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Origin and Historical Evolution of the Identity of Modern Telugus Author(s): YAMADA KEIKO Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 45, No. 34 (AUGUST 21-27, 2010), pp. 57-63 Published by: Economic and Political Weekly Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25741999 Accessed: 15-10-2016 06:49 UTC

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This content downloaded from 115.184.91.76 on Sat, 15 Oct 2016 06:49:33 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Origin and Historical Evolution of the Identity of Modern Telugus

YAMADA KEIKO

The "linguistic principle" following the States The significance of a common as a major attribute Reorganisation Act of 1956 was framed as a cultural defining a nation or an ethnic group has come under scru tiny in . The "linguistic principle" following the bond and administrative facilitator for socio-economic States Reorganisation Act of 1956 was framed as a cultural prosperity. It has not only been challenged bond and administrative facilitator for socio-economic pros intermittently but also contested as a unifying concept. perity. It has been challenged intermittently and contested as a From the historical point of view, the emergence of the unifying concept. Andhra was formed by combining , the current separate of Andhra eastern part of the former , with the Pradesh is testimony to the failure or even death of , after the to integrate Telugus regional historiography or history consciousness, out of into a single political unit. The former Andhra state, the first which the 's identity once sought to "linguistic state" of post-independence India, was carved out of the in 1953, following an emotional upheaval evolve. The historical understanding of a small group of triggered by the fast-unto-death of Potti Sriramulu. The violence Telugu intellectuals under colonialism finally developed following Sriramulu's death was responsible for Jawaharlal into an imagined common historiography of the Telugus Nehru's reluctant adoption of the linguistic principle in the as Andhras. Giving the name "Andhra7 to the Telugu federal system, and for his consent to the formation of the first state for Telugu-speaking people of the region. Indeed, it is ironic region in the 20th century was arbitrary and was due to that , a larger state combining the regions of the intervention of a new historical consciousness Telugu-speaking people from the Madras Presidency and the emerging among Telugu intellectuals. From the end of Hyderabad princely state is now facing a demand for a bifurcation the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, and the creation of a sub-regional state - Telangana - irrespec tive of the language. describing the Telugu people as Andhras and the However, the demand for a separate Telangana was not new Telugu region as the Andhra region was not a simple and has a long history, beginning with the arguments and distur matter of naming. It was an example of a particular bances against the initial merger of the Telangana region with historical interpretation that was rooted in the Andhra state before the Reorganisation Act came into force. Except when violence swept across the Telangana region during colonialism and modernisation. The history of a 1968 and 1969 for a separate state, it remained a forgotten issue. separate Telangana movement, in a sense, follows In 1972, another movement for a separate Andhra state (The Jai a process to bid farewell to the colonial legacy of a Andhra Movement) erupted but ended when president's rule was modern intellectual tradition formed around regional imposed in 1973. In all the debates on Telangana, the main focus is on socio language and history. economic issues like the backwardness of the region, the coastal people's dominance in employment, and overall indifference towards development on the part of politicians and administra tors ever since the birth of the state. All these would have been solved, it was assumed, if the safeguards spelt out under the Mulki agreement had been implemented. However, that did not happen. The key reason behind the emergence of the current separate Telangana movement cannot be solely attributed to the failure of the "linguistic principle" to unite people. From the historical point of view, it is a crucial testimony to the failure or Yamada Keiko {[email protected]) is with the Faculty of even death of a regional historiography or history consciousness, Humanities, Ibaraki University, . out of which the Telugu people's identity once sought to evolve.

