Telangana is a state in southern India on the Deccan Plateau bordering Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh to the north and Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka to the south. It is the eleventh largest and the twelfth most populated state of India. According to the Rigveda's Aitareya Brahmana, the region corresponding to Telangana has been inhabited by the Asmakas and Andhras since at least the 8th and 9th century BCE, respectively, with the later Satavahana dynasty, who ruled over the entire Deccan Plateau, establishing trade relations as far as the Roman Empire. Subsequent major dynasties include the Vishnukundinas, Eastern Chalukyas, Kakatiyas, the Vijayanagara Empire, Qutb Shahis, and Mughals followed by the British Raj. Following the Independence of India, the Telugu speaking regions of India were gradually regrouped within the state of Andhra Pradesh but after decades of protests and agitations, the Telangana movement obtained its bifurcation with the creation, in 2014, of the state of Telangana corresponding to the Telugu speaking regions of the Princely State of Hyderabad.
The state's capital is the city of Hyderabad. Telugu, one of the classical languages of India, is the most widely spoken and primary official language, while Urdu has been conferred second official language status. Additionally, several tribal languages such as Gondi, Kolami, Koya and Lambadi are spoken in different regions of the state.
With the eighth highest gross domestic product among Indian states, Telangana has emerged as a major focal point for IT software companies, industry and the services sector. The state is also the main administrative center of many Indian defence aerospace and research labs including Bharat Dynamics Limited, Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory, Defence Research and Development Organisation and Defence Research and Development Laboratory.
Etymology The word "Telinga" changed over time to "Telangana" and the name "Telangana" was designated to distinguish the predominantly Telugu region of the erstwhile Hyderabad State from its predominantly Marathi one, Marathwada. After Asaf Jahi ceded the Seemandhra region to the British, the rest of the Telugu region retained the name Telangana and the other parts were called Madras Presidency's Circars and Ceded Districts.
According to one popular theory, the name derives from Trilinga desha ("land of three lingas") as the region is home to 3 prominent Shaivite shrines: Kaleshwaram (present-day Telangana), Srisailam and Draksharama (present-day Andhra Pradesh). According to Jayadheer Tirumala Rao, a historian, the name Telangana has Gondi origins. He asserts that it is derived from "Telangadh", which means "south" in the Gondi language, and has been referred in the "Gond script dating back to about 2,000 years".
One of the earliest recorded uses of a similar term is found in the name of Malik Maqbul Tilangani (14th century CE), who was called Tilangani, which implies that he was from Telangana. He was the commander of the Warangal Fort (Kataka Pāludu) and later Wazir (Minister) under Firuz Shah Tughlaq.
A 16th-century travel writer, Firishta, recorded in his book: During the just reign of Ibrahim Kootb Shah, Tulingana, like Egypt, became the mart of the whole world. Merchants from Toorkistan, Arabia, and Persia resorted to it; and they met with such encouragement that they found in it inducements to return frequently. The greatest luxuries from foreign parts daily abounded at the king's hospitable board.
History
Throughout antiquity and the Middle Ages, the Telangana region was part of multiple Indian empires; such as the Maurya, Satavahana, Vishnukundina, Chalukya, Chola, Rashtrakuta, Kakatiya, Delhi Sultanate, Bahmani Sultanate and Golconda Sultanate. During the 17th to 19th centuries, the region was ruled by the Mughals and Nizam of Hyderabad. In 1823, the Nizams ceded Northern Circars (in Coastal Andhra) and Ceded Districts (in Rayalaseema) to British India under a subsidiary alliance which reduced it to that of a landlocked princely state bounded on all sides by British India.
Following Indian Independence in 1947, Hyderabad state joined the Union of India in 1948 after a police action. In 1956, Hyderabad State was dissolved and its Telugu-speaking region Telangana was merged with the Andhra State to form Andhra Pradesh. A peasant-driven movement began to advocate for separation from Andhra Pradesh starting in the early 1950s, and continued until Telangana was granted statehood on 2 June 2014.
The historic city Golconda in pre-Independent Hyderabad established itself as a diamond trading centre, and until the end of the 19th century, the Golconda market was the primary source of the finest and largest diamonds in the world. Thus, the name Golconda Diamonds became synonymous with Golconda itself.
Early history
Aśmaka (Assaka) Mahajanapada One of the earliest known political formations in the region of present-day Telangana was the ancient Aśmaka (Assaka) Mahajanapada, which flourished roughly between 700 BCE and 400 BCE. Distinguished as the only southern kingdom among the sixteen great Mahajanapadas of early Iron Age India, Aśmaka held an important place in the subcontinent's historical and cultural landscape.
Buddhist texts and the Puranas describe Aśmaka as a prosperous kingdom situated along the banks of the Godavari River, south of the Vindhya ranges. Its capital city, Podana—also referred to as Potali or Paudanyapura—is identified by most scholars with modern-day Bodhan in Telangana The prominence of Aśmaka in early historical texts highlights the deep antiquity and cultural significance of the Telangana region.
From 230 BCE to 220 CE, the Satavahana dynasty became the dominant power in this area. It originated from the lands between the Godavari and Krishna rivers and was based at Amaravathi and Dharanikota. After the decline of the Satavahanas, various dynasties, such as the Vakataka, Vishnukundina, Chalukya, Rashtrakuta and Western Chalukya, ruled the area.
