telugu and andhras

Telugu is a south Indian langauge, usually clubbed with Dravidian
languages.

Telugu closely follows Sanskrit in grammar and is spoken by Andhras
of Andhra pradesh in India. (Andhra pradesh is one of the major
states in india and its capital, Hyderabad , is now world famous as a
hub of information activities, apart from several other things)

Andhras were a nomadic tribe who have started their journey from
Maharashtra, from the banks of Andri river. They gave their name to
several rivers, including the Handri in kurnool.

This tribe is mentioned in Vedas, Mahabharat and several other
scriptures.

As per puranic history, Andhra was the seventh son of sudheshna, a
queen and Deergha tama, a blind sage. He occupied the coastal area
of today's Bay of bengal.

Vanaras were said to be a tribe closely connected to andhras, perhaps
a sub-tribe. While Hanuman hails from Maharashtra, the same place
from where the andhras have emerged, Vanaras have occupied today's
borders of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, both are predominantly
telugu speaking areas and where you had a highly flourishing kingdom
of vijayanagara(today's anantpur and Hampi districts)

Hanuman has written in paisaci, a vanished language today, supposedly
the first commentary on Bhagavad gita.

These Andhras have spread all over the country , in kingdoms like
vatsa, malla, salva and karoosha.

Karoosha, situated on the banks of yamuna ,was in fact ruled by an
Andhra king, Canura,a great warrior and wrestler and a vassal of king
kansa. Sri Krishna has killed canura in a fist fight.

Great people like Bodhayana, Apastamba ( both were law givers) and
Acarya Nagarjuna (a buddhist monk) were all Andhras/telugus.

It is said canakya, another law giver, is also a telugu man, since he
was somewhat black and was having a oordha sikha like telugu shodiyar
brahmins.


Now coming to the linguistic part of it, the forerunner of telugu
were dichotomical in nature. there were two languages, desi andhra
and prakrit andhra. desi andhra is a dardic language and was spoken
by echoleon in the society whereas the prakrit andhra is not really
known to the today, though it is surmised that it is spoken by the
common man.

In fact, while desi andhra must hv been spoken by andhras of north
india, prakrit andhra was spoken by people confined to today's andhra
pradesh.( till the times of sata vahanas, this part of the country
was not much developed)

Since desi andhra is a dardic language, my assumption is that prakrit
andhra also must have been a dardic language.


what is this prakrit andhra?

In olden days, a language by name paisaci was being mentioned.
paisaci, though an extinguished language long ago, boasts of great
works- like an encyclopaedia of surgery and of course, 'brhtkatha' by
gunadhya.

the language is said to be so sweet that when gunadya was singing his
work, even the animals were spell bound by its sweetness.

A wide spread spectrum of languages, rightly or wrongly, claim
their origination to paisaci-kashmiri, tulu, tamil etc.

If this is such great and sweet language, then why on earth this is
called paisaci?( paisaci- the language of ghosts!)

Once more, in puranas, there is a sect called pisacas but i do not
think this has got anything to do with them ( just like the way of
marriage of pisaca has got nothing to do with them)

In olden days, there was a great sage by name dakshina murthy ,
living in the kalinga kingdom on mahendra giri hills (today's
srikakulam area, another district in andhra pradesh). he is said to
be an avatar of lord siva, coz he adopted the living style of siva.

True to this saying, his disciples used to be very fierce looking,
what with their vibhuti, torn clothes, unkempt hair and perhaps using
drugs etc.

These people were belonging to the local areas ie they were andhras.

the andhras spread all over the country must hv spoken only desi
andhra and it is to the credit of the discipiles of dakshina murthy
that the language of common andhra ie prakrit andhra has been
introduced to the rest of the country. Since these people looked
like pisacas or ghosts, their langauge was also called paisaci.


My feeling is that this is language which is the prakrit andhra.

My reasons are as below:


a) As mentioned above, paisaci has emerged in andhra area

b) As mentione above, it is a very sweet language. Traditionally,
telugu is acclaimed as a very sweet language

c) All the known works of paisaci are written by telugu people-both
hanuman and gunadhya are andhrites

d) As mentioned above, paisaci is claimed as a forerunner of both
dardic language as well as dravid langauges. That is to say, it has
characteristics of both dardic language as well as dravid lanaguage.
Telugu has also same kind of characteristics.

The geographical proximity to tamilnadu of andhra pradesh has
resulted in a trace more exhibition of dravidian characteristics in
telugu and hence, it is classified as a dravidian langauge.but truly,
telugu is not a dravidina langauge. It must have been a dardic
language, just like kashmiri.

Thus, telugu has emerged from paisaci, which is a forerunner of
kashmiri too.

I hope the linguists in this group will come up with substantiating
arguements.

kishore