India is one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world. This diverse country consists of so many beautiful languages. And among them, there is Telugu, which is the regional language of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and holds a special place on the list of languages spoken in India.
Today, we present to you 12 amazing facts about our very own Telugu language.
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5. Telugu ranks 3rd by the number of native speakers in India (75 million people), and 15th in the Ethnologue list of most-spoken languages worldwide.
6. Telugu derived from trilinga, as in Trilinga Desa, “the country of the three lingas’ ‘. According to a Hindu legend, Shiva descended as a linga on three mountains: Kaleshwaram in Nizam, Srisailam in Rayalaseema and Bhimeswaram in Kostha;
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12. Sri Krishnadevaraya visited his temple in Srikakulam and paid homage to the deity. It was here that Krishnadevaraya wrote the literary classic, Amuktamalyada at the order of the Lord Andhra Vishnu who had said “Des Bhashalandu Telugu Lessa” (Telugu is the greatest among the state’s languages”) and ordered Sri Krishnadevaraya to adopt Telugu as the official language of his province.
Lord Sri Vishnu told him to compose the story of his wedding with Andal at Srirangam (“rangamandayina penDili seppumu..”). From 14th poem of this work we can see that the, Lord also ordered the emperor to tell the story in Telugu and referred himself as King of Telugus (Telugu Vallabhunḍa) and refers Sri Krishnadevaraya as Kannada King (Kannaḍa Rāya). (…nEnu delugu raayanDa, kannaDa raaya!, yakkodunangappu….). The Lord reasoned “telugadElayanna, dESambu Telugu. yEnu Telugu vallaBhunDa. telugo kanDa.…. yerugavE bAsADi, dESa BhAShalandu Telugu lessa!” The emperor obliged and composed Amuktamalyada which is one of the most famous poetic works in the entire Telugu literature.
“తెలుఁగ దేల యెన్న దేశంబు దెలుఁగేను
తెలుఁగు వల్లభుండఁ తెలుఁగొకండ
యెల్ల నృపులు గొలువ నెరుఁగవే బాసాడి
దేశభాషలందుఁ తెలుఁగు లెస్స”
— శ్రీ ఆంధ్ర విష్ణు
