Andhra Pradesh Tourism
Introduction
Andhra Pradesh the "Rice Bowl of India", is a
state in southern
India. It lies between 12°41' and 22°N latitude and 77° and 84°40'E longitude, and is bordered by
Maharashtra,
Chhattisgarh and
Orissa in the north, the
Bay of Bengal in the East,
Tamil Nadu to the south and
Karnataka to the west. Andhra Pradesh is the fifth largest state in India by area and population. It is the largest and most populous state in
South India. The state is crossed by two major rivers, the
Godavari and the
Krishna.
An
Andhra Kingdom was mentioned in the
Sanskrit epics such as
Aitareya Brahmana and
Mahabharata. Inscriptional evidence showed that there was a kingdom in coastal
Andhra ruled by Kuberaka with Pratipalapura (
Bhattiprolu) as his capital in 5th century BCE. This probably was the oldest known kingdom in
south India. Around the same time Dhanyakatakam/Dhranikota seemed to be a very important place. According to Taranatha: "On the full moon of the month Caitra in the year following his enlightenment, at the great stupa of Dhanyakataka, the Buddha emanated the mandala of "The Glorious Lunar Mansions" (
Kalachakra)
. The
Mauryans extended their rule over
Andhra in 4th century BCE. With the fall of the
Mauryan Empire Andhra Satavahanas became independent in 3rd century BCE. After the decline of the Satavahanas in 220 CE,
Ikshvakus,
Pallavas,
Vishnukundinas, Anandagotrikas and
Cholas ruled the
Telugu land. Inscriptional evidence of
Telugu was found during the rule of Renati
Cholas (Kadapa region) in 5th century CE. During this period the
Telugu language, emerged as a popular medium undermining the predominance of
Prakrit and
Sanskrit. Telugu was made official language during
Vishnukundina Kings who ruled from
Vinukonda as the capital. Eastern Chalukyas ruled for a long period after the decline of
Vishnukundinas. Their capital was Vengi. The present day
Rayalaseema was the first home of Chalukyas. As early as 1st century CE, they were mentioned as being the vassals and chieftains under the
Satavahana rule. Their place of residence at that time was the
Kadapa area. They migrated to the northern Karnataka area after suffering loses at the hands of Pallava kings. They reentered the Telugu land via the present day Telangana and gave rise to Eastern Chalukya kingdom
.
The battle of
Palnadu resulted in the weakening of
Chalukyan power and emergence of the
Kakatiya dynasty in the 12th and the 13th centuries CE. The
Kakatiyas were at first the feudatories of the Western
Chalukyas of
Kalyani, ruling over a small territory near
Warangal. In 1323 CE, Delhi
Sultan Ghiaz-ud-din
Tughlaq sent a large army under Ulugh Khan to conquer the
Telugu country and capture
Warangal. King Prataprudra was taken prisoner.
Musunuri Nayaks recaptured Warangal from the
Delhi Sultanate and ruled for fifty years. The
Vijayanagar empire, one of the greatest empires in the history of Andhra Pradesh and
India, was founded by Harihara (Hakka) and Bukka, who served as Treasury officers in the administration of the
Kakatiya empire. In 1347 CE, 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
Colonial India,
Northern Circars became part of the British
Madras Presidency. Eventually this region emerged as the
Coastal Andhra region. Later the
Nizam had ceded five territories to the British which eventually emerged as
Rayalaseema region. The Nizams retained control of the interior provinces as the
Princely state of
Hyderabad, acknowledging British rule in return for local autonomy.
India became independent from the United Kingdom in
1947. The Muslim
Nizam of Hyderabad wanted to retain his independence from India, but his state of Hyderabad was forced to become part of the Republic of India in
1948 as
Hyderabad 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 from the Madras Presidency to form an Andhra state, and Andhra attained statehood on 19 October 1952. On 1 November 1 1956 Andhra State merged with the
Telangana region of Hyderabad State to form the state of Andhra Pradesh, which would be mainly Telugu-speaking. Hyderabad, the former capital of the Hyderabad State, was made the capital of the new state Andhra Pradesh.
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