Global InformationTelugu people information
Telugu vāru తెలుగు వారు | |
|---|---|
 Telugu Thalli, the personification of Telugu language | |
| Total population | |
| c. 95.7 million[1][2] Native speakers worldwide (2024) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Andhra Pradesh Telangana Yanam | |
 India | 81,127,740 (2011)[2] |
 United States | 1,239,000 (Telugu Americans)[1][3] |
 Saudi Arabia | 383,000[4] |
 Myanmar | 138,000[5] |
 Malaysia | 126,000[6] |
 Australia | 59,400[7] |
 Canada | 54,685[8] |
 Bangladesh | 40,000[9] |
 United Kingdom | 33,000[10] |
 Fiji | 34,000[11] |
 Mauritius | 20,000[12] |
 Bahrain | 18,700[1] |
 Oman | 13,300[1] |
 New Zealand | 5,754[13] |
 South Africa | 5,000[14] |
| Other | See Telugu diaspora |
| Languages | |
| Telugu | |
| Religion | |
Majority: HinduismMinority: Christianity, Islam, Buddhism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
Other Dravidian peoples:
| |
| Person | Telugu |
|---|---|
| People | Teluguvāru |
| Language | Telugu |
| Country | Telugu Nāḍu |
Telugu people (Telugu: తెలుగువారు, romanized: Teluguvāru), also called Andhras, 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 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. By 2024 Telugu is spoken by 95.7 million people all over world, which makes it the third largest Indian diaspora after Hindi and Bengali.[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][22][23] They were also mentioned in the Mahabharata and Buddhist Jataka tales.[24] In the Mahabharata the infantry of Satyaki was composed by a tribe called Andhras, known for their long hair, tall stature, sweet language, and mighty prowess. Megasthenes reported in his Indica (c. 310 BCE) that Andhras were living in the Godavari and Krishna river deltas and were famous for their military strength which was second only to Mauryans in all of India.[25] 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.[26][27][28] They established trade relations with the Roman Empire and their capital city, Amaravati was the most prosperous city in India in 2nd century CE.[29] Inscriptions in Old Telugu script (Vengi script) were found as far away as Indonesia and Myanmar.[30]
In the 13th century, Kakatiyas unified various Telugu-speaking areas under one realm.[31] Later, Telugu culture and literature flourished and reached its zenith during the late Vijayanagara Empire.[32] After the fall of the Vijayanagara Empire, various Telugu rulers called Nayakas established independent kingdoms across South India and served the same function as Rajput warriors clans of northern India.[33][34] Kandyan Nayaks, the last dynasty to rule Sri Lanka were of Telugu descent.[35][36] In this era, Telugu became the language of high culture across Southern India.[37][38][39] Vijaya Ramaswamy compared it to the overwhelming dominance of French as the cultural language of modern Europe during roughly the same era.[39] Telugu also predominates in the evolution of Carnatic music, one of two main subgenres of Indian classical music.[39][40][41][42]
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.[43][44][45] Mahayana, the predominant Buddhist tradition in China, Japan, and Korea and the largest Buddhist denomination in the world, was developed among Telugus in Andhra.[46][47][48]
Telugu is one of six languages designated as a classical language by the Government of India. It has an inscriptional history dating back to c. 400 BCE.[49][50] It has an unbroken and diverse literary tradition of over a thousand years.[51][52] Telugu performing arts include the classical dance form Kuchipudi, as well as Perini Sivatandavam, Burra Katha. Tholu Bommalata, the Telugu shadow puppetry tradition dates back to 3rd century BCE.[53] It is the ancestor of Wayang, the popular Indonesian art form which has been a staple of Indonesian tourism.[54][55][56] Telugu cinema is the largest film industry in India in terms of box-office as well as admissions.[57][58] The industry has produced some of India's most expensive and highest-grossing films of all time.
- ^ a b c d "Telugu population figure worldwide". Ethnologue. March 2023.
- ^ a b "Scheduled Languages in descending order of speaker's strength - 2011" (PDF). Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.
- ^ "Almost Half Speak a Foreign Language in America's Largest Cities". 19 September 2018.
- ^ "Telugu-speaking South Asian in Saudi Arabia". Joshua Project. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
- ^ "Telugu-speaking South Asian in Myanmar (Burma)". Joshua Project. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
- ^ "Telugu-speaking South Asian in Malaysia". Joshua Project. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
- ^ "Language spoken at home | Australia | Community profile". .id (informed decisions). Retrieved 10 March 2023.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "In Dhaka Telugu Christians from Andhra Pradesh celebrate Christmas in extreme poverty". AsiaNews. 18 December 2018.
- ^ "Language, England and Wales: Census 2021". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
- ^ "Telugu-speaking South Asian in Fiji". Joshua Project. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
- ^ "Telugu-speaking South Asian in Mauritius". Joshua Project. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
- ^ "2018 Census totals by topic – national highlights (updated)". Statistics New Zealand. 30 April 2020. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
- ^ "Telugu-speaking South Asian in South Africa". Joshua Project. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
- ^ Jain, Bharti (21 June 2014). "Nearly 60% of Indians speak a language other than Hindi". The Times of India.
- ^ Statistics, in Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2023). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (26th ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Do you speak Telugu? Welcome to America". BBC News. 20 October 2018. Archived from the original on 13 December 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
- ^ "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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Majumdar, Ramesh Chandra (1977). Ancient India. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 132. ISBN 978-81-208-0436-4.
- ^ Singh, K. S. (1992). People of India: Andhra Pradesh. Anthropological Survey of India. p. 646. ISBN 978-81-7671-006-0.
- ^ Mahadevan, Iravatham (1 January 2010). "Harappan Heritage of Andhra: A New Interpretation" (PDF). International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics. 39 (1): 12, 14. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 June 2021.
- ^ Chopra, Pran Nath (1994). Encyclopaedia of India: Andhra Pradesh. Rima Publishing House. p. 135.
- ^ V. D., Mahajan (2016). Ancient India. S. Chand Publishing. p. 297. ISBN 978-93-5253-132-5.
- ^ Wolpert, Stanley A. (1989). A New History of India. Oxford University Press. pp. 75, 76. ISBN 978-0-19-505636-5.
Apparently originating somewhere between the peninsular rivers Godavari and Krishna, homeland of the Dravidian Telugu-speaking peoples whose descendants now live in a state called Andhra, the great Andhra dynasty spread across much of south and central India from the second century BC till the second century AD.
- ^ "History of Andhra Pradesh". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
About the 1st century CE the Satavahanas (or Satakarni), one of the most-renowned of the Andhra dynasties, came to power.
- ^ Shastri, Ajay Mitra (1998). The Sātavāhanas and the Western Kshatrapas: A Historical Framework. Dattsons. pp. 11, 12. ISBN 978-81-7192-031-0.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Varadaraja, V. Raman. Glimpses of Indian Heritage. Popular Prakashan. p. 136. ISBN 978-81-7154-758-6.
- ^ Habib, Irfan; Raychaudhuri, Tapan, eds. (2009). Cambridge Economic History Of India Vol-1. Cambridge University Press. pp. 106, 457. ISBN 978-81-250-2730-0.
- ^ Stein, Burton (1990). The New Cambridge History of India: Vijayanagara. Cambridge University Press. pp. 130–132. ISBN 978-0-521-26693-2.
- ^ 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.
- ^ The Journal of Asian studies. Vol. 53. Issue 1-2. University of California. 1994. p. 14.
- ^ Winterbottom, Anna (29 April 2016). Hybrid Knowledge in the Early East India Company World. Springer. p. 120. ISBN 978-1-137-38020-3.
Telugu had become the language of high culture in southern India during the medieval period, and by the seventeenth century its status rivalled that of Sanskrit.
- ^ Miller, Barbara Stoler (1992). The Powers of Art: Patronage in Indian Culture. Oxford University Press. p. 132. ISBN 978-0-19-562842-5.
