– Sangisetti Srinvas

The movement for a separate Telangana has made language a vehicle for the identity of the Telangana people. The political movements which culminated in the formation of a separate state of Telangana sought inspiration from the distinct cultural identity of the Telangana people. Poets and writers expressed in their writings and language, the idiom, sarcasm, anger and angst commonly expressed by the people. The poetic use of this played a crucial role in the realization of the movement for a separate Telangana. Writers went in search of the earthy flavor in the language of the common people sidestepping literary language which dominates writing and other literary activity. Many a singer and balladeer rose to sing the earthy fragrance of the Telangana language in their songs. The overwhelming facts pronounced by the writers, poets and activists over the years shook the political class and the movement for a separate state of Telangana made it to the banner headlines of the media.

The Telangana people are blessed with a unique language. Their language is grammatically and syntactically correct. What is called gasu nune in Telangana is called kirasanailu in Andhra which is not a Telugu word. In gasu nune there is atleast ‘nune’ which is a Telugu word. As put by the poet Kaloji: “for them, the people of Andhra, ‘road’ is correct, but ‘sadak’ is wrong”. When Devulapalli Ramanuja Rao gave a speech in Vijayawada, some of the audience who had a strong preconceived notion that the Telangana people cannot speak Telugu, commented, “Your Telugu is quite good.”

Some of the Telangana writers instead of making things simple for the people made them more difficult. Some writers made use of a large number of words as they are spoken, in their works. Vemula Yellaiah in his novels Kakka and Siddi recorded the life and struggle of the Dalit people in their language as spoken. This has made the book a difficult text. A book making use of vocal expressions cannot be read with ease, unless the words that are used can be understood easily by the readers. Just as in English which has special texts for pronunciation, pronunciation guides are required to read such books in Telugu which make use of vocal expressions. Both book lovers and school children face similar difficulties.

In the name of a standardized version of Telugu, the students of Telangana, studied the Telugu language as it is spoken in the Godavari, Krishna and Guntur districts. This is a foreign language to the people of Telangana. The teacher who teaches the text has no knowledge of this standard version of Telugu. From their incomplete comprehension they try to inform their students in a purely textual language. The students face a disconnect because of this peculiar situation. The language spoken by the student at home is different from the language spoken by the teacher at school. Balancing these diverse expressions, the student manages to write the answers in the examination, which may or may not fetch the required marks. The spoken language, the textual language and the language taught need to be harmonized to achieve the required permanency.

Language differences prevail due to caste and gender also. However, some intellectuals have restricted these differences to Telangana alone and marginalised the Telugu of the Telangana people to the status of a dialect. Noted intellectuals of Telangana like Suravaram Pratap Reddy, Adiraju Veerabhadra Rao, Biruduraju Rama Raju. Samala Sadasiva, Yashoda Reddy, Ravva Srihari and other spoke the Telugu of Telangana. They also taught and wrote in the language of the Telangana people. When Biruduraju Rama Raju wrote about ‘tantela’ in his books, they (the so called pundits) advised him through magazines to amend it as ‘metlu’ (steps). Still Biruduraju did not change the character of his language. He also wrote several books in the Telugu of the Telangana people.

Even today the language of Telangana is being branded as a dialect. They have expressed their spite by giving the language of Telangana an inferior status. In hundreds of public meetings Prof Jayashankar the ideologue of the separate Telangana movement has stated that the people of Andhra in spite of their belittling the Telugu of Telangana, use more Urdu words in their everyday communication. As an example he has highlighted the captions and headlines of newspapers like ‘Jailu nunchi khaidi paraar’ (prisoner escapes from jail) in which except ‘nunchi’ all the other three are Urdu words.

K. Chandrasekhara Rao, the TRS supremo deliberately spoke the Telangana language in his public speeches and press conferences. Not only did he speak the language but he also made use of the idiom, phrases, riddles and other colorful expressions in the language to convey his message easily to the people. His cheeky humor has also landed him in trouble at times. He called senior TDP leader Devender Goud an ‘Ebushi’. The journalists who were covering the event interpreted it as ‘Ebc gadu’ a person who enjoyed the benefits of reservation because of his BC status; apparently a caste insult. The journalists missed the point that ‘Ebushi’ is a tribe in Telangana. KCR has earned the reputation of being a good speaker and orator because of his felicity not only with the Telugu language but also with Telugu Literature. His usage of the common man’s idiom in his speeches which were publicised in the newspapers and the audio visual media like TV influenced the feelings of the Telangana people. It made them hear and take note of what KCR had to say and propagated the Telangana movement.

After the formation of Andhra Pradesh writers for a very long time were hesitant to employ the language of Telangana in their works. Power and authority ordered the standard language to be used and celebrated in the Telangana region. This situation changed to some extent by 1969 when the separate Telangana agitation started taking shape. Only Kaloji used Telangana Telugu consistently across all forums on most occasions. The ‘Isitram’ poetry of Pancha Reddy Lakshmana, ‘Gudise Gunde’ of Devaraju Maharaju, the stories of Vidyasagar written completely in the language of the Telangana people created a momentous stir. The former Vice-chancellor of Telugu University Professor N. Gopi has deliberately named his poetry after popular Telangana names ‘Tangedu Pulu’ ‘Kuduru’ ‘Yenda Poda.’ As long as he lived Samala Sadasiva did not abandon the flavour of Telangana Telugu in his work. Writers like Ilaiah wrote in the Telanagana language in Srujana magazine. Several Telangana writers barring a few continued this trend after 1990 and they are continuing to do so. T. Krