Editor: I. Mallikarjuna Sharma Volume 11: 15-31 March 2015 No. 5-6

46 Historical inevitability or electoral corruption? [IMS] (2015) 1 LAW
Continuing his address, and after paying
tributes to and expressing loyalty to the British
Crown, Sri Venkatarangaiah briefly delineated
the two important aims and objectives of the
Andhra movement: “1. Establishment of an Andhra
University; 2. Formation of a separate Andhra State
through linguistic reorganization of provinces.” He
noted that though opinions differed on the
formation a separate Andhra State, all
knowledgeable persons generally supported it. He
referred to the acceptance of the demand by Sri
V.P. Madhava Rao, former Primier of Mysore
State, and the decision of the Standing Committee
of the Indian National Congress to bring the 11
Telugu districts in Madras Province under a
separate Andhra Committee. He felt that if people
could be convinced that historically Andhras
were a nation on their own and there were times
when their sway extended over the breadth of
many territories in India for considerable periods,
perhaps even the staunch opponents of Andhra
State could be impressed and veered round to
support the demand, and then began to narrate the
ancient history of Andhras in some detail:
“Tracing racial history, in the days of Manu
Smriti 3 Andhras were nomads residing outside
the villages and also subsisting on hunting wild
animals in the forests. In Aitaryea Brahamana
Andhras are grouped along with lower tribes like
Pulinda, etc. But at the same time they are also
referred to as Viswamitra’s offspring. … …when
Viswamitra could do re-creation in opposition to
Brahma’s entire creation, cannot we Andhras
gain just a small separate State for ourselves?
By the time of Srikrisha, Andhras seems to have
risen to an eminent stage. One illustration would
suffice: In Harivamsa, Chanuura who fought
with Srikrishna was said to be an Andhra Malla
(wrestler). So it is clear per the above criteria that
there was a race of Andhras from ancient times.
Further, it is said that there was a king by name
Andhaka among the clan of Yadus, and his
territory came to be known as Andhra country. In
Matsya Purana, written in the form of futuristic
telling, it was stated that Andhras would become
3 Dated anywhere between 1250 BCE-200 CE, and Sri
Venkatarangaiah pantulu seems to be taking the older.
kings and Andhra bhRtyas would also become
kings. Then, to whichever period this
mythological prognosis applies, it is certain this
much that by the time of Ashoka the Andhras
had become a strong nation. Thereafter, history
records that the Andhra Empire extended far and
wide from Magadha to Kanchipuram. In the
times of Dandi, a great Sanskrit poet,
Andhradesa was said to spread up to and even
beyond Jagannatha temple site [i.e. Puri in Orissa]
and there was said to be a big Andhra city.
During the reign of Kakatiyas, Andhras
flourished very much, which fact is illustrated in
Prataparudriiyam. Errapragada referred to the
king Sri Vema as the welfare-ruler of Central
Andhra State; if Addanki, his capital, was to be
in central Andhra, one need not very much dilate
on the vast territorial limits of the entire Andhra
state. Later under Srikrishnadeva Raya the
[Andhra] empire spread over the entire area from
Katakam (Cuttack) to Kanyakumari. Shortly
after the sunset of Vijayanagara Empire, Andhra
kings spread from Jagannatha temple site to
Simhala (Sri Lanka) and established kingdoms at
various places in the entire stretch. The Nayak
kings in Tamil region (Tanjavur) were Andhras.
The kings of Candy in Sri Lanka were Telugus.
[the famous patriot-martyr of Panchalan Kurichi in extreme
South - Veera Pandya Kattabomman – was a Telugu - IMS.]
It is said that even in music there is one tune called
Andhri. As such, it is undoubted that there was an
Andhradesa of yore; this Andhra country is about 2000
years old.”
(to be continued)
* * *
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Law Animated World, 15-31 March 2015 46