List of important battles in andhra pradesh history
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Although Sanskrit writings dating to about 1000 BCE contain references to a people called “Andhras” living south of the central Indian mountain ranges, definitive historical evidence of the Andhras dates from the times of the Mauryan dynasty, which ruled in the north from the late 4th to the early 2nd century BCE. The great Mauryan emperor Ashoka (reigned c. 265–238 BCE) sent Buddhist missions to the Andhras in the south. About the 1st century CE the Satavahanas (or Satakarni), one of the most-renowned of the Andhra dynasties, came to power. Its members ruled over almost the entire Deccan plateau and even established trade relations with Rome. They were patrons of diverse religions and also were great builders; their principal city, Amaravati, contained Buddhist monuments that inaugurated a new style of architecture. Experts ascribe parts of the famous paintings in the Ajanta Caves of the Deccan (now in Maharashtra state) to the Andhra painters of that period. Buddhism prospered under the Andhras, and in their capital flourished the great Buddhist university of antiquity, where Nagarjuna (c. 150–250 CE), the founder of the Mahayana school of Buddhism, taught. The ruins of the university, at Nagarjunakonda, still reflect its former glory.
Maha Maya
Dream of Maha Maya presaging the Buddha's birth, marble relief from Nagarjunakonda, Andhra Pradesh state, India, Amaravati style, c. 3rd century CE; in the Indian Museum, Kolkata.
P. Chandra
The Andhras continued to prosper over the next millennium, and in the 11th century the eastern Chalukya dynasty unified most of the Andhra area. Under the Chalukyas, Hinduism emerged as the dominant religion, and the first of the Telugu poets, Nannaya, began translating the Sanskrit epic, Mahabharata into Telugu, marking the birth of Telugu as a literary medium. During the 12th and 13th centuries the dynasty of the Kakatiyas of Warangal (now in Telangana) extended Andhra power militarily and culturally, and during their regime the commercial expansion of the Andhras toward Southeast Asia reached its peak.
Amaravati: remains of a Buddhist stupa
Remains of the Buddhist stupa at Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Shravan Mandepudi
By that time, however, followers of Islam had established themselves in the north, and their invasion of the south led to the fall of Warangal in 1323. But the rise of the kingdom of Vijayanagar, to the southwest of Warangal, arrested further expansion of the Muslim power for some time. Widely acclaimed not only as the greatest kingdom in Andhra history but also as one of the greatest in Indian history, Vijayanagar, under the rule of its preeminent king Krishna Deva Raya (reigned 1509–29), became synonymous with military glory, economic prosperity, good administration, and artistic splendour. Telugu literature, for instance, flourished during that period. The formation of an alliance between the various neighbouring Muslim principalities ultimately led to the fall of Vijayanagar in 1565, leaving the Muslims in control of the Andhra areas.
Indian nationalism arose during the 19th century, and the Andhras took a place at the forefront of the movement. Leaders such as Kandukuri Veeresalingam were pioneers in social reform. In the struggle against British rule, Andhra leaders played decisive roles. Pride in their historical and linguistic achievements led them to demand a separate province. Simultaneously, a movement was organized to unite the Telugu-speaking peoples living under British rule with those under the nizam’s administration.
After India gained independence in 1947, however, the region remained administratively and linguistically divided. In 1950 the southern and eastern Andhra portion was incorporated into Madras state, and the Telangana region became part of Hyderabad state. The Andhras’ demand for separate statehood became so insistent that, when the central government refused to comply, a local leader, Potti Sreeramulu, fasted to death in 1952 to dramatize the issue. The government finally acceded to the people’s request by creating, on October 1, 1953, Andhra state, which included the Telugu-speaking districts of the former Madras state to the south. That action paved the way for the formation of linguistic states throughout India, beginning in 1956 and continuing into the 21st century. Through the States Reorganization Act of 1956, the state of Hyderabad was split up, and its Telugu-speaking districts (constituting Telangana) were joined to the Andhra state on November 1, 1956, to form the new state of Andhra Pradesh.