Telugu people

"Andhra people" redirects here. For other uses, see Andhra (disambiguation).
Telugu people
Telugu vāru
తెలుగు వారు
Telugu Talli, the personification of Telugu people and culture
Total population
c. 83 million[1][2]
(native speakers)
Regions with significant populations
Andhra Pradesh
Telangana
Yanam
 India81,127,740 (2011)[2]
 United States1,230,000 (Telugu Americans)[3]
 Saudi Arabia383,000[4]
 Myanmar138,000[5]
 Malaysia126,000 (Malaysian Telugus)[6]
 Australia59,400[7]
 Canada54,685[8]
 Bangladesh40,000[9]
 United Kingdom33,000[10]
 Fiji34,000[11]
 Mauritius20,000[12]
 Bahrain18,700[1]
 Oman13,300[1]
 New Zealand5,754[13]
 South Africa5,000[14]
OtherSee Telugu diaspora
Languages
Telugu
Religion
Majority:
Hinduism
Minority:
Christianity, Islam, Buddhism
Related ethnic groups
Other Dravidian peoples:
PersonTelugu
PeopleTeluguvāru
LanguageTelugu
CountryTelugu Nāḍu

Telugu people (Telugu: తెలుగువారు, romanized: Teluguvāru), also called Āndhras, are an ethno-linguistic group who speak the Telugu language and are native to the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Yanam district of Puducherry. They are the most populous of the four major Dravidian linguistic groups. Telugu is the fourth most spoken language in India[15] and the 14th most spoken native language in the world.[16] A significant number of Telugus also reside in the Indian states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Maharashtra. Members of the Telugu diaspora are spread across countries like United States, Australia, Malaysia, Mauritius, UAE and others.[17] Telugu is the fastest-growing language in the United States.[18] It is also a protected language in South Africa.[19]

Andhra is an ethnonym used for Telugu people since antiquity.[20] The earliest mention of the Andhras occurs in Aitareya Brahmana (c. 800 BCE) of the Rigveda.[21] In the Mahabharata, the infantry of Satyaki was composed of a tribe called the Andhras, known for their long hair, tall stature, sweet language, and mighty prowess. They were also mentioned in the Buddhist Jataka tales.[22] Megasthenes reported in his Indica (c. 310 BCE) that the Andhras, living in the Godavari and Krishna river deltas, were famous for their formidable military strength, which was second only to that of the Maurya Empire in the entire Indian subcontinent.[23] The first major Andhra polity was the Satavahana dynasty (2nd century BCE–2nd century CE) which ruled over the entire Deccan plateau and even distant areas of western and central India.[24] They established trade relations with the Roman Empire and their capital city, Amaravati was the most prosperous city in India in 2nd century CE.[25] Inscriptions in Old Telugu script (Vengi script) were found as far away as Indonesia and Myanmar.[26]

In the 13th century, Kakatiyas unified various Telugu-speaking areas under one realm.[27] Later, Telugu culture and literature flourished and reached its zenith during the late Vijayanagara Empire.[28][29] After the fall of the Vijayanagara Empire, various Telugu rulers called Nayakas established independent kingdoms across South India serving the same function as Rajput warriors clans of northern India.[30] Kandyan Nayaks, the last dynasty to rule Sri Lanka were of Telugu descent.[31] In this era, Telugu became the language of high culture throughout South India.[32] Vijaya Ramaswamy compared it to the overwhelming dominance of French as the cultural language of modern Europe during roughly the same era.[33] Telugu also predominates in the evolution of Carnatic music, one of two main subgenres of Indian classical music.[34]

The architecture developed by Andhras in Krishna river valley in early first centuries CE, called the Amaravati School of Art, is regarded as one of the three major styles of ancient Indian art and had a great influence on art in South India, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia.[35] Mahayana, the predominant Buddhist tradition in China, Japan, and Korea and the largest Buddhist denomination in the world, was developed among Telugus in Andhra.[36]

Telugu is one of six languages designated as a classical language by the Government of India. It has been in use as an official language for over 1,400 years[37] and has an unbroken and diverse literary tradition of over a thousand years.[38][39] Telugu performing arts include the classical dance form Kuchipudi, as well as Perini Sivatandavam, and Burra Katha. The Telugu shadow puppetry tradition, Tholu Bommalata, dates back to the 3rd century BCE,[40] and is the ancestor of Wayang, the popular Indonesian art form that has been a staple of Indonesian tourism.[41] Telugu cinema is the largest film industry in India in terms of box office as well as admissions.[42][43] The industry has produced some of India's most expensive and highest-grossing films, influencing Indian popular culture well beyond Telugu-speaking regions.[44]

