| Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan • Jiddu Krishnamurti • Neelam Sanjiva Reddy • • Jwala Gutta |
| Total population |
|---|
| 75 million (2001 estimate)[1] |
| Languages |
| Religion |
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Hinduism · Islam · Christianity · Buddhism · Judaism |
| Related ethnic groups |
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Dravidian · Brahui · Gondi · Kalinga · Kannadiga · Malayali · Tamilian · Tuluva · Indo-Aryan |
The Telugu people or Telugu Prajalu (Telugu: తెలుగు ప్రజలు) are a Dravidian ethnic group of India. They are the native speakers of the Telugu language, the most commonly spoken language in India after Hindi. They are mostly native to Andhra Pradesh, with significant populations in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Pondicherry,Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Orissa.[2] The Telugu constitute one of the largest ethnic groups in the world.Telugu is the Second most speaking language in India.
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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.[3][4] 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 Vijayanagara Kingdom, the Qutb Shahis of Golconda, and the Nizams (princes) of Hyderābād.[5]
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.[6]
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 Myanmar is proposed to be related to Telugu people.
The first great Andhra empire was that of the Satavahanas,[7] 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.[8]
Telugu is a South-Central Dravidian language. Early inscriptions date from 620 AD and literary texts from the 11th century, written in a Telugu script adapted from the Bhattiprolu script of the early inscriptions.