CHAPTER-I

INTRODUCTION
 CHAPTER-I

INTRODUCTION

The modern Andhra Pradesh, the Premier State of India

lies between the latitudes 12° 14' N to 19° 54' N and the

longitudes 76° 50' E to 84° 50' E.

t

The Andhra Pradesh has a special significance m

the history of India as it is the gateway to the South.
*
>Its political boundaries changed so many times from the
beginning of 18th century to the creation of the Present day

Andhra Pradesh, on 1 November, 1956. The movement for a

> separate province to bring together the Telugu areas

which were under different administrations culminated m
the re-organisation of other States also m the country

into various linguistic units.

The present thesis is an attempt to analyse and record

the whole process of the unification of the predominently
Telugu speaking people of the three contiguous regions
viz. , the Coastal or Northern Circar Districts comprising

East-Godavan; Guntur, Krishna, Nellore, Prakasam, Srikakulam,

Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and West-Gqdavari; the Ceded

or Rayalaseema Districts consisting of Anantapur; Chittoor,

Cuddapah and Kurnool; and the Telangana Districts of

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the erst-while Nizam's dominions of Adilabad, Hyderabad,

Karimnagar, Khammam, Mahaboobnagar, Medak, Nizamabad,

Nalgonda, RangaReddy and Warangal.

The Andhras have a hoary past as attested to by

literary, epigraphic and numismatic evidence. The earliest
historical reference to the Andhras is available in Aitareya

Brahman a. The Andhras were an entity, both on ethnic as

well as cultural grounds. Andhradesa formed a part of
the Mauryan empire. Under the Satavahanas, the Andhra empire
extended from sea to sea and from the erstwhile Central

provinces m the north to Cuddalore, south of Madras

?
on the east coast and Karnataka m the southwest. After the

fall of the Satavahana dynasty the political unity of the

Andhra region was once again consolidated by the Chalukyas

of Badami, the Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi and the Chalukyas

of Kalyana. In the medieval period the Andhras were once

again united by the Kakatiyas of Warangal.

The political unity of the Andhra region was impaired

m the 18th century since when the present coastal Andhra area

1. Venkatachalam, Kota., Journal of the Andhra Historical

Research Society, July 1948 to April 1949, vol.XIX, the
ongion of the Andhras, p.158.
2. The Imperial Gazetteer of India, Claredon Press, oxford,
1908, vol.XIX, p.10.
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called Northern Circars was given away to the British

by a treaty entered into m 1766 between the English and
the Nizam of Hyderabad. Similarly, the Rayalaseema districts

were ceded to the British by the Nizam m 1800 under the

2
Subsidiary Alliance. Thus, the British, who acquired the
entire Andhra region, attached it to the Madras Presidency,
whereas the Telangana continued under the Nizams.
t

Tlje Telugu speaking people m the Madras Presidency

were inspired by the partition and annulment of Bengal

and the discussions that followed on the unity of people
on the language basis and as being instrumental for carving-
out a separate province which was indicated at an informal

conference held m 1907 at Masulipatam to which the Andhras

of the Nizam's dominions had been invited. And its aim was

mainly to bring about the unity of the Telugu speaking people

under one province. The Telugu press followed it up and the

Andhra movement gained momentum. In the year 1913 it took

the shape of , a Movement to demand the redistribution of

provinces on linguistic basis under the auspices of the

1. District Collectorate Records, Masulipatam District,

vol.No.3043, pp.62-66., available m Andhra Pradesh
State Archives, Hyderabad.
2. Manual of the Administration of the Madras Presidency,
government Press, Madras, I885, vol.ll, p.263.
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Andhra Mahasabha which met for the first time at Bapatla.

After a prolonged struggle for forty long years and several

sacrifices, the Andhra State, was formed on 1 October,

1953» bifurcating the Circars and Ceded Districts from the

Madras Presidency with Kurnool as Capital. Later, consequent
on there-organisation of the States and as a result
of theGentlemen's Agreement, Telangana Districts of the

erstwhile Hyderabad State and the Andhra State were unified

on the linguistic basis and Andhra Pradesh came into

existence on 1 November, 1956 with Hyderabad as its capita].