Economic & Political weekly [3323 august 21, 2010 vol xlv no 34 57

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In this paper, we will see how the historical understanding of a to one another, it is natural to presume that the language small group of Telugu intellectuals under colonialism finally domain is an indicator of certain socio-economic dimensions of developed into an imagined common historiography of the people's . Telugus as Andhras. We will also refer to the potential that the Language, after all, is not a self-contained autistic culture but terminology "Telangana" once had but is now lost and forgotten. a social system. Interestingly, Bh Krishnamurti, in his linguistic The history of a separate Telangana movement is, in a sense, study of Telugu agricultural words and their isoglosses, found following the process to bid farewell to the colonial legacy of a the correlation between the formation of and the dynas modern intellectual tradition formed around a tic tracts of the past.5 This may be applied to individual lan and history. guages also. In spite of that, the reason why linguistic states ap pear to be an ineffective institution is that the political economy 1 Language Domains and Linguistic States within a state's boundary is different from its language domain. A name is not just a noun. It appropriates the past and the future Moreover, it is not as if the language has nothing to do with the to the extent that its connotation allows it to. Therefore, the act of state's socio-economy or politics (in fact it does) but that it only naming, as well as its selection from among options, is a political represents a dimension, like religion or jati, among the many element worthy of historical debate. "Andhra" in contemporary which compose the multilayered structure of people's lives. usage is first of all a place name, such as Andhra Pradesh in a Even the state's boundary is one of these whether or not it is broad sense, or in a narrow sense the -Godavari basin linguistic in nature. that is commonly regarded as the heartland of Telugu culture. So when one says "he is a Andhra" he is considered to be from the 2 The Relation between 'Andhra' and 'Telugu' coastal area but not from Telangana. Applying the word Andhra It would be worth reviewing at this point of time the historical to Telugu people "at large" is an unusual practice, but was not formation of the Telugus and also what has been said so far. All unusual in history. A dynastic tract did not have to care for the students learn that Dravidians migrated from north-west India geographical distribution of , and so from the time of upon the precedent Austro-Asian inhabitants. These proto the ancient Satavahanas to the British period, the Telugu Dravidians are said to have been ramified between pre-Telugu speaking area was either ruled by bigger or divided and the rest around the nth century bc somewhere in the into smaller kingdoms. Even the medieval Kakatiyas, who Deccan.6 Next is the edict of Erragudi village of the covered relatively the territory closest to Andhra Pradesh, ruled third century bc, the first written evidence. Since there are re not more than two-thirds of Andhra Pradesh.1 In that sense, gional variations of the Ashokan , some elements of the today's Andhra Pradesh is a rare political unit demarcated over local language must have been reflected in the Erragudi Prakrit, all by language boundaries, and the origin of such an idea cannot too. However, the distinct local characteristics which devel be traced back to the pre-British period. Moreover, it seems to be oped into Telugu appeared much later than Ashoka, and some almost the consensus among scholars that the coincidence peculiar names of places and persons are found in Prakrit in between language and political domains as well as people's aspi scriptions since the second century ad. Besides, according to ration is a modern phenomenon in .2 the phonological analysis of the regional variations of the past Thus, the viewpoint that the linguistic states are, after all, tense of Telugu, it is concluded that two out of the three fictitious apparatus lacking any historically substantial socio regional dialects today were the later developments out of the economic foundation is often expressed by scholars.3 However, in other one.7 We do not know much about this period, but this the writer's view such seemingly resolute opinions may enclose may suggest that the earliest group of Telugu people was small questions about the important issue of language in history that and linguistically homogeneous and its influence spread over are still left unanswered. In fact, even though major political today's Telugu region much later. Or that there were some un boundaries could be drawn irrespective of language distribution, known and lost Telugu groups out of which only one survived the reverse does not always seem to be so. To what extent the for some reason and its linguistic culture began to spread from geography of "actual" languages is cut from or coincides with any a certain point of time. dimensions of political, economic and social reality is an issue The oldest evidence directly referring to the existence of a dis that has not yet been probed in depth. We need to cite M N tinct local language is the Brihat Katha, written down from the here to remember that the geographical distribution of dominant oral tradition sometime between the third and seventh century corresponds, though roughly, to that of local languages.4 ad. Unfortunately, the original version was lost for good, and Not only dominant castes but many castes are so aligned with what we have now are its renderings of a much later their languages that they are often recognised elsewhere by the period which have undergone many editions and revisions, called names of these languages. For example, or Reddi are the Katha Sarit Sagara. The stories in Katha Sarit Sagara may not recognised as "Telugu castes" in Nadu or even be the same as those in the Brihat Katha, but how the legendary hundreds of years after migration, and they often speak Telugu at Satavahana king became the first editor of the book was ex home. This is more so in the case of the and the rich, plained in Katha Sarit Sagara. The important reference here is since probably they tend to maintain old marriage networks the names of four local languages at the time of the Satavahana that would easily help them to preserve their " tongue". king. These are Sanskrit, Prakrit, Paishachi and Desi. The origi So, since the , language and marriage networks are related nal Brihat Katha was said to have been written in Paishachi, a 58 august 21, 2010 vol xlv no 34 [3333 Economic & Political weekly

