<html> <head> <title>Telugu History</title> <meta name="Description" content="Telugu is one of the major Dravidian languages recognized by the constitution of India and spoken by about 76 million people (2001 census) in Andhra Pradesh, a South-eastern Telugu History .........Telugu History"> </title"> <meta name="KeyWords" content="site search"> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="..\stylefolder\ComSty.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="..\stylefolder\menu.css"> </head> <body background="..\Images\bg.gif" class="MsoBodyText" topmargin="0" leftmargin=0 > <script> if (!document.layers) document.write('<div id="divStayTopLeft" style="position:absolute">') </script> <layer id="divStayTopLeft"> <style type="text/css"> a.onee:link {color: #F7E7D6;font-family: Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, Times New Roman; ;font-weight: bold;font-size: 11;text-decoration: none} a.onee:visited {color: #F7E7D6;font-family: Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, Times New Roman; ;font-weight: bold;font-size: 11;text-decoration: none} a.onee:hover {color:#ffffff;text-decoration: none} </style> <!--END OF EDIT--> </layer> <script type="text/javascript" LANGUAGE="JavaScript1.2"> //Enter "frombottom" or "fromtop" var verticalpos="fromtop" if (!document.layers) document.write('</div>') JSFX_FloatTopDiv(); </script> <script src="IncSty.js" language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript"></script> <a name="Syntax (Sentence Structure)"></a> <body> <div id="printReady"> <meta name="KeyWords" content="site search"> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="..\stylefolder\ComSty.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="..\stylefolder\menu.css"> </head> <body background="..\Images\bg.gif" class="MsoBodyText" topmargin="0" leftmargin=0 > <script> if (!document.layers) document.write('<div id="divStayTopLeft" style="position:absolute">') </script> <layer id="divStayTopLeft"> <style type="text/css"> a.onee:link {color: #F7E7D6;font-family: Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, Times New Roman; ;font-weight: bold;font-size: 11;text-decoration: none} a.onee:visited {color: #F7E7D6;font-family: Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, Times New Roman; ;font-weight: bold;font-size: 11;text-decoration: none} a.onee:hover {color:#ffffff;text-decoration: none} </style> <!--END OF EDIT--> </layer> <script type="text/javascript" LANGUAGE="JavaScript1.2"> //Enter "frombottom" or "fromtop" var verticalpos="fromtop" if (!document.layers) document.write('</div>') JSFX_FloatTopDiv(); </script> <script src="IncSty.js" language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript"></script> <a name="Syntax (Sentence Structure)"></a> <body> <div id="printReady"> <a name="history"> <h1> I History</h1> <h2>1. Details from proto stage to current stage</h2> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> Telugu is one of the major Dravidian languages recognized by the constitution of India and spoken by about 76 million people (2001 census) in Andhra Pradesh, a South-eastern state of India. Telugu language is also known as <i>andhra, aandhra, tenungu, telungu, trilinga, vaDagu, vaDuga and jentuu.</i> Telugu is spoken as mother tongue by large number of people when compared with other Dravidian languages. There are also a considerable number of Telugu speakers living in the adjacent provinces of Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Orissa, Maharastra, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, West Bengal and other parts of India. </p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> The speakers of Telugu form the second largest linguistic group in India (the first being Hindi). Andhra Pradesh was the first state to be formed on the basis of demarcation of linguistic provinces in India. When the Andhras, a branch of the Aryan people, came to this region to colonise, they found comparatively developed people whom they called Nagas. The language of Nagas was a non-aryan one, and it is said that they called themselves Tillingas or Telingas. Aryans and Non-Aryans, united in one group, made a peaceful living in this region. This synthesis had been so perfect that the two terms Andhra and Telinga (Telugu) became synonymous with each other. Such synthesis has been the backbone of Telugu culture, throughout the long course of its history. It can be said, in the general pattern of Indian culture, that the geography has allotted Telugu people, the role of bringing out a creative synthesis between the north and the south. Telugu is being used, as the medium of instruction in schools and colleges and Telugu is also the Official language of Andhra Pradesh, where it is used for administrative purpose.