The History of Andhra Pradesh
In 1859 As Madrasapattinam Present Andhra Pradesh
History
In 1859 As Madrasapattinam Present Andhra Pradesh
The recorded history of Andhra Pradesh can be traced to the Andhra Kingdom of the (Iron Age) Mahajanapada period, succeeded by the Satavahana empire. The Andhra Ikshvakus ruled the eastern Andhra country along the Krishna river during th e later half of the 2nd century The Pallavas extended their rule from southern Andhra to Tamil regions and established their capital at Kanchipuram around the 4th century CE. They rose in power during the reign of Mahendravarman I (571 – 630 CE) and Narasimhavarman I (630 – 668 CE) and dominated the southern Telugu and northern parts of Tamil region until the end of the 9th century.
Between 624 AD and 1323 AD a significant change came about in social, religious, linguistic and literary spheres of Andhra society. During this period the Telugu language, emerged as a literary medium subsuming the predominance of Prakrit and Sanskrit. The Chalukya Chola dynasty ruled the Chola Empire from 1070 C.E. until the demise of the empire in the second half of the 13th century. The Kakatiya dynasty emerged as the biggest empire which bought the entire telugu land under one unified rule. In 1323 the Delhi Sultan Ghiaz-ud-din Tughlaq sent a large army under Ulugh Khan to conquer the Telugu country and lay siege to Warangal. In 1347, an independent Muslim state, the Bahmani kingdom, was established in south India by Alla-ud-din Hasan Gangu as a revolt against the Delhi Sultanate. The Qutb Shahi dynasty held sway over the Andhra country for about two hundred years from the early part of the 16th century to the end of the 17th century.
In 1765 Lord Robert Clive, the then existing Chief and Council at Vizagapatam obtained from the Mughal emperor Shah Alam a grant of the five Circars. In 1792 the British got the complete supremacy, when they defeated Maharaja Vijaya Rama Gajapathi Raju of Vizianagaram.
India became independent from the United Kingdom in 1947. The Muslim Nizam of Hyderabad wanted to retain his independence from India, he was forced accede his kingdom to India in 1948 as the Hyderabad State. Andhra State was the first state in India that has been formed on a purely linguistic basis by carving it out from Madras Province in 1953. Andhra State was later merged with Telugu speaking area of Hyderabad (Telangana) to create Andhra Pradesh state in 1956 (see also Telengana Rebellion).
Post-independence history
India became independent from the United Kingdom in 1947. The Muslim Nizam of Hyderabad wanted to retain his independence from India, he was forced accede his kingdom to India in 1948 as the Hyderabad State. When India became independent, the Telugu-speaking people (although Urdu is spoken in some parts of Hyderabad and in few other districts of Telangana) were distributed in about 22 districts, 9 of them in the Nizam's Dominions(Hyderabad state) and 12 in the Madras Presidency and one in French controlled Yanam. Andhra State was the first state in India that has been formed on a purely linguistic basis by carving it out from Madras Province in 1953. Andhra State was later merged with Telugu speaking area of Hyderabad(Telangana) to create Andhra Pradesh state in 1956. In 1954, Yanam (India) was liberated and it was merged with Pondicherry in 1963.
Madras Manade movement
However, in 1953, Telugu speakers of Madras Presidency wanted Madras as the capital of Andhra state including the famous slogan "Madras Manade" (Madras is ours) before Tirupati was included in AP. Madras at that time was an indivisible mixture of Tamil and Telugu cultures. It was difficult to determine who should possess it. Panagal Raja, Chief Minister of the Madras Presidency in the early 1920s said that the Cooum River should be kept as a boundary, giving the northern portion to the Andhras and the southern portion to the Tamils. In 1928, Sir C. Sankaran Nair sent a report to the Central Council discussing why Madras does not belong to the Tamils. But finally it was decided that Madras would remain in the Tamil region. According to the JPC report (Jawahar Lal Nehru, Bhogaraju Pattabhi Sitaramayya, C. Rajagopalachari) "Telugu people should leave Madras for Tamils if they want a new state".
Creation of Andhra State
In an effort to protect the interests of the Telugu people of Madras state, Amarajeevi Potti Sriramulu attempted to force the Madras Presidency government to listen to public demands for the separation of Telugu speaking districts (Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra) from Madras Presidency to form the Andhra state. He went on a lengthy fast, and only stopped when Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru promised to form Andhra state. However, there was no movement on the issue for a long time. He started fasting again for attaining statehood for Andhra in Maharshi Bulusu Sambamurthy's house in Madras on 19 October 1952. It started off without fanfare but steadily caught people's imagination despite the disavowal of the fast by the Andhra Congress committee.
The government of the day however did not make a clear statement about the formation of a new state despite several strikes and demonstrations by Telugu people. On the midnight of 15 December (i.e. early 16 December, 1952), Potti Sriramulu died and laid down his life trying to achieve his objective.
In his death procession, people shouted slogans praising his sacrifice. When the procession reached Mount Road, thousands of people joined and raised slogans hailing Sriramulu. Later, they went into a frenzy and resorted to destruction of public property. The news spread like wildfire and created an uproar among the people in far off places like Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Eluru, Guntur, Tenali, Ongole and Nellore. Seven people were killed in police firing in Anakapalle and Vijayawada. The popular agitation continued for three to four days disrupting normal life in Madras and Andhra regions. On 19 December 1952, the Prime Minister of the country Jawaharlal Nehru made an announcement about formation of a separate state for Telugu speaking people of Madras Presidency.
House no. 126, Royapettah high road, Mylapore, Madras is the address of the house where Potti Sriramulu died and it has been preserved as a monument of importance by the state government of Andhra Pradesh.
On the basis of an agitation, on October 1, 1953, 11 districts in the Telugu-speaking portion of Madras State(Coastal Andhra and Rayala Seema) voted to become the new state of Andhra State with Kurnool as the capital. Andhra Kesari Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu became first Chief Minister of thus formed Telugu State.
The formation of linguistic states is the single most important event in the history of South Indian languages, as it provided an opportunity for these languages to develop independently, each of them having a state to support.
Merger of Telangana and Andhra
On November 1, 1956 Andhra State merged with the Telangana region of erstwhile Hyderabad State to form a united Telugu-speaking state of Andhra Pradesh and Hyderabad, the former capital of the Hyderabad State, was made the capital of the new state Andhra Pradesh.
In early 1950s, there was Vishalandhra Movement in both Andhra and Telangana regions which called for the merger of Andhra region and Telangana region to form a single Telugu speaking state. The movement is stronger in Telanagana region than in Andhra region. Andhra mahasabha was a powerful organisation existing in Telangana which advocated a "Visalandhra"( larger Andhra).
State song Maa Telugu Thalliki (మా తెలుగు తల్లికి మల్లె పూదండ)
State Symbol Poorna kumbham (పూర్ణకుంభం)
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