Andhra Pradesh - History
Andhra Pradesh, also known as Andhra Desam, is known for its rich cultural ethos and heritage that encompasses several heritages of other Indian States. Several dynasties made spectacular contributions in the field of art, culture including architecture, music etc. and this has definitely enhanced the image of the Andhra Pradesh not only nationally but also globally.
Andhra People are originated from Aryans race living in North India migrated to south of Vindhyas. The ancestors of Andhra people were mixed with non-Aryans. Historically, the early Andhras made their appearance in the Aitareya Brahmana (BC 800) . It was referred to as Dakshina Padh in earlier days. Who all lived in Dakshina Padh. It was during the Mauryan period that the Andhras gained much prominence in the Southeastern Deccan.
Andhra Civilization started from 236 BC (the year of death of Samrat Ashoka). The famous Greek traveler during the Maurya Dynasty had much to say about the richness of Andhra Desam cultural manifestation. He was in India during (BC 322-297) and focused upon the fortification efforts of the Maurya Dynasty rulers. In his historical works, Megasthese mentioned that almost 30 towns were fortified towns. The army consisted of 1,00,000 infantry, 1,000 elephants, and 2,000 cavalry. Several kingdoms were situated in the Godavari belt during that period.
Several dynasty ruled Andhra like Sat-Bahanas, Sak, Ikshvakus, Poorvi Chalukya, Kakatiya, etc. Gradually Andhra becomes the place of 'Nizam' (emerged from Vijay Nagar dynasty, Kutub Shahi, Mir Qumruddin etc.). Literary activities flourished, especially during the mighty Vijayanagara emperors. The 16th century was the golden age in the history of Telugu literature, thanks to the king Sri Krishna Deva Raya. The Raja, a poet himself, introduced the prabandha (a kind of love poetry) in Telugu literature in his Amukta Malyada. He had in his court the Ashtadiggajas (literal: eight elephants) who were the greatest of poets of the times. Original verse compositions and stories were written with a new zeal. Of those eight, Allasani Peddana (1510-1575AD) is known as Andhra Kavita Pitamahudu or ‘Grandfather of Andhra Poetry’.
In 17th Century British Raj with Nizam's State and some other districts established the single province Madras.
Although the first printed Telugu book was out in 1796, it took some time before the modern period in literature set in. Young men acquainted with English literature tried to imitate Shelly, Keats and Wordsworth, and a new type of romantic poetry called the Bhavakavithwa was born. Bengali novelists like Rabindranath Tagore, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and Ramesh Chandra Dutta were a major influence on modern Telugu fiction. Viresalingam Pantulu (1848-1919) wrote the first novel in Telugu, Rajashekharacharitramu. Other writers joined forces to build modern Telugu literature, like the dramatist Dharmavaram Krishnamachari, Chilakamarti Lakshminarasimham (also called the ‘blind poet of Andhra Desha’) the poets and dramatists Gurujada Apparavu and Krishnamacharlu. The literary group Sahiti Samiti was set up in 1921, and their ‘progressive and rationalist’ journal Sahiti was followed by several others.
Soon after India became a free nation in August 1947, the demand for Andhra state grew stronger but the Nizam had other ideas and the ruler of the day, Osman Ali, entertained hopes that his state could become a separate state, sovereign and independent. But in September 1948, the government of free India, under the guidance of Sardar Patel, launched a big offensive to put an end to the Nizam's efforts to create a sovereign state of Hyderabad and to his constant pinpricks to free India. On 1st October 1953, Telugu speaking areas were separated form the composite Madras Presidency and a new Andhra State formed. The Telangana portion was added to the Andhra and in 1st November 1956 (by State Reorganization Act, 1956) it was become a full-fledged state Andhra Pradesh.
The Andhras were struggling for the formation of a separate Andhra Province since the period of British, but could not succeed. The annual conference Andhra Mahasabha of 1913 claimed the creation of a separate entity of Andhra. In 1921 was established in Hyderabad (then a princely state) the movement called Andhra Jana Sangh renamed in 1931 as Andhra Mahasabha, under the leadership of Suravaram Prathapa Reddy. After 1927 many political leaders of Andhra fell under influence of Gandhi, but always claiming an Andhra separate administrative division and all the parties remained within the umbrella of Andhra Mahasabha.
In 1938 the Hyderabad State Congress was established, helping in the consolidation of the Andhra movement in Telingana region. After 1941 the Andhra Mahasabha fell under the leadership of leftist politics as Ravi Narayana Reddy, Kaloji Narayana Rao, Baddam Yella Reddy and others. In 1946 the Andhra Mahasabha led by Ravi Narayana Reddy started an armed revolt against the feudal lords, called Telangana Movement and, against them, the Muslims organized within the party al Ittehad ul Muslimeen used their paramilitary forces (called Razakars) and started a violent campaign.
When India attained Independence on the 15 August, 1947, Andhras hoped that their long-cherished desire would be realised soon. in 17 September 1948, in middle of the civil struggle, the Indian army invaded the state (that was independent after June 1947) and was annexed. The Andhra (Telugu speaking) from Hyderabad and the coastal Andhra (territory united with Madras) claimed a separate state. Inspite of several renewed efforts put forth by the Andhra leaders before the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the Deputy Prime Minister Sardar Vallabhai Patel, the desire for a separate Andhra State remained as a dream itself.
