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About Andhra Pradesh |
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There are references to the existence of an Andhra Kingdom in Sanskrit epics, as well as there are inscriptions found at different places in the present state that give indications to the presence of an "Andhra" race in the ancient past. We get a vivid picture of the Andhra country, as the region was known at that time, from the accounts of Megasthanese, who came during the period Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the great Maurya dynasty.
The vast empire of the Maurya dynasty also included Andhra, and they continued to dominate the region till their fall four hundred years before the Christian era. Then it came under the Satavahanas who remained in power till the the early part of the third century AD. The decline of Satavahanas saw the rise of many local powers one after another who continued to dominate the region till the ascent of the Chalukyas by the turn of the first millennium.
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These local powers, which included Ikshvaku dynasty, Pallavas, Vishnukundinas, Ananda Gotrikas and Cholas, promoted the indigenous culture of the Andhra region and created suitable environments for the development of Telugu language, which in due course of time emerged as the most popular communication medium among the local masses leaving the significance of Sanskrit and Prakrit only for the learned people.
The Kakatiyas started to gain their control over Andhra region, after the power of the Eastern Chalukyas was shattered to a mortal level in the battle of Palnadu. The Kakatiya dynasty unified all Telugu speaking lands under one kingdom and gave it an identity of its own. They were defeated by the Delhi Sultan Ghiaz-ud-Din Tughlaq in 1323, and the control of Warangal, the political center of the Kakatiyas, passed into the hands of the Nayaks who ruled for nearly fifty years until the rise of the Vijayanagar empire, founded by Harihara and Bukka. The fall of the Vijayanagar empire led the emergence of several Muslim Sultanate, chief among them were the Bahmani kingdom, the Qutb Shahi dynasty and the Nizams of Hyderabad.
During the British regime, the Nizams continued to rule, though with limited autonomy, over parts of the present Andhra Pradesh known as the princely state of Hyderabad, after relinquishing Rayalseema region to the British. The coastal areas, which later came to be known as Coastal Andhra region, formed a part of the British Madras Presidency, while the French held sway over a small enclave known as Yanam or Yanaon.
When the British left the country, parts of Andhra Pradesh was imbibed immediately into the Indian union. The Nizam, however, was reluctant to join the union and wanted to retain his independence. This was against the popular sentiment of his subject, and hence the Indian government took measures to force the state to become a part of the Indian Republic. The state of Andhra was created in 1953, with capital at Kurnool, in response to the demand posed by the Telugu speaking people. Further in 1956, the Telangana region of Hyderabad state was merged with the Andhra state to create a new state of Andhra Pradesh with capital at Hyderabad.
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