Medieval period
The Telangana area experienced its golden age during the reign of the Kakatiya dynasty, which ruled most parts of the present-day Andhra Pradesh and Telangana from 1083 to 1323 CE. Rudrama Devi and Prataparudra II were prominent rulers from this dynasty. The dynasty weakened with the attack of Malik Kafur in 1309 and was dissolved after the defeat of Prataparudra by the forces of Muhammad bin Tughluq in 1323.A Social History of the Deccan: 1300–1761, R. M. Eaton, 2005, Cambridge University Press, pp. 15–26, Telugu Vignana Sarvaswamu, volume 2, History, Telugu University, Hyderabad
The area came under the rule of the Delhi Sultanate in the 14th century, followed by the Bahmani Sultanate. Quli Qutb Mulk, a governor of Golconda, revolted against the Bahmani Sultanate and established the Qutb Shahi dynasty in 1518. On 21 September 1687, the Golconda Sultanate came under the rule of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb after a year-long siege of the Golconda fort.
During the early seventeenth century a strong cotton-weaving industry existed in Telangana. Large quantities of cotton were produced for domestic consumption and exporting. High quality plain and patterned cloth made of muslin and calico was produced.
In 1712, Qamar-ud-din Khan was appointed by emperor Farrukhsiyar as the viceroy of Deccan with the title Nizam-ul-Mulk (meaning "Administrator of the Realm"). He was later recalled to Delhi, with Mubariz Khan appointed as the viceroy. In 1724, Qamar-ud-din Khan defeated Mubariz Khan to reclaim the Deccan suba, establishing it as an autonomous province of the Mughal empire. He took the name Asif Jah, starting what came to be known as the Asaf Jahi dynasty. He named the area Hyderabad Deccan. Subsequent rulers retained the title Nizam ul-Mulk and were called Asif Jahi Nizams or nizams of Hyderabad. Hyderabad Nizams remained the tributary of marathas after suffering series of defeats paying annual chauth in return for retaining their domain. The Medak and Warangal divisions of Telangana were part of their realm.
When Asif Jah I died in 1748, there was political unrest due to contention for the throne among his sons, who were aided by opportunistic neighbouring states and colonial foreign forces. In 1769, Hyderabad city became the formal capital of the Nizams. The Nizam Nasir-ud-dawlah, Asaf Jah IV signed the subsidiary alliance with the British in 1799 and lost its control over the state's defence and foreign affairs.
All of the Telugu speaking regions of present-day Telangana, Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema were under the rule of Asaf Jahi I. However, after the second monarch, Nizam Ali Khan, Asaf Jah II (1762–1803), signed the Treaty of Subsidiary Alliance with the British in 1798, the rulers were soon under financial duress as the state had to pay the British East India Company hundreds of thousands of rupees a year to maintain the foreign troops.
The Nizam's government kept borrowing money from Palmer and Company in the first half of the 19th century, which it could not repay. Instead, the EIC paid-off the bank, and in return annexed the present-day Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions from the Nizams, which were since then referred to as Circars (which means the region sold to the British lords) and Ceded, respectively.
Hyderabad State became a princely state among the presidencies and provinces of British India.
In 1787, heavy flooding killed over 20,000, causing a plague which killed about 10,656 people in Telangana.
Modern period When India became independent from the British Empire in 1947, the Nizam of Hyderabad did not want to merge with the Indian Union and wanted to remain independent. The Government of India annexed Hyderabad State on 17 September 1948 after a military operation called Operation Polo. It appointed a civil servant, M. K. Vellodi, as first chief minister of Hyderabad State on 26 January 1950. He administered the state with the help of English-educated bureaucrats from the Madras and Bombay states, who were familiar with British systems of administration unlike the bureaucrats of Hyderabad State who used a completely different administrative system. The official language of the state was switched from Urdu to English.
In 1952, Burgula Ramakrishna Rao was elected chief minister of the Hyderabad State in its first democratic election. During this time, there were violent agitations by some Telangana natives to send the Madras state bureaucrats back and implement a rule by the natives (mulkis) of Hyderabad. Syed Alam Sharjil was elected chief minister of Hyderabad after Dr. Burgula Ramakrishana Rao resigned from the post.
The Telangana Rebellion was a peasant revolt supported by the communists. It originated in the Telangana regions of the Hyderabad State between 1946 and 1951, led by the Communist Party of India (CPI).
The revolt began in the Nalgonda district against the feudal lords of Reddy and Velama castes. It quickly spread to the Warangal and Bidar districts. Peasant farmers and labourers revolted against the local feudal landlords (jagirdars and deshmukhs) and later against the Nizam Osman Ali Khan. The violent phase of the movement ended after the government of India's Operation Polo. Starting in 1951, the CPI shifted to a more moderate strategy of seeking to bring communism to India within the framework of Indian democracy.
In December 1953, the States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) was appointed to form states on a linguistic basis. An agreement was reached between Telangana leaders and Andhra leaders on 20 February 1956 to merge Telangana and Andhra with promises to safeguard Telangana's interests. After reorganisation in 1956, the region of Telangana was merged with Andhra State to form Andhra Pradesh.