Telugu-speaking lands emerge where the black soil of Karnataka region turns red as the rivers Godavari and Krishna move east towards the sea. The word Telugu is derived from the proto-Dravidian word ‘ten’ which means south. Telugu emerged from the larger Proto-Dravidian language over 2000 years ago, but was formalised only during the reign of the Kakatiyas about 1000 years ago, who carved out a Telugu speaking kingdom from the erstwhile Chalukyan empire.
The first great piece of Telugu literature was the Mahabharata – a story of brothers fighting over property and dividing the kingdom. Today, the old Andhra Pradesh state, the first linguistic state of independent India is split into two: Telangana and Andhra? There are many cultural reasons that can explain this split, other than modern political and economic issues.
First, geography. Telangana is the dry upland, full of mountains, mines and millet fields, Andhra is the wet, lowland, rich with deltas and coastline, full of rice farms.
Second, language. A more Sanskritised Brahman-influenced Telugu emerged in Andhra, while the less Sanskritised Janu Tenugu is spoken in Telangana, which later came to be influenced by Arab and Persian languages, which gave rise to Deccani Urdu.
Third, religion. While we find Buddhist and Jain caves scattered across both regions, relatively speaking, a more egalitarian form of Shiva worship (Lamudigalam sect) emerged in Telangana, while the more Brahmanical forms of Vishnu worship is prevalent in Andhra Pradesh. Later, Telangana came under rule of Muslim kings while Andhra was ruled by Hindu Vijayanagara kings.
Rayalaseema (royal border), located between the two, is dry, famous for water scarcity and hence water tanks. Ceded by the Nizam to the British, atop hills of this land are the famous Hindu shrines such as Tirupati (Vishnu Balaji), SriSailam (Shiva Mallikarjun), and Ahobilam (Narasimha) built by Vijayangar kings.
In the Sanskrit Ramayana, we have reference to the Godavari river, not the Krishna river. As per archeologists, when Vedic culture was establishing itself in the Gangetic river plains, between 1000 BCE and 300 BCE, Telangana and Andhra was in the Iron Age. Warriors were buried, along with weapons, in pits and large stones were placed on top of their graves. This is called the Mesolithic culture. While grey-black coloured pots are in the Gangetic region, red and black coloured pots are found in Telangana-Andhra region.
The earliest deities that the people propitiated were linked to plants and animals. Amongst animals the snake (Naga) was venerated along with the humped Zebu bull (Nandi, Basava) and the buffalo (Mahisha), who was killed by the Goddess, and whose meat was consumed by all.
Mother goddess images of clay have been found from this period in this region. The earliest goddesses were visualised in lotus ponds with grain, flowers and parrots in their hands. This gave rise to images we now refer to as Lajjagauri, Telugu Talli, and the famous Bathukamma festival, where people carry flower pots to indicate the end of the rainy season.
Mythologically speaking, Aryan culture spread to the south via Agastya who crossed the Vindhya mountains and never returned. Historically, however, the migration is linked to Buddhists and Jain monks.
Buddhist monks referred to the river Godavari as Teli Vaha (white current) while river Krishna (which means black) was called Andhaka (dark). So the two rivers that flowed from the Decccan mountains to the eastern coasts, mirrored the white and dark rivers, i.e. Ganga and Yamuna of North India. As per some, Teli Vaha gave rise to the name Telangana while Andhaka eventually became Andhra.
Jain and Buddhist monks travelled along river banks and along coasts. With these monks came ideas of renunciation and fasting, contrary to the old ideas that celebrated fertility and abundance. But they also spoke of restraint, and contentment, thus countering the narratives of war, pleasure and power. This made them very popular especially amongst traders who established the “Cotton Highways” 2000 years ago. Both ends of this highway is marked by many rock-cut Buddhist and Jain shrines: towards the west coast, at Maharashtra (Bhaja, Karla, Ajanta, Ellora), near the sources of Godavari and Krishna, and near the east coast in Andhra (Undavalli, Bodhikonda, Ghanikonda), near the delta of Godavari and Krishna.
Some of the oldest, most stunning Buddhist artworks with stupas and images from Jataka tales are found at Nagarjunakonda in this region, built by Ikshavaku kings. These are about 2000 years old, built during the Satavahana period. The kings patronised Vedic rituals and Brahmins but the merchants patronised the Buddhist caves, stupas and monasteries.
Two great names in Buddhism are traditionally traced to the Telangana-Andhra region: Nagarjuna who lived around 250 CE and Buddhaghosha who lived around 500 CE. Nagarjuna travelled north and spread the Mahayana doctrine of shunya-vada (emptiness) while Buddhaghosha travelled south to Sri Lanka and revived the Pali canon of old Buddhism (Theravada).
Devdutt Pattanaik is an Indian physician turned leadership consultant, mythologist, author and communicator whose works focus largely on the areas of myth, religion, mythology, and management.
Comments