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kind of Prakrit.8 So, since the former three have been Indo being used for the local Dravidian language was by Kumarila European languages, only the last one, "Desi", indicates an indig bhatta in the seventh century who referred to "Andhra-Dravida enous Dravidian language, a kind of ancient Telugu. Except the Bhasha".16 Then in the nth century, Nannaya wrote in the Andhra Katha Sarit Sagara, the first reference seems to be by Hsuan Mahabharatam, the name of the local language for the first time tsang in the seventh century, which says that the language as in native terminology in two spellings, "Tenungu" and "Tenugu". well as its sound is different from those of but the However, he also wrote "Andhra Bhasha" in inscriptions.17 And script rule is almost the same.9 from the nth century onwards "Andhra" appeared as the lan After going through the period of fragmental inscription evi guage name also. So, summing up, "Andhra" was a Sanskrit word dences, we come across the first Telugu classic in the nth cen for a tribe in the beginning, next applied to its region or , tury, Nannaya's AndhraMahabharatam. Interestingly, Nannaya's and then to the local language after the nth century. Telugu was archaic even when it was being written, and the Compared to "Andhra", "Telugu"' made an appearance much literal language of the "upper class" is supposed to have diverged later. Although Nannaya wrote "Tenungu" and "Tenugu", the from the spoken language five or six centuries before Nannaya,10 honour of being the first user of the exact spelling of today's that is, the fifth to sixth century. Andhra during this period, i e, "Telugu" goes to the second author of Andhra Mahabharatam, from the fall of the Satavahanas and the emergence of the east , in the 13th century. He, in fact used three nouns, "Telugu", ern Chalukyas, was generally considered to be in a political jum "Tenungu", and "Telungu". According to two Telugu phonological ble, and in economic decline and the caste hierarchy with the rules, (i) "n" drops, and (ii) "n" and "1" are interchangeable, "Te dominance of the brahmins in villages was taking form.11 So, the nungu" and "Telungu" are supposed to be the oldest forms and development of the literary tradition of the "upper class" out of changed into "Telugu" and "Tenugu" later. If we consider the pre the rest must have related to such social stratification. But not vious argument that Nannaya's language was already archaic, only that, this bifurcation is important when we trace back the these words must have been used colloquially much before. And relation between the two words, "Andhra" and "Telugu". all these four varieties: "Tenungu", "Tenugu", "Telungu" and "Telugu" The first one to appear in the sources is "Andhra", not "Telugu". always meant the language, unlike "Andhra" that underwent se The oldest evidence is in the Aitareya Brahmana of Rg Veda, mantic changes. So, now we can conclude that at least by the nth which says that Visvamitra cursed his 50 sons to live on the bor century there were two vocabulary groups for the local language ders of the Aryan settlements, one of which was inhabited by the name. One is the Sanskrit "Andhra" group, and the other is the "Andhra tribe". Such references to tribal Andhra appear in epics non-Sanskrit group with "Tenungu", "Telugu" and so on. The and the also. However, if we remember the aforesaid former was used by brahmins and the latter by others, mostly opinion that the distinct features of local language started ap non-brahmins. C Talbot maintains that "Telugu" and "Andhra" pearing only after the second century ad, no one can be sure of came to be used interchangeably after the nth century.18 Her the relation between the Andhra tribe and the Telugu observation is explained by the fact that the semantic gap be language. In the first century ad, Pliny, citing from Megasthenes tween them must have become narrower as "Andhra" came to be of the fourth century bc, wrote that the Andhras were indepen used more and more for the . dent and militarily very powerful. The Andhras in Pliny's refer The question now is, ever since "Andhra" came to mean the ence are legendary, but it is well known that the "Andhrabritiya" Telugu language, did its previous meaning of tribe or region sur in the Puranas was found to be the same as the "Satavahana" in vive or not. In other words, did people continue to indicate or find the inscriptions. Hanumantha Rao opined that the Andhras, on in the word "Andhra" any meanings of tribe and region. In my the analogy of Aryavarta, lent their originally tribal name to the opinion, it is doubtful that such ancient usage survived for long land in which they had settled.12 G N Reddi also wrote that And after the nth century. hra was the tribal name that turned out to have been applied to the name of its region.13 It is noteworthy that Hsuan-tsang also 3 'Andhra', 'Telugu' and 'Telingana' in the 19th Century described the under the name of the "Andhra As far as the author's study goes, Orientalists recognised "Andhra" country", and so "Andhra" as designating a region, or dynasty, simply as a Sanskrit name of the Telugu language and nothing seems to have prevailed in the seventh century.14 else. For example, C P Brown wrote that "Andhram" is the Sanskrit As far as the ancient usage of "Andhra" was concerned, except name for "Telugu",19 and A D Campbell also explained for some Greek and Chinese sources mentioned earlier, it was (the European name for Telugu) thus: always found in Sanskrit sources either in the form of literature (Gentoo) is the Andhra of Sanskrit authors, and, in the country where or inscriptions. One may argue that this is because it is genuinely it is spoken, is known by the name of the Trilinga, Telinga, Teloogoo, a Sanskrit word used by orthodox brahmins. Both the pioneers of orTenoogoo.20 modern Telugu studies, C P Brown and K Viresalingam also clas In fact, Orientalists knew well that in ancient times "Andhra" sified it as such.15 However, more importantly, the proper noun of meant region too. However, Campbell wrote that the ancient this particular local language before Nannaya is not known, ex Telugu region was composed of two subdivisions, the northern cept for "Desi" in Katha Sarit Sagara, and thus the language was Kalinga and the southern Andhra.21 The view that Andhra was nameless in the records. But, as a result, the meaning of "Andhra" only a part of the Telugu region was accepted by R Caldwell also, changed and it was finally used to signify the indigenous lan and he explained how a regional name changed into the language guage. According to R Caldwell, the first evidence of "Andhra" name later. He said that the people in Andhra had progressed