</p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> Telugu is bordered by Tamil in the South, Kannada in the West, Marathi in the northwest, Hindi in the North and Oriya and a number of tribal languages in the Northeast. One comes across large number of bilingual speakers, fluent in Telugu and other Indian language(s), in these border regions. </p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> The Dravidian family comprises of more than two- dozen languages, spreading from Sri Lanka in the South, to Nepal in the North, Bihar in the Northeast to Pakistan in the Northwest. On the basis of comparative and historical study of Phonology and morphology, the entire family of Dravidian family of languages is classified into three sub-groups. These sub-groups and their members are:</p> <pre class="pretag" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> (1) South Dravidian: Tamil, Malayalam, Kota, Toda, Kodagu, Badaga, Kanada, Tulu and Irula. (2) Central Dravidian: Telugu, Gondi, Konda (or Kubi), Kui, Kuvi, Pengo, Kanda, Indi, Kolami, Kaiki, parji and Gadaba. (3) North Dravidian Kurukh, Malto and Brahui </pre> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> This classification of Telugu as belonging to Central rather than to South Dravidian is based on the fact that it shares many phonological and grammatical characteristics with the Gondi-Manda group. (Drishnamurti, 1961). </p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> Among the Dravidian languages, 4 languages namely, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam are considered literary, as each language has a long-standing written literature and a separate script. The above-mentioned 4 languages are even the state languages of Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, respectively. Beside these languages, all other Dravidian languages are considered non-literary and tribal (minor), with the exception of Tulu and Kodagu. As the Dravidian languages are geographically distributed throughout South Asia, it comes under the category of South Asian family of languages and not under South Indian family of languages (cf. the title of Bishop R. Calawell s book (1856): <i>A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian family of languages).</i> </p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> The enormous influence of Sanskrit on Telugu vocabulary has made the early philologists and the traditional Telugu scholars assume a genetic relation of Telugu with Sanskrit. This belief was shattered by the 19th century European scholars who worked on Telugu and related languages. Notable among them are F.W. Ellis, A.D. Campbell, A.H.Arden and R. Caldwell History. </p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> Telugu made its appearance in script form, towards the last quarter of the 6th century. But the influence of Prakrit was open on Telugu as early as in 3rd century. The language, from the beginning of its history, was progressively enriched by its contact with Prakrit, Sanskrit, Urdu and English </p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> After the advent of the printing press and the school system of education, Telugu was broadly used in four areas: (1) poetry (2) inscriptions (3) folk literature (4) common speech (social and perhaps official). </p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> The language of the inscriptions is always based on the contemporary speech of the educated, with occasional admixture of literary and rustic expressions. Folk literature, in the form of song, replicates the speech of common people among whom it is circulated and it is basically rural in its base. </p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> The poetic language, both in its form and appeal, was confined to royal courts and the interested elite. In order to keep it insulated, the scholars and poets were constrained to use in other areas of communication. Because of this restriction on the medium, prose never emerged as a form of classical literature in Telugu. Even the sparse scientific writings on prosody, arithmetic, medicine and grammar were cast either in Telugu verse or in Sanskrit slokas. The emergence of popular literary forms like sataka, devotional songs and yakshagana necessitated extensive reliance on contemporary spoken language, in order to extend their appeal and expressiveness. </p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> In 1853, for the first time, a Telugu pandit named Chinnayasuri, in the presidency college experimented a prose variety based on the classical poetic language in his book <i>Niti Chandrika.</i> In 1855, he published <i>Balavyakaranamu,</i> an excellent grammar on poetic language, which was intended for school study and was proposed as a guide to correct writing. These works, to some extent have given support to traditional pandits who upheld the <i>Kavyabhasha</i> as primary and the spoken language as its degenerate variety. The influence of Chinnayasuri detained the growth of creative prose for the moment, until Guruzada appeared on the scene and produced his first social play <i>Kanyasulkam </i>in 1897, in a near modern language. The controversy that raged between the classical and modern scholars subsided in 1919 with the victory of classicists to perpetuate the use of the so-called granthika (or the poetic dialect) as the textbook language and as the examination medium. However, teaching has all along been done in the spoken variety of the teacher. </p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> For about 90 years, (1850  1940) Telugu prose developed in a small scale, even when scholars like Kandukuri Veeresalingam and Panuganti used a liberalized poetic variety in their writings, which was neither fully classical nor fully modern. </p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> Since the forties, Telugu prose style got out of the clutches of the traditional pandit. The emergence of mass media of communication like radio, cinema, language newspapers and the rise of new forms of writings, which was the impact of the nationalist movement, reinforced the importance of the spoken word and resulted in the growth of various literary forms in modern Telugu. </p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> In 