Telugu Info

Telugu is the official language of southe indian state Andhra Pradesh and second largest spoken language in India. It is also one of the 22 official languages of the Indian Republic and was conferred the status of a classical language by the Government of India. It is the mother tongue for the majority of people of Andhra Pradesh, but it is also spoken in neighbouring states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Maharashtra and Chattisgarh.

Telugu is a richly developed language and the biggest linguistic unit in India.It is a heavily sanskritized Dravidian language which developed during the medieval period. Early inscriptions date from around the 6th century, and literary texts from the 11th century, written in a Telugu script adapted from the Bhattiprolu script of the early inscriptions. Even though it is originated from Dravidian languages, it adapted many Sanskrit words probably it has more Sanskrit words than Dravidian words. Telugu belongs to the Central Dravidian language subfamily, whose members originated from the Proto-Dravidian spoken in the central part of the Deccan plateau.

The Telugu people or Telugus are the native speakers of the Telugu language, the most commonly spoken language in India after Hindi. Telugus are mostly native to southe indian state Andra Pradesh, with significant populations in Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Orissa.

An Andhra Kingdom named for Aryan Andhras was mentioned in the Sanskrit epics such as Aitareya Brahmana (B.C.800) and Mahabharata. The Natyasastra of Bharatha (1st Century B.C) also mentioned the Andhra race. The roots of the Telugu language have been traced to inscriptions found at Bhattiprolu. Sanskrit writings from the 7th century BC describe the Andhra people as Aryans from the North who migrated South of the Vindhya Range and mixed with non-Aryans. They are mentioned again at the time of the death of the great Mauryan King Ashoka in 232 BC 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 of Hyderabad..

Most of Andhras follow the Aryan Vaishnavite religion, in contrast to the Dravidians, who are Shaivite. Telugu(Andhra) foods are famous for rich and hot spices. Rice is the staple food and is used in a wide variety of ways. Typically, rice is fully boiled and eaten with vide varities of curries. Kuchipudi is the state's best-known classical dance form and performed by both men and women; however women tend to learn it more often.

Andhra Pradesh has heighest number of cinema halls in India, at around 3000. The state also produces more than 200 movies a year. It has around 50% of the Dolby digital theatres in India. Now it also houses an IMAX theatre with a big 3D screen and also about 10 multiplexes. Tollywood produces the largest number of movies in India per year.The legends of the tollywood are NT Rama Rao, Akkineni Nageswar Rao, Krishna and Chiranjeevi. Telugu's have rich musical heritage. Many legends of the Carnatic music including Thyagaraja, Annamacharya, Kshetrayya, and Bhadrachala Ramadasu were of Telugu descent.