In Tyagaraja's time, Telugu was the language of high culture even in Tanjore, the heartland of the Tamil linguistic area.
- ^ a b c 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.
- ^ Arnold, Alison, ed. (1998). The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. Vol. 5: South Asia: The Indian Subcontinent. Taylor & Francis. pp. 231, 232, 269. ISBN 978-0-8240-4946-1.
- ^ Randel, Don Michael (28 November 2003). The Harvard Dictionary of Music: Fourth Edition. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-41799-1.
- ^ Shulman, David (1 August 2009). Spring, Heat, Rains: A South Indian Diary. University of Chicago Press. pp. xiii, xiv. ISBN 978-0-226-75578-6.
- ^ Pal, Pratapaditya (1986). Indian Sculpture: Circa 500 B.C.-A.D. 700. Los Angeles County Museum of Art. p. 154. ISBN 978-0-520-05991-7.
- ^ Rowland 1967, p. 210
- ^ "Amarāvatī sculpture". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
- ^ Warder, Anthony Kennedy (2004). Indian Buddhism. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 336, 355, 402, 464. ISBN 978-81-208-1741-8.
Those of us who have studied the evidence above will prefer to locate this source of most of the Mahāyāna sutras in Andhra. (p. 355) From the internal evidence it appears that this sutra was written in South India, very likely in Andhra, in which case the country of origin of the Mahāyāna continued in the lead in the development of new ideas in India. (p. 402)
- ^ Guang Xing. The Evolution of the Concept of the Buddha from Early Buddhism to the Formulation of the Trikaya Theory. 2002. p. 104. "Several scholars have suggested that the Prajñāpāramitā probably developed among the Mahasamghikas in Southern India, in the Andhra country, on the Krishna River."
- ^ Williams, Paul. Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations 2nd edition. Routledge, 2009, p. 47.
- ^ (20 December 2007) Telugu is 2,400 years old, says ASI The Hindu. Archived 3 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine "The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has joined the Andhra Pradesh Official Languages Commission to say that early forms of the Telugu language and its script indeed existed 2,400 years ago"
- ^ Agrawal, D. P.; Chakrabarti, Dilip K. (1979), Essays in Indian protohistory, The Indian Society for Prehistoric and Quaternary Studies/B.R. Pub. Corp., p. 326, ISBN 9780391018662, archived from the original on 13 October 2022, retrieved 15 November 2015
- ^ Greene, Roland; Cushman, Stephen (22 November 2016). The Princeton Handbook of World Poetries. Princeton University Press. p. 541. ISBN 978-1-4008-8063-8.
- ^ Harder, Hans (3 August 2017). Literature and Nationalist Ideology: Writing Histories of Modern Indian Languages. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-38435-3.
- ^ Osnes, Beth (2001). Acting: An International Encyclopedia. ABC-Clio. pp. 152, 335. ISBN 978-0-87436-795-9.
- ^ "Wayang | Indonesian theatre". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
Developed before the 10th century, the form had origins in the tholu bommalata, the leather puppets of southern India. The art of shadow puppetry probably spread to Java with the spread of Hinduism.
- ^ Keith, Rawlings (November 1999). "Observations on the historical development of puppetry - Chapter Two". Retrieved 3 April 2023.
Perhaps the most interesting of the south-Indian puppet types for me, however, were the tholu bommalata -- the articulated, leather, shadow puppets -- which are the probable ancestors of Indonesia's wayang.
- ^ Currell, David (1974). The Complete Book of Puppetry. Pitman. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-273-36118-3.
The tolu bommalata shadow puppets are found in the Andhra region and may be the origin of the Javanese wayang kulit puppets.
- ^ "Why Telugu films gave Hindi films a run for their money in the pandemic". Business Today. 15 February 2022. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
- ^ Jha, Lata (31 January 2023). "Footfalls for Hindi films slump up to 50%". Mint. Retrieved 14 February 2023.