Economic & Political weekly august 21, 2010 vol xlv no ^4 59

This content downloaded from 115.184.91.76 on Sat, 15 Oct 2016 06:49:33 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms SPECIAL ARTICLE =eeeeeeeeeeee==^^ more than their counterparts in Kalinga and therefore Sanskrit within its range the '' and Karnul, a considerable part writers gave the name to the language commonly spoken in both of the territories of the Nizam, or the Hyderabad country, and a por tion of the country and Gondvana. The district thus described areas.22 Though different from these, another instance is that in was called Telingana by the Muhammedans.29 the Godavari region Telugu brahmins were called Andhras so as to distinguish them from other brahmins.23 From these descrip The word "Telingana" seems to be widely recognised as the tions, we learn that "Andhra" was not the name of a region or a name of the Telugu region, and so simple descriptions such as people. It is also worth recollecting that the first collected works "Telinganaa, that is Telugu region" are seen in the administrative of written by K Viresalingam was the "History records also.30 Since "Telingana" and "Telinga", "Trilinga", "Telinga", of Andhra Poets" (aandhra kavula caritram), and in that "And "Tailinga" and "Telugu" sound similar, naturally the controversy hra" meant only the Telugu language. over their etymologies arose. Caldwell wrote at length to show However, this Sanskrit name was neglected by Oriental lin that "Telugu" came from "Trilinga", but it was not "tri-linga" (three guists. They recognised only "Telugu" as the language name, and lingas) as was insisted by the Telugu pundits and denied by also gathered other variations of it that were not seen in Nannaya Brown. It was "tri-kalinga" (three regions of Kalinga).31 and Tikkana. For example, Campbell mentioned "Telinga" and The focus of this paper is not to argue about the derivation of "Trilinga" as cited above, and Caldwell wrote 'Telinga" and "Tailinga" these words. However, there are two key points to be examined. adding to "Telungu", "Tenugu" and "Tenungu".24 Brown maintai First, even before the British reign began, some vocabularies of ned that "Tailinga" and "Telinga" were used by and those the locals meaning Telugu-speaking region at large were already of unknown origin.25 Caldwell also said that the name has been in existence, and "Telingana" was one of them. Second, whatever "corrupted" still further by Muslims and foreigners.26 As for the the relation maybe between "Telingana" and "Telugu", or "Telugu" spelling, a French missionary in the 18th century wrote "Telougou", and "Trilinga", and whatever the sources may say about the an "Talenga", etc.27 Campbell spelled it as "Teloogoo". Sometime later, cient origin of these words, throughout the 19th century, people's Brown, Caldwell and others used the same spelling current today, practice of uttering "Telingana" was considered to be associated i e, "Telugu". Why they chose only "Telugu" and discarded other with Muslims as cited in the above instances. The latter point in options is not known. The problem here is not that they dismissed fact needs further verification. My inference is that although it is "Telinga" or "Tenugu", but that they did not select "Andhra". One commonly agreed that after the Circar and Ceded districts were may guess that this was so because "Telugu" is a Telugu word, not given away to the British the remaining region left in the hands Sanskrit, and majority of the people were Telugu speakers, not of the Nizam was "Telangana", the semantic possibility of this Sanskrit users. This may be correct, but such a selection was pre word was actually much wider, and as a matter of choice the sumed by some to impose the "Dravida" label not only on the more adequate and satisfactory proper noun for the overall language but also on the racial origin of the people which they Telugu region must have been "Telingana" or even "Telangana", found distressing. rather than "Andhra". So giving the name "Andhra" overall to the As for the name of regions, colonial rulers definitely never con Telugu region in the 20th century was arbitrary and was due to sidered that language was relevant to regional categorisation. the intervention of a new historical consciousness emerging Regions were basically revenue units, their boundaries drawn among the Telugu intellectuals. according to the time of the annexation. Thus, in the Madras 4 'Andhra'and'Andhras' Presidency, such divisions like "Tamil", "" and so on were not enforced, and the zamindari and ryotwari distinctions The critical cause for the modern revival of the word "Andhra" came first. In the Telugu area also, after zamindari and ryotwari was the rediscovery of that many educated divisions, ryotwari was subdivided into Circar and Ceded dis Telugus encountered through Orientalists narratives, and that tricts, and then the district and taluk followed. Circar is the uncovered information that was unknown till then. The first one coastal deltaic region given to the British by the Nizam of Hydera is the existence of the ancient "Andhra tribe". The individual epi bad, and its name, meaning "the land of the Nizam", was origi sodes in Aitareya Brahmana in Rg Veda were obviously not known nally used by the French who ruled the area earlier and was before the Orientalists made them public. The second one is the adopted by the British later. The Ceded districts, known as Rala existence of the "Andhra dynasty" written in the Puranas and yaseema today, is southern dry inland area literally "ceded" by particularly its impressive description by the Greeks as a strong the Nizam after Circar. However, though the British rulers did and independent kingdom comparable with the Maurya dynasty not think that the language domain was administratively useful, to the extent that prominent foreigners wrote about it. Studies by Telugus themselves seem to have had their own vocabularies to R G Bhandarkar and others on the Satavahanas found that the denote their linguistic region at large. For example, Campbell Andhras ruled widely from Coromandel to Arabian Sea and traded wrote that the Telugu country was "known by the name of Modo with the Roman Empire at its zenith. The third one is the Bud galingum or Trilingam".28 Caldwell also explained that the over dhist culture. The series of discoveries in on the bank all Telugu-speaking region was called "Telingana": of lower Krishna by Mackenzie from the end of the 18th century was described by G Fergusson as the biggest discovery next only Telugu is spoken all along the eastern coast of the Peninsula, from the to Princep's deciphering of the Ashoka scripts.32 Extensive neighbourhood of Pulicat, where it supersedes Tamil, to Chicacole, where it begins to yield to the , and inland it prevails as far as the archaeological excavations revealed that the coastal region was eastern boundary of the country and Mysore, including once the centre of and produced the unique tradition

