a separate state until 1990s. (Source: US Library of Congress)
In 1990s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a national party, promised separate Telangana state if they come to power. When BJP formed the coalition government in 1999, they created new states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttaranchal by separating them from Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh states respectively. But BJP could not create separate Telangana state because of the opposition from its coalition partner, Telugu Desham Party (TDP, a regional party in Andhra Pradesh). These developments brought new life into separate Telangana movement by year 2000. Congress party(Indian National Congress or INC, a national party) MLAs(Legislators) from Telangana region, supported the separate Telangana state and formed a Telangana Congress Legislators Forum. In another development, a new party called Telangana Rashtra Samithi (or TRS) is formed with single agenda of separate Telangana state, with Hyderabd as its capital.
In 2004, for Assembly and Parliament elections, Congress party and TRS had an electoral alliance in Telangana region with the promise of Telangana State. Congress came to power in the state and formed coalition government at the centre.
The Telangana movement was never directed against the territorial integrity of India, unlike the insurrections in Jammu and Kashmir and some of the unrest in northeastern India states of Assam, Tripura, Nagaland etc.
(See also States Reorganisation Act , Telanaga movement article in US Library of Congress,Planning Commission Study of Andhra Pradesh's Development and Regional inbalances, 2004 elections )