1966 Telugu became the official language of the state and in 1974 it was decided that the correspondences at the Taluk level would be only in the Telugu language. In 1969, Telugu, on a large scale, was introduced as a medium of instruction in higher education. Telugu is used in schools and colleges and it is also the Official language of the state administration of Andhra Pradesh. </p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> The earliest written records, which consider Telugu as an independent language, are available from 2nd century A.D. Prakrit inscription, of this period, evidences that Telugu was used as place names (cf. Krishnamurti, 1978:37). Subsequently, in 7th century A.D Telugu became the language of inscriptions. The literary work in Telugu appeared during the 11th century. Historical studies on Telugu, particularly studies on phonology and grammar, have identified different developments in the evolution of Telugu language, from 600 B.C. to its present day. The entire evolution has been divided into: (1) prehistoric Telugu  from 600 B.C. to 200 B.C. (2) Old Telugu  from 200 B.C. to 1000 A.D. (3) Kiddle Telugu  from 1000 to 1600 A.D. and (4) New Telugu  from 1600 A.D. onwards (cf. Mahadeva Sastri, 1969). </p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> Translation of some parts of Mahabharata from Sanskrit by Nannayabhattu, which dates back to the 11th century A.D, is the first available work on Telugu literature. A mixed style consisting of verse and poetic prose was introduced in this work and this style became the norm for later writers. Apart from this Sanskrit  based style and theme, there were oral literary form like folk songs and folk tales; reflecting indigenous metre and theme. This latter tradition is claimed to be older than that of Nannaya s work and its style is believed to be a good representative of the spoken Telugu of the day. Unfortunately there are no available written records of this style. The tradition of mixed style was continued as the sole representative expression of written literature until the latter half of the 19th century. The influence of English literature on Telugu initiated the prose form during the latter half of the 19th century. This is the more popular medium of expression in fiction, travelogues, newspapers and various other media at the present time. Within prose two distinguishable styles are noticeable  one based on the variety found in traditional literature, thick with Sanskrit words, called literary Telugu, and the other based on the educated spoken speech  called standard colloquial. </p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> In Andhra Pradesh, Telugu has been recognized as the medium of instruction at the school level, from the last 40 years. It has recently been introduced as a medium of instruction at _________ level and plans are under way to extend it up to the University level as well. A student of the state usually learns two more languages (mainly English and Hindi) at the secondary school level (classes 6 to 11) in accordance with the Indian Government s policy of  three language formula . </p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> The Literacy rate in Andhra Pradesh is 45.1 percent. In 1991, Andhra Pradesh recorded 24 percent literacy. The literates in the state are unevenly distributed. Like in other states, in Andra Pradesh literates are mostly concentrated in cities and towns, whereas the rural areas have a large number of illiterates. The highest percentage of literacy has been recorded in the Hyderabad district (Krishnamurti, 1979:4), for the obvious reason of being an urban area. With regard to the distribution of literacy rate in the regions of Andra Pradesh, the Coastal Central area stands first, Rayalaseema- second, Kalinga- third and Telangana- occupies the fourth place.</p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> It is in second century B.C that some evidences of Telugu language got recorded in the inscriptions. In these inscriptions, Telugu along with Sanskrit and Prakrit texts was used as or in personal names. It should be noted that the numerous inscriptions available from the beginning of sixth century were written in Telugu. Translation of some parts of Mahabharata from Sanskrit by Nannayabhattu, which dates back to the 11th century A.D, is the first available work on Telugu literature. The first Telugu grammar written in Sanskrit is <i>Andhrasabadacintamni.</i> There are even innumerable references to oral literature in the form of folk songs. This tradition played an important role in evolving a <i>desi</i> or indigenous style as against the Sanskritized style. It is believed that the former style was much closer to the spoken language of the day and so forms better material for linguistic studies. </p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.5in;text-indent:.0in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> Mahadeva Sastry divides the history of Telugu language into three periods: <br> (1) Pre-Nannaya s period or Old Telugu, (2) Post-Nannaya period or Middle Telugu, and (3) Modern period or New Telugu. Considering the major linguistic changes, Krishnamurti (1974) has set up four stages in the history of Telugu language. According to him, there are four stages in the history of the Telugu language. </p> <pre class="pretag" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> Stage I : 200 A.D. to 700 A.D. Stage II : 700 A.D. to 1200 A.D. Stage III : 1200 A.D. to 1600 A.D. Stage IV : 1600 