  1. ^ a b c "Telugu population figure worldwide". Ethnologue. March 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Scheduled Languages in descending order of speaker's strength - 2011" (PDF). Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.
  3. ^ "Telugu population in US grow 4-fold in 8 years, language among most-spoken". India Today. 27 June 2024. Retrieved 10 August 2024.
  4. ^ "Telugu-speaking South Asian in Saudi Arabia". Joshua Project. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  5. ^ "Telugu-speaking South Asian in Myanmar (Burma)". Joshua Project. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  6. ^ "Telugu-speaking South Asian in Malaysia". Joshua Project. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  7. ^ "Language spoken at home | Australia | Community profile". .id (informed decisions). Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  8. ^ "Knowledge of languages by age and gender: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions". Census Profile, 2021 Census. Statistics Canada Statistique Canada. 7 May 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  9. ^ "In Dhaka Telugu Christians from Andhra Pradesh celebrate Christmas in extreme poverty". AsiaNews. 18 December 2018.
  10. ^ "Language, England and Wales: Census 2021". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  11. ^ "Telugu-speaking South Asian in Fiji". Joshua Project. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  12. ^ "Telugu-speaking South Asian in Mauritius". Joshua Project. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  13. ^ "2018 Census totals by topic – national highlights (updated)". Statistics New Zealand. 30 April 2020. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  14. ^ "Telugu-speaking South Asian in South Africa". Joshua Project. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  15. ^ Jain, Bharti (21 June 2014). "Nearly 60% of Indians speak a language other than Hindi". The Times of India.
  16. ^ Statistics, in Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2023). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (26th ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
  17. ^ Oonk, Gijsbert (2007). Global Indian Diasporas: Exploring Trajectories of Migration and Theory. Amsterdam University Press. pp. 92–116. ISBN 978-90-5356-035-8. Archived from the original on 13 October 2022. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  18. ^ "Do you speak Telugu? Welcome to America". BBC News. 20 October 2018. Archived from the original on 13 December 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  19. ^ "Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 – Chapter 1: Founding Provisions". Government of South Africa. Archived from the original on 28 October 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  20. ^ Subramanian, K. R. (1989). Buddhist Remains in Andhra and the History of Andhra Between 225 and 610 A.D. Asian Educational Services. pp. 8, 9. ISBN 978-81-206-0444-5.
  21. ^
  22. ^ Chopra, Pran Nath (1994). Encyclopaedia of India: Andhra Pradesh. Rima Publishing House. p. 135.
  23. ^ V. D., Mahajan (2016). Ancient India. S. Chand Publishing. p. 297. ISBN 978-93-5253-132-5.
  24. ^
  25. ^ Wolpert, Stanley A. (1989). A New History of India. Oxford University Press. pp. 75, 76. ISBN 978-0-19-505636-5. Amaravati on the banks of the Krishna, which was later the southeast capital of the Satavahanas, flourished in its trade with Rome, Ceylon, and Southeast Asia, and may well have been the most prosperous city of India during the second century of the Christian era.
  26. ^ Miśra, Bhāskaranātha; Rao, Manjushri; Pande, Susmita, eds. (1996). India's Cultural Relations with South-east Asia. Sharada Publishing House. pp. 70, 71. ISBN 978-81-85616-39-1.
  27. ^ Talbot, Cynthia (2001). Precolonial India in Practice: Society, Region, and Identity in Medieval Andhra. Oxford University Press. p. 126. ISBN 978-0-19-513661-6.
  28. ^ Varadaraja, V. Raman. Glimpses of Indian Heritage. Popular Prakashan. p. 136. ISBN 978-81-7154-758-6.
  29. ^ Asher, Catherine B.; Talbot, Cynthia (2006). India before Europe. Cambridge University Press. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-521-80904-7. The Telugu language became particularly prominent in ruling circles by the early sixteenth century, because of the large number of warrior lords who were either from Andhra or had served the kingdom there.
  30. ^
  31. ^ * Muthiah, S. (27 March 2017). "The Nayaka kings of Kandy". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 23 October 2020. All four worshipped at Buddhist and Hindu shrines, used Sinhala and Tamil as court languages (though they spoke Telugu), and encouraged their courtiers to take wives from Madurai and Thanjavur.
  32. ^
  33. ^ Ramaswamy, Vijaya (25 August 2017). Historical Dictionary of the Tamils. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 88. ISBN 978-1-5381-0686-0. In precolonial or early-modern South India, Telugu became the cultural language of the south, including the Tamil country, somewhat similar to the overwhelming dominance of French as the cultural language of modern Europe during roughly the same era. Therefore, Telugu predominates in the evolution of Carnatic music, and it is the practice to teach Telugu language in music colleges to those aspiring to become singers.
  34. ^
  35. ^
  36. ^
  37. ^ రెడ్డి, తులసీ ప్రసాద్ (22 February 2022). "కడప జిల్లాలోని కలమల్ల శాసనమే తొలి తెలుగు శాసనమా?". BBC News తెలుగు (in Telugu). Retrieved 5 April 2023.
  38. ^ Greene, Roland; Cushman, Stephen (22 November 2016). The Princeton Handbook of World Poetries. Princeton University Press. p. 541. ISBN 978-1-4008-8063-8.
  39. ^ Harder, Hans (3 August 2017). Literature and Nationalist Ideology: Writing Histories of Modern Indian Languages. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-38435-3.
  40. ^ Osnes, Beth (2001). Acting: An International Encyclopedia. ABC-Clio. pp. 152, 335. ISBN 978-0-87436-795-9.
  41. ^
  42. ^ "Why Telugu films gave Hindi films a run for their money in the pandemic". Business Today. 15 February 2022. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  43. ^ Jha, Lata (31 January 2023). "Footfalls for Hindi films slump up to 50%". Mint. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  44. ^ "Telugu Language Day 2023: History, Significance, and Impact of Telugu Cinema". News18. 29 August 2023. Retrieved 8 August 2024.