The present study is limited to the period from 3 913

to 1956. The year 1913 has been taken as the starting

point for, m that year the first organisation was establish­

ed to fight for the creation of the Andhra Province and

also to redress the grievances of the Telugu speaking
people. It was since then the Andhra Movement picked up

from stage to stage including the creation of a separate

Andhra Provincial Congress Committee, establishment of

Andhra University, formation of Andhra State m 1953 and

finally the inauguration of the Andhra Pradesh m 1956.

The study includes various stages m the movement

including the British attitude towards the linguistic states,

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the policies of various political parties vis-a-vis the

National Movement. However, this study does not cover the

work of the Indian National Congress, All India State
Peoples Conference, etc.

This study is mainly 'based on historical method

which includes the study and interpretation ofvarious
primary sources, and the re-assessment of studies which have
been made already. The descriptive and comparative methods
are also used for better assessment of the sources available

including published and unpublished material.

There are not many studies made on the subject of

the establishment of linguistic states. However, V.C.P.

Chaudhary's Creation of Modern Bihar, K.V.Narayana Rao's

’The Emergence of Andhra Pradesh1 can be mentioned as two

good works on the study and emergence of states on the

linguistic basis. K.V.Narayana Rao's work 'The Emergence
of Andhra Pradesh' , B.Kesavanarayana's 'Political and Social

factors m Andhra 1900-1956', Rudrayya Chowdari's 1Prakasam-

A Political Study', Prasanna Kumar' s 'Dr.Pattabhi - A

Political Study', and K. Subramanyam's 'The Role of Press

and the National Movement in South India - Andhra, 1905-
1932 are some of the works connected with this theme but

their main theme and emphasis are different from that of

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the present study. They have not made a special study on

unification G.V.Subba Rao's ’History of Andhra Movement' is

a good • attempt but it is more m the form of a collection

and documentation of the related information, mostly

about himself and the activities of Andhra Mahasabha. It
does not cover the entire period since it ended with the
formation of Andhra State m 1953. Much more happened

after the formation of the Andhra State towards the goal

of unification of Andhra Pradesh m 1956. Further, the

history of the movement in Telangana has not been dealt

with in this work.

Even K.V.Narayana Rao in his introduction to his

study particularly mentioned that he had no access to

records which were of confidential nature or had a bearing

on matters of policy for the past fifty years. Now such

records are available for consultation to scholars as old

archival restrictionshave been considerably relaxed

on the recommendations of the Indian Historical Records

Commission. Therefore, it has been possible in the present

study to cover and explore such of those records which
were not accessible till recently. The Andhra Pradesh
State Archives,' Hyderabad m the recent years have acquired

a good number of private collections m the Private

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Archives Series from individuals, institutions and zamindars,

which are m the form of unpublished diaries, personal

papers, [letters, family papers, manuscripts, newspaper

clippings, rare-books etc. This large volume of non­
governmental literature throw abundant fresh light on

several aspects of Andhra Pradesh m general and the

evoluation of Andhra Movement in particular. Having the

privilege of being a staff member of Andhra Pradesh State
Archives, these rare archival ‘sources so far untapped

were available and they are fully utilised for the present
study. District Collectorate records in manuscript series,

strictly confidential and confidential correspondence

of the Departments of Public General, Home, Judicial,

Education; Printed Proceedings of various Departments

and the erstwhile Board of Revenue; Confidential News

Paper Reports; Fortnightly Reports, Gazettes, Gazetteers,

Andhra Mahasabha Proceedings; Proceedings of Madras

Legislative Assembly and Council, Andhra Legislative
Assembly, Hyderabad Legislative Assembly, Indian Legislative
Assembly, Source Material for the compilation of Andhra

Movement, History of Freedom Movement in Andhra and Hyderabad

State have also been consulted for the study. These records

contain copious information on the struggle by the Telugu

people for a separate province. These are m addition to

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the review of major historical works, several biographies,

autobiographies, journals, books and many other articles

published on the subject.

The present study is mainly concerned with various

aspects of the whole process of unification, the sentimental
urge of the Telugu people for a separate state, the motive

forces and the problems that cropped up, the negative

forces and the role played by the Andhra Mahasabhas and

their contribution to the goal of unification culminating
m the linguistic states which have become a reality

without endangering unity of the country.

Therefore the present study is the result of a modest

exercise m consulting further archival sources, thereby

filling the gaps m the study. It does not cover the

problems relating to State borders.

Speelmgs of the names of districts, towns and even

the names of eminent leaders have undergone several changes

during the period under study. However, only the modern

spellings are adopted to facilitate easy reading.