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This content downloaded from 115.184.91.76 on Sat, 15 Oct 2016 06:49:33 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms _^-^=eeeee= = SPECIAL ARTICLE of art, namely the Andhra school before gloriousthe history school. as Andhras. C Virabhadra Rao in his introduc The neighbouring was perceivedtory remarks as the mentioned place his great gratitude to the Orientalist where , the giant of Madhyamika historians and acknowledged of Bud as follows: dhism, was active. These discoveries in history reflect the values Our literatures have many difficulties to know the true history. Our of Orientalists in those days. They had a strong ancestor interest rajas did in not big leave us the methods necessary to understand dynasties or empires, their links with the (Greece accurate andhistory. Roma), In their times, though they wrote inscription to and high appreciation for Buddhism. announce their laws, conducts, religions, powers and conquest and By the time this history prevailed among erected the educated, stone pillars the or held metal inscriptions, all of them ruined as word "Andhra" came to be seen as a historical time goesdomain by, andof muchwere just left surrounded by fire without anybody seeing. To God's mercy, recently we came under the British rule, and gravity, not just a simple Sanskrit alternation our of rulers Telugu spend language. all money and pain for useful works to find out our Thus, Bhandarkar wrote in his Early History Indianof the ancient Dekkan: history and discovered. ...Therefore to our rulers and truth-pursuer western scholars, we, as Andhrulu, have to express our The Andhras, who in these days are identified with special the gratitude.Telugu people, Only by their unrelenting hard works the excellence lived about the mouth of the Godavari or perhaps of farther our ancient to the Andhrulunorth.33 was revealed.37

This sentence shows that two new historical So, it interpretations is clear that the concept of a linguistic nation, the had emerged by his time. First, the Telugus Telugus were who not are merely the real descendents of ancient Andhras and Telugu speakers but were the "Andhras" who who spread descended from theirfrom homeland Godavari-Krishna basin, built glorious Andhra ancestors. And second, such a glorious Andhras past originally and became the present Telugus, is the result of inhabited the coastal region and then spread colonial all over. learning Such ofdefi modern scholarship. In fact, there was no nition of the Telugus as the Andhras was needseen into otherbelieve authentic that the Telugus had spread from the coastal Indian history at the beginning of the 20th region, century, since too. in thoseFor ex days linguists estimated that the Dravidi ample, V A gave a much clearer picture ans possibly of the Andhrascame from in the north.38 Lakshmana Rao and Virab his Ancient in 1904: hadra Rao were familiar with these works but they were obsessed with the idea that the coastal region was the citadel of In the days of and Megasthenes, the Andhra nation, a Dravidian people, now represented theby the Telugus large population since the history was based there. Their learning speaking the Telugu language, occupied the was deltas not of totally the Godavari passive but it was selective. From the end of the and Krishna (Kistna) rivers on the eastern side 19thof India, century was reputed to the to beginning of the 20th century, describing possess a military force second only that at the thecommand Telugu of thepeople king ofas Andhras and the Telugu region as the the Prasii, Chandragupta Maurya.34 Andhra region was not a simple matter of naming. It was an Descriptions such as these were quickly adopted example by theof aTelugus, particular historical interpretation that was and cited with much appreciation in their rooted historiographies. in colonialism The and modernisation. most notable examples were two pioneering works, Desa Katha Samgraha (The Brief History of5 India)Social by Change Kommaraju and Nationalism Lakshmana Rao, the first historiography In writing of India popular written regional history, Telugu intellectuals at the in Telugu, and the other, Andhrula Charitram beginning (The History of the of20th the century were responsible for inducing people Andhras) by Chilukuri Virabhadra Rao, the to monumental pay special firstattention his to two theories. The first one is, as toriography of the Telugu region in the already Telugu explained, language wasby athat the coastal region is the homeland of Telugu historian.35 K V Lakshmana Rao is theknown Telugus. as the The father Orientalists' of vision that the coastal region is the modern education in Telugu, since he propagated centre was the very need much for welcome since, from the end of the 19th modern science and history education in Telugu.century, He the started , the whose population was concentrated in the publishing enterprise Vignana Mandali,Krishna-Godavari and became delta, its emerged as modern local leaders backed chief editor. Its first publication was the first by volumeEnglish of education his book andin socio-economic development of the del 1907. C Virabhadra Rao was his assistant and taic published region. the first is a major sub-caste of brahmins whose tradi volume of his Andhrula Charitram from Vignanational occupation Chandrika was Man the village secretary, but they ranked below dali in 1910. Lakshmana Rao contributed the the preface Vaidikis which who says:were eligible to learn Sanskrit. As they stayed away Andhrulu (the Andhra people) in ancient times from enjoyed Sanskrit glory. learning But and orthodox Hindu rituals, they turned to those who 't have history knowledge mistook modern that education Andhrulu faster did and led and participated in modern litera not have glorious past, and created the theory ture that movements Andhrulu cameand socio-religious reform movements, as typi from thinking that the glory would increase by mixing cally seen in K Viresalingam's case. Some of them also started Maharashtra connection! However, this book clarifies that we do not need such weak state of mind as making effort wearing to borrow the others' sacred name, thread, performing pujas instead of inviting that Andhrulu were not born from the Maharashtrians the Vaidikis, but and actually learning Sanskrit and the . The Niyogi Maharashtrians might have been born from casteAndhrulu, association that onceis the in first such association in the Telugu region, and ancient times country flourished with high civilisation was organised and intellectual in 1903 to demand Hindu religious rights.39 prosperity, and that Andhrulu were not inferior people to others.36 The rise of the Niyogis had much to do with that of other Needless to say, the Andhrulu (the Andhra groups. people) One in ofthis them con was a merchant group. For example, text were not just the Telugu speakers, butA Kaleswara a people who Rao hadwrote a about the Komatis who adopted Hindu