A.D. to 1900 A.D. </pre> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.0in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> Based on his study on  <i>A Historical Grammar of Inscriptional Telugu</i> , Ranganadhacharyulu (1987) sets up the following stages in the evolution of Telugu: </p> <pre class="pretag" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> Old: (a) Early Old Telugu 200 A.D. to 700 A.D. (b) Late Old Telugu 701 A.D. to 1200 A.D. Middle: (a) Early Middle Telugu 1201 A.D. to 1400 A.D. (b) Late Middle Telugu 1401 A.D. to 1600 A.D. Modern: (a) Early Modern Telugu 1601 A.D. to 1900 A.D. (b) Modern Telugu 1901 onwards. </pre> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> Stage I: During this stage, the main source for the study of Telugu language was the Vocabulary available in Sanskrit and Prakrit inscriptions.</p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> Stage II: Certain phonological changes were taken place during this stage. For example zoo changed to &#1240;. </p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> Stage III: A transition from old Telugu to modern Telugu is the main outcome of this stage. Simplication of word initial consonant clusters took place and the laws of r in such clusters were found. </p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> Stage IV: All the changes that took place during the earlier stages were recognized in the IVth stage.</p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> Prabhakar Sastry (1928) commented on the drawbacks of the Telugu script on learning, printing and typewriting. He recommended  A (gunintam) in order to derive the vowels. He also suggested a new way of writing gunintam science by the side of the letters to derive numerous gunintam letters. He simplified  samyukta aksharams by  pullu aksharams . </p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> Harisarvotham Rao (1938) suggested the writing of the  gunintam sign by the side of the letter. Subramanya Sarma (1944) also suggested the same, but with slight alteration.  samyukta aksharams using letters with a dot superscripted over them instead of the  pullu aksharams . Venkat Rao (1945), proposed the script reform, in order to eradicate illiteracy by making Telugu learning easy.</p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> In Telugu, one had to learn 25 primary letters and 16 signs as against the total of 117 script forms at present. The changes in the script were made to facilitate the modern amenities of printing, typewriting and stenography. </p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> Telangana, the Telugu speaking districts of old Nizam s Dominions, merged with Andhra Pradesh in 1956. </p> <h2>Earliest reference in different Sources</h2> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> Ranganadhacharyulu pine for the historical revolution of the Telugu language. Several scholars like, Somasekhara Sarma (1924), Ramakrishnaiah (1929), Narayana Rao (1937) and Somayaji (1947) have made an attempt for the historical study of the early Telugu inscriptions. In his <i>Historical Grammar of Telugu,</i> Mahadeva Sastry (1969) made a systematic study of the history of Telugu language with special reference to early Telugu from 200 B.C. to 1100 A.D. Radhakrishna (1964) has made a systematic study of the historical and comparative aspects of the language of early Telugu inscriptions from 11th century A.D. to 14th century A.D. and studied the historical aspects of the language of these centuries. Ranganadhacharyulu contributed towards the inscriptional Telugu from 15th Century and his influence lasted upto 1890 A.D.</p> <h2>3. Script/Scripts used to document the language</h2> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> Telugu script is derived from the Ashokan Brahmi script that was used in South India around 2nd century A.D. The Southern Brahmi also known as dr1 )ðvi&#601;i-br1 )ðhmi of 2nd c. A.D. gave rise to v<e& gi- 1 )ðca#ðlukyan script also known as Telugu-Kannada script. The Telugu and Kannada scripts gained a separate identity towards the end of 13th century A.D. According to Satyaranaya Murthy (1968), the Vedas were reduced to writing in 800 B.C. (to 600 B.C) and the earliest script was known as the Brahmi script. Sanskrit, the language of Buddha and Mahavira, dated back to 528 B.C. (or 468 B.C.). The fortunes and favors of the kings, who ruled Telugu provinces through the centuries, are responsible for the evolution of present Telugu script. Most of the inscriptions were also found in and around Vengipuram and hence the script found in the inscription came to be known as Vengi script. It acquired a new shape by 10th Century A.D. and gained popularity as Telugu-Kannada script. Given below is a tree diagram provided by Tirumala Ramachandra (1974) about the evolution of the script (page 349). </p> <pre class="pretag" style="margin-left:.4in;text-indent:.5in;margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:.2in;"> South Brahmi Chalukya Vengi West Chalukya East Chalukya Old Javakali Evolution Stage Halagannada script Old Telugu script Kannada script Telugu script </pre> <p align="Right"> </p> <a name="bottom"></a> </div> <p align="Right"> </p> <a name="bottom"> </a> </div> <p align="right" ><a href="#top" ><img src="../images/arrT2.gif" border="0" ALT="Top"><br><b>top</a></p> <hr> <p align="center" style="margin-top:.01in;margin-bottom:.2in;"><b><font face="Verdana" size="1" color="#000000"> Copyright CIIL-India Mysore</b></p> <br> </body> </html>