Of them, Kannada too got the recognition along with Telugu on Friday. The Centre conferred the status on these two South Indian languages on the eve of the formation day of both these states. After the Centre declared Tamil as a classical language a few years ago, a movement had been launched in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka to get classical status for both these languages.
Politicians cutting across party lines brought pressure on the Centre, but it sat on the demand for three years and finally took everyone by surprise by announcing it on Friday. Moreover, Telugu is the largest spoken language in the country after Hindi and Urdu. The demand for classical language status to Telugu first came from Gnanpeeth award winner and eminent poet, Mr C. Narayana Reddy. Even before other writers offered support, the demand was taken up by the Telugu Desam president and former chief minister, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, and his MPs raised it in Parliament.
The Central government’s policy is to recognise as ‘classical’ those languages which are at least 1,000 years old. Earlier, the British government had declared Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic as classical languages and the UPA government had added Tamil to the list. "Telugu has all the qualifications for a classical language and it is good that the government declared it so," said Mr Narayana Reddy. Historians say Telugu literature has been in vogue for over 1,500 years. Some even argue it is more than 2,000 years old. The first Telugu words have been noticed in the Ikshavakula inscriptions. The Nagarjuna Hill inscriptions of 250 AD also contain Telugu words. The oldest Telugu inscription is from 633 AD, and its literature begins with an 11th-century translation of Mahabharata.
Even during the period of Satavahana rule for 500-600 years in the early part of the first millennia when Prakrut was the royal language in Andhra, Telugu did not die. During 1000-1100 AD, Telugu re-established its suzerainty through inscriptions and poetry. In ancient Andhra, tribes such as Dravida, Yaksha, and Naga spoke Telugu or Tenugu while Andhras from North India used to speak another language called Desi. The Russian linguist, Mr M.S. Andronov, has pointed out that Proto-Dravidian gave rise to 21 Dravidian languages and Telugu split from Proto-Dravidian between 1500 and 1,000 BC.
Telugu arose as an independent tradition, with almost no influence from Sanskrit or other languages, and its ancient literature is indescribably vast and rich. It deserves what it has finally got.
Lyricist's threat
Telugu scholars are sore over the Committee's decision, coming it did after according classical language status to Tamil. Veturi Sunda Ramaramuthy, noted lyricist, said he would surrender his national award for best lyricist as a protest.
They have formed a joint action committee to fight for the cause, recalling how Telugu was described as the best of languages by Krishnadevaraya, and as "Sundara Telugu" even by the illustrious Tamil poet Subrahmanya Bharatiyar and as Italian of the East by medieval European travellers.
Package to prove
The material collected by the commission included several Satavahana inscriptions dating back to 2nd century BC, the mentioning in "Indica' of Megasthenes, also before Christ, Itareya Brahmanam, a part of Rigveda which spoke of Telugu, and the famous Kalimella edict in Kadapa district. The proposals will also highlight the rich heritage of Telugu literature from Nannaya to Allasani.
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