Economic & Political weekly E3JE3 august 21, 2010 vol xlv no 34 6l

This content downloaded from 115.184.91.76 on Sat, 15 Oct 2016 06:49:33 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms SPECIAL ARTICLE ; rituals, but when the Vaidikis refused to perform these when rituals the Andhra movement started there were many Telugus for them, the Niyogis performed them instead.40 The who Pyda, did anot agree with the idea of the united Telugus merely on rich , was also known as one of K Viresalingam's grounds of the same language.44 patrons. Another group was that of the zamindars. They That were the Telugus were ranked third after and major providers of higher education since the modern speakers educa and were larger than Marathi or Tamil speakers was not tion in Telugu region was backward compared to other partsknown of till the beginning of the 20th century. The third rank was Madras Presidency, and the colleges founded by the Vizianaga unexpectedly big. In 1911, Andhra Patrika said that Telugus were ram, and rajas were very reputed. not They so advanced as Bengalis, Maharashtrians, Gujaratis and the were also active in running literal and cultural salons andTamils pub in spite of their population.45 The Hindu ran a series of lishing, like the Andhra Sahitya Parishad and Vignana discussions Chan titled "Are Telugus (a) Backward Race?", and in that, drika Mandali. The Niyogis were the most active in such the activi small numbers of Telugu civil officers and the low level of ed ties. The third group, the rich peasants, was the most ucation impor disproportionate to their population size was lamented.46 tant. The construction of anicut and facilities All this on made it difficult for them to imagine any categories other both sides of the Godavari and Krishna rivers and also than infra language. Thus, the combination of population theory and structure like roads and railways brought rapid agricultural that of history became essential for the identity of the newly and commercial development in the delta since the 1880s, emerging and Telugu elites. An example is given below on the issue of as a consequence, a substantial "middle peasantry", in D Aemployment Wash in the army. A letter from the Godavari district brook's words, emerged.41 They started conducting Conferenceconfer to the government, demanding the enlistment of the ences and meetings to discuss agricultural problems likeTelugus irri for military service said: gation or increase of revenue from the 1890s, and when The they Telugus who inhabited the tract (a) along the east coast of the inaugurated the first district conference, Krishna Mandala peninsula from the shores of Chilka Lake to Madras; (b) inland as for Sabha, in 1892, a Niyogi and also a member of the Indianas Mysore, the eastern boundaries of the Maharatta country includ National Congress, presided over it.42 Thus, by the beginning ing the Ceded districts and the Hyderabad dominions; and (c) a con siderable portion of the Central , are descendents of an an of the 20th century, new communication networks centred cient people with a glorious past. Their ancestors were the founders upon the Niyogis began to take shape. It is symbolic that and rulers of the famous Andhra Empire, which, immediately after K Viresalingam said: "Why are there languages? Languages the extinction of the Mauryan dynasty, held undisputed sway over are there for the people to communicate!"43 the greater portion of India. They were an enterprising people, hav The second theory is that the Telugu language is the determi ing established colonies in several islands of the Eastern Archipelago. They had thus established a reputation and left traces of their civili nant of people's characteristics and therefore its speakers sation both within and without the boundaries of India.47 should be under the same political and administrative unit. In fact, it sounds contradictory to the first one since Niyogis were,To this problem, Konda Venkatappayya appealed in the third after all, a minority and they would become so all the more Andhra if a Maha Sabha session in 1915 as below: larger territory was taken into account. They could have Lookadvo at the ancient Andhra Kingdom, the Kakatiya state, Chalukya cated another framework wherein their power would function dynasty, the never-to-be-forgotten empire of Vizayanagar and the more effectively. Therefore, the fundamental question hereprincipalities is of the Velamas, Naiks and Reddis, established by bound less Andhra valour, and we that are the descendants of such Andhras, why they had to, or needed to, imagine the particular linguistic are, forsooth, unfit for the army.. .What could be more humiliating to geographical domain, far beyond Circar and including Cededus than this? ...If you are victorious, you will enjoy happiness here. districts and Telangana. One may answer this by referring Bear toin mind that word of Krishna. Remember to the valour of K Viresalingam whose literal works brought the modern the iden ancient Andhras, Maintain yourself respect. Wash away the un merited slur on the honour of the Andhra country.48 tity and awakening of the Telugus. Howe ver, the problem is that he does not actually seem to have ever appealed for the TeluguSuch theorisation as above has to be taken in the context of na people's unification or their common identity. He regarded tionalism. Contrary to the imagined unification of the Telugus, "Desha Bhasha" just as a convenient medium or tool to fromtake theup end of the 19th century the sharp socio-economic divides reformist ideas like widow remarriage. He was in fact not in theonly regions were becoming apparent. Not only that the Circar indifferent to "Andhra" history, unlike K V Lakshmana became Rao or affluent, but in the Ceded districts, for example, transpor C Virabhadra Rao, but even antagonistic to the Indian Nationaltation led to Madras rather than Circar, so that people's life in the Congress and the nationalist movement, which the AndhraCeded districts was linked more with the . Telangana was movement started in 1913 was a part of. In my opinion, underhis leg a different government, the Nizam, and modernisation acy to the Telugu people's identity is richer by way laggedof his behind. Since people were aware of it, the idea of united language than through his reform movements or literal Telugus activi could be easily intertwined with the national movement ties. That is, in practice he made the coastal Niyogi and reinterpreted the in its context. The presidency boundaries were modern standard Telugu. Another possible answer to the drawn ques from colonial considerations and were thus to be rejected tion is the rivalry between the Telugus and the Tamils. byTelugus the colonised. Thus Konda Venkatappayya, the father of the were minorities in the Madras Presidency and the Tamils Andhra bene movement, said: fited more in the fields of education, transportation, job opportu The Andhra country, which was comparatively a single unit, with nities and economic development. It is worth remembering common that history and tradition, with common customs and usages,

