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History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c16.s4: II—Āndhra.

History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c16.s4

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II—Āndhra.

v1.c16.s4.1

Who were the Āndhras? Where was the Āndhra country? These questions are interesting and we proceed to solve them. The Āndhras were a well-known ancient people, different from the Dravidas in the days of the last recasting of the Mahābhārata i. e. about 300 B. C. Moreover in the Mahābhārata Bhīshma parva list of Indian peoples, they are mentioned in the north under the Aryan and mixed Aryan peoples and not among the mlechhas of the south such as Dravida, Kerala, Chola etc. We therefore take it that in 300 B. C. Āndhra had come entirely under Aryan influence while the territory south of the Krishna had not. Āndhra is now looked upon as the territory on the east coast between the Godāvari and the Krishnā. But in Mahābhārata days it denoted the country above the Eastern Ghats. Aryans appear to have settled in it from Kośala or Nagpur and Raipur. Kalinga was also early Aryanised and it may be possible that the Aryans went into Āndhra from Kalinga; but we prefer to hold that the Aryans penetrated into the Āndhra (Warangal) country from Kośala as there is no mountain to cross here. Now Āndhra even in Hiuen Tsang's days was the name of the country above the Eastern Ghats and the Vengi country tract along the coast between the Godāvari and the Krishnā is called by him Dhanakataka (Amaraoti). In short Vengi is distinct from Trikalinga.

v1.c16.s4.2

Having shown that Āndhra was always the country above the Ghats, we may state that the Āndhra people were principally Aryans Even now the ethnographical characteristics of the Āndhra people Brahmins and Kshatriyas are distinctly Aryan. The Brahmins of Āndhra or Telangana still continue marriage relations with the Brahmins of the Deccan and hence they must have been one with the Deccan people. The Āndhra kings who became powerful and conquered Pataliputra appear to us to be thus mixed Aryans and not Dravidians and they conquered Paithan and Mahārāshtra also. Their capital is said to be Dhana-kataka, which country too must have been conquered by them and hence its eventual inclusion in the Āndhra territory. We have therefore distinguished the Āndhras from the southern Dravidas and we hold that they were more Aryan than the latter, i.e. not only the Brahmins, but the middle class peoples also in Āndhra were mixed Aryans.

v1.c16.s4.3

The Āndhras developed a fine literature of their own under the Eastern Chālukya patronage and their ancient work, "The translation of the Mahābhārata" in Telugu is dated the 10th Century A. D. and is said to be highly poetical. Like the Tamils of the further south, the Āndhras too distinguished themselves for learning and even now the Āndhra Brahmins are learned Vaidikas. They are usually Śaivas and rarely Vaishnavas a circumstance which we shall try to explain later on. What language these Āndhras originally spoke we discuss in the next note.

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