The Dar Commission, appointed by the Government of India under the Chairmanship of S.K.Dar did not recommend the creation of States on the linguistic consideration. This report of the Commission created such an adverse reaction in Andhra that the Congress leaders felt it prudent to assuage the ruffled feelings of the Telugus. An unofficial Committee, consisting of Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel and Pattabhi Sitaramaiah, popularly known as the J.V.P. Committee, was constituted by the Congress. The Committee in its report submitted to the Working Committee of the Indian National Congress in April, 1949 recommended that the creation of linguistic provinces be postponed by few years. However, it suggested that Andhra Province could be formed provided the Andhras gave up their claim to the city of Madras (now Chennai). This report provoked violent reaction in Andhra as the Telugus were not prepared to forego their claims to the city of Madras.
Under the prevailing situation, a Partition Committee was formed under the Chairmanship of Kumaraswami Raja, the then Chief Minister of Madras. Andhra was represented by Tanguturi Prakasam, B.Gopala Reddi, Kala Venkata Rao and N.Sanjiva Reddy. The Partition Committee could not arrive at an agreed settlement. Prakasam disagreed with the views of other members and gave a dissenting note. The Government of India, took advantage of the dissenting note of Prakasam and shelved the issue. To express the resentment of the Andhras, Swami Sitaram (Gollapudi Sitarama Sastry), a Gandhian, undertook a fast unto death, which created an explosive situation in Andhra. However, Swami gave up his 35-day fast on the 20th of September, 1951, on the appeal made by Vinoba Bhave. Nothing came out of this fast except the increasing distrust of the people of Andhra towards their own leaders and the Government of India.
In the First General Elections of 1952, Andhras expressed their resentment towards the Congress leaders by defeating them at the polls. Out of the 140 seats from Andhra in the Madras Legislative Assembly, the Congress could secure only 43, while the Communist Party of India bagged as many as 40 seats out of the 60 it contested. In the Madras Legislative Assembly itself, the Congress could secure only 152. The non-Congress members in the legislature, numbering 164 formed themselves into a United Democratic Front (U.D.F.) and elected T.Prakasam as their leader. But the Governor nominated C.Rajagopala Chari to the Legislative Council and invited him to form the ministry.
After Rajagopala Chari became the Chief Minister of the Madras State, he tried to divert the Krishna waters by constructing Krishna-Pennar Project for the development of the Tamil area. The Andhras agitated against this as they feared that the Project spelt ruin to Andhra. The Government of India appointed an expert Committee under the Chairmanship of A.N.Khosla, who pronounced that the project in its present form should not be proceeded with and suggested the construction of a project at Nandikonda (the site of the present Nagarjunasagar Project). The report of the Khosla Committee vindicated the apprehensions of the Andhras regarding the unfriendly attitude of Rajagopala Chari’s Government towards the Andhras. The desire of the Andhras to separate themselves from the composite Madras State and form their own State gained further momentum.
At this juncture, Potti Sriramulu, a self-effacing Gandhian, began his fast unto death on the 19 October, 1952 at Madras. Though the fast created an unprecedented situation throughout Andhra, the Congress leaders and the Government of India did not pay much attention to it. On the 15th of December, 1952, Sriramulu attained martyrdom. The news of Sriramulu’s death rocked Andhra into a violent and devastating agitation. The Government of India was taken aback at this popular upsurge. On the 19th December, 1952, Jawaharlal Nehru announced in the Lok Sabha that the Andhra State would be formed with the eleven undisputed Telugu districts, and the three Taluks of the Bellary district, but excluding Madras City.
On the 1st of October, 1953, Andhra State came into existence. It consisted of the districts of Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Nellore, Chittoor, Cuddapah, Anantapur and Kurnool, and the taluks of Rayadurg, Adoni and Alur of the Bellary district. On the question of Bellary taluk, it was included in the Mysore State on the recommendation of L.S.Mishra Commission. Kurnool became the capital of the new State, under the terms of the Sri Bagh Pact of 1937 between the leaders of the Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema. T.Prakasam became the first Chief Minister of the Andhra State and C.M.Trivedi was appointed Governor of this new State. With the inauguration of the Andhra State by Nehru, the forty year old dream of the Telugu people to have a separate State of their own was partly fulfilled. They looked forward to the formation of Visalandhra with Hyderabad City as the Capital.
In 1956 Telangana, the Telugu speaking regions of Hyderabad, were segregated and united to Andhra, forming the state called Visalandhra (Great Andhra), 1 November 1956, with Hyderabad city as the capital. The new state adopted officially the name of Andhra Pradesh. In 1969 the leaders of Telangana region claimed that the state government didn’t honor the agreements and called for a separation of Telangana from the coastal Andhra. Then was formed in the coast a movement named Jai Andhra (Andhra Victory) that sought the division between Andhra and Telingana. The agitation continued until 1978 when a agreement established that two regions will remain together. Congress Party dominated politics for about 25 years until 1983 when the power passed to a party called Telegu Desam, but then opposed to the division. Lately, already in XXI century, the parties agreed in the creation of Telangana. On 30 July 2013, the central government announced that the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh became India's 29th state. Apart from Telangana, Andra Pradesh consisted of two other parts, namely Coastal Andra and Rayalaseema.
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