62 august 21, 2010 vol xlv no 34 EBE3 Economic 8c Political weekly

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common language and literature and under the supremacy of one those who were against joining the Andhra . They common king was, after the advent of Mahomedan rule, spilt up into advocated their own regional history different from Andhra and divisions and forcibly placed under different Muslim governments. took up of Vijayanagar as a symbol. The recon And when the British established their power in the South, they gradually ciliation of their interests continued till the Sri Bagh Pact was extended their territories by compelling the Navabs to surrender one territory after another, till the whole of the Madras Presidency came inked in 1936. In case of Telangana, it was even more difficult under their control. Thus, new acquisitions, one after another, were since the discourse of common historical heritage was not at added on to old possessions and placed under one single administration all convincing. without any regard to ethnological, linguistic, historical, or geograph The claim for a united Telugu state in the beginning of the ical considerations. Thus the territory under Madras government is a 20th century was reasonable, for the Niyogis assumed hegemony conglomerate of races and languages, of customs and traditions, and a over other surrounding regions socio-politically and intellectually combination prejudicial to the development of people living in it.49 through a common language and history. However, the people Here, along with the British rule the Muslim government was also who substantially benefited from the geographical framework of referred to as responsible for dividing the Telugus. This connotation linguistic regions were in fact not the Niyogis, but the Kammas became significant later in the Telangana armed struggle and the who later came up as the most powerful community in the state Vishalandhra movement from the end of the 1940s when the politics and economy, and challenged the Niyogis' leadership annexation of the Hyderabad princely state turned into reality. from the 1920s.50 Since the knowledge of history and the attachment to region Conclusions and language is not acquired but needs to be learnt, the spread The memory of the Andhra movement and the existence of the of mass education, preferably in regional languages, was very state crowned with the name "Andhra" leads many to presume much required. Second and more crucially, people had to ben that linguistic identity is self-evident beyond any doubt. But such efit from such learning not only intellectually but socio an idea not only has a long history with much politics and social economically as well. The growing separate Telangana move change behind it, but it has also been challenged and contested. ment proves that both these needs were not fulfilled. The In the 1920s, even among those from the Krishna-Godavari delta, history of Andhra Pradesh is the history of a united Telugus, some zamindars remained members of the and did but at the same time it is also the process of disuniting them, not welcome the idea of a separate Andhra state. In the Ceded something that the once hopeful historiography had never districts, the Maha Sabha was formed in 1933-34 by meant to do.

NOTES 16 R Caldwell, op cit, p 27. (in Telugu), Madras: Vignana Chandrika Mandali, 1 C Talbot, Precolonial India in Practice: Society, 17 G NReddi, opcit, p4. 1(1910), 2(1912), 3(1916), 5d936). Region, and Identity in Medieval Andhra, Oxford 18 C Talbot, op cit, p 36. 36 C Virabhadra Rao, op cit, pp 3-4. University Press, 2001, p 26. 19 CP Brown, op cit, p 106. 37 Ibid, pp 9-10. 2 For example, B Anderson, Imagined Community: 20 A D Campbell, A Grammar of the Teloogoo Lan 38 R Caldwell, op cit, pp 106-09. Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationa guage Commonly Termed the Gentoo, 1849, rept 39 Krishna Patrika (in Telugu), 17 June, 1916. lism, London, 1983. (New : Asian Educational Service), 1991, p i. 40 A Kaleswara Rao, Naa Jiivita Katha (in Telugu) 3 For example, see D Ludden, "Spectres of Agrarian 21 Ibid, pvii. (: Andhra Granda Mandali), 1959, Territory in Southern India", The Indian Economic 22 R Caldwell, op cit, p 27. PP 24-25. and Social History Review, 39, (2 and 3), 2002, 23 F R Hemingway, Madras District Gazetteers: PP 233-57 41 DA Washbrook, The Emergence of Provincial Poli Godavari, 1915, rept (New Delhi: Asian Educa tics, The Madras Presidency, 1870-1920 (New 4 M N Srinivas, Caste in Modern India and Other tional Service), 2000, p 51. Delhi: Vikas Publishing House), 1976, pp 90-96. Essays (: Publishing House), 1962. 24 R Caldwell, Op cit, p 27. 42 K V Narayana Rao, The Emergence of Andhra 5 Bh Krishnamurti, Language, Education and Society 25 C P Brown, Essays on the Language and Litera Pradesh (Bombay: Popular Prakashan), 1973, (New Delhi: Sage Publications), 1998, pp 86-105. ture of the Telugus, Madras, 1840, rept (New pp 10-11. 6 Bh Krishnamurti, The , Delhi: Asian Educational Service), 1991, p 1. 43 K Viresalingam, Sweeya Caritra (in Telugu), Cambridge University Press, 2003, pp 501-02. 26 R Caldwell, op cit, p 27. 2, Madas, 1915, rept (Vijayawada: Vishalandhra), 7 Bh Krishnamurti, Language, p 111. 27 For example, Grammaire Pour Apprendre La 1990, p 125. 8 R Caldwell, A Comparative Grammar of the Dra Langue Talenga, by French Jesuit Missionary, vidian or South Indian Family of Languages, 1856, written about 1720-30. 44 For example, B P Sitaramayya (ed.), For and Against the Andhra Province, , 1913. rept (New Delhi: Oriental Books), 1974, p 5. 28 A D Campbell, op cit, p vii. 9 Hsuan-tsang, Ta Tang Hsiyil Chi (translated into 29 R Caldwell, op cit, p 25. 45 Andhra Patrika, Sanchika (in Telugu), 1910, PP 37-41. Japanese and annotation by Mizutani Shinjo), 3 30 For example, see A C John Boswell, Manual of the (Tokyo: Heibonsha), 1999, p 248. . District in the Presidency of Madras, 46 The Hindu, 15 April 1911 in Narayana (1973), 10 Bh Krishnamurti, Language, pp 202-04. Madras, 1873, P436. pp 22-23. 11 B S L Hanumantha Rao, Socio-Cultural History of 31 R Caldwell, op cit, pp 27-29. 47 "Letter from the Godavari District Conference to the , 3 June 1912" in G V Subbha Ancient and Medieval Andhra, Telugu University, 32 G Furgusson, Tree and Serpent Worship, 2nd (ed.), Hyderabad, 1995, pp 45-50. London, 1873, Introduction. Rao, compiled by, History of Andhra Movement 12 Ibid, p 58. (Andhra Region), Vol 1, The Committee of History 33 R G Bhandarkar, Early History of the Dekkan, 13 G N Reddi, "Aandhra, Tenugu, Telugu" in Bh Down to the Mahomedan Conquest, 2nd (ed.), of Andhra Movement, Hyderabad, 1982, pp 119-20. Krishnamurti, Telugu Bhaasha Caritra (in Telugu) 1895, rept (New Delhi: Asian Educational Serv 48 K Venkatappayya (ed.), Report of the Third Andhra (Hyderabad: Telugu Academy), 1995, pp 3-4 ice), 1981, p 6 Conference, , 1915, p 19. 14 Hsuan-tsang, op cit. 34 V A Smith, The Early History of India, from 600 BC 49 K Venkatappayya, The Andhra Movement, Guntur: 15 C P Brown, Dictionary of Telugu English, 2nd to the Muhammadan Conquest, Oxford University The Andhra Maha Sabha, 1938, p 12. (ed.), New Edition Thoroughly Revised and Press, 1904, p 206. 50 Yamada Keiko, "Politics and Representation of Brought upto Date by M Venkata Ratnam, 35 K V Lakshmana Rao, Hindu Desa Katha Caste Identity in Regional Historiography: A Case W H Campbell and Rao Bahadur K Veerasalin Samgraha (Brief History of India), (in Telugu), Study of Kammas in Andhra" in The Indian Eco gam, 1903, rept (New Delhi: Asian Educational Madras: Vignana Chandrika Mandali, 1(1907), nomic and Social History Review, 45, 3, 2008, Services), 1983, p 106. 2(1008). C Virabhadra Rao, Aandhrula Caritram, PP 353-8o. Economic & Political weekly august 2i, 2010 voi xi v nc 63

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