NOTE of CAUTION: This is an attempt to understand the politics and emotions behind the present chaos in Andhra Pradesh. I tried my level best to compile the moments of AP’s history that I think led to the current situation. I might have missed some important events that may have influenced the course of events. I recommend you verify the events that are mentioned and correct me wherever I am wrong. Most of the sources are textbooks and news articles, so I took their authenticity for granted as I found no reason to think otherwise. I start from the time which led to the creation of three prominent regions of Andhra Pradesh namely Telangana, Kosta Andhra and Rayalaseema.
- In 1724, Asaf Jah, governor of Hyderabad, declared his independence from the disintegrating Mughal Empire, claiming the title of Nizam al Mulk of Hyderabad. Salabat Jung, who became Nizam with the help of French, granted the district of Guntur in return for their services. Later British conquered the fortress of masuilipatnam (now machilipatnam). So the French were forced to transfer the areas surrounding Chilaka Lake to British. When the British got a stronghold in India after the Battle of Buxar, the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam granted five circars on the coast to the British in 1765 but was kept as secret from the Nizam of Hyderabad. (These are known as northern circars because they were the northernmost districts in the Hyderabad Province of Mughal Empire.). As Nizam considers Hyderabad as an independent state, British had to offer services initially and annuity later to use these districts. The districts from Guntur (Prakasham was formed in 1970 with backward areas of Guntur, Kurnool and Nellore) to Vizagapatnam (Srikakulam in 1950 and Vijayanagaram in 1979 were formed later) were initially called Circar districts. Finally the outright claims of these districts were bought by the British in 1823. They occupied Nellore in 1792 from Nawab of Arcot.
- In 1796, amidst fears that Napoleon might come for the rescue of Tipu Sultan, the then Nizam of Hyderabad opted to get British help by accepting the doctrine of Subsidiary Alliance. Under this agreement, he ceded Bellary district out of which Kadapa, Anantapuram and Kurnool where carved out. These districts are called Ceded districts. In 1911, Chittoor district was formed out of Nellore, Kadapa and North Arcot. The term “Rayalaseema” was coined by Gadicherla Hari Sarvottama Rao in 1928. Faction-ism was prevalent in this area since Vijayanagara Empire and was said to be the root cause of underdevelopment in this region.
- Thus till early 18th century, Andhras were united under some king or the other. These leasing and ceding of areas by Nizam to British created two regions viz Circar and Ceded districts in British Indian Madras Presidency. The third region under nizam rule is called Telangana (Telugu speaking region). While the ceded districts got themselves a name called Rayalaseema, the circar districts without any special name remained as Kosta Andhra (telugufied version of Coastal Andhra) or simply Andhra.(This explains the film distributors lingo of Nizam, Ceded and Andhra for Telangana, Rayalaseema and Kosta respectively.) While North Kosta is influenced by Oriya; Rayalaseema by Kannada & Tamil and Telangana by Urdu & Marathi, Guntur and Krishna districts remained relatively untouched by neighbouring languages. This isolation helped Guntur and Krishna district people to have relatively refined Telugu. Combination of these two phenomenon is often misinterpreted as Guntur and Krishna people being the actual Andhras with pure Telugu. However, it was the lack of second name for this area coinciding with the lack of exposure to other languages that led to this conclusion by many people. In any case, Telugu or Tenugu is the Dravidian name for the Aryan and Dravidian tribes which lived together mainly near the banks of Godavari, Krishna and their tributaries. As the language was basically of Dravidian origin, they called themselves Telugus. But Sanskrit name for these tribes is Andhras. That is why many epics use the term ‘Andhras’ to describe these tribes. Later when Telugu language started adopting Sanskrit words into its vocabulary, Andhra term was popularized in native Telugu speakers too. My point is, it is juvenile enough to argue that Andhras and Telugus are different and its highly preposterous to use this as an argument to demand for a separate Telangana state. So for all practical purposes, the term Andhra refers to all those whose mother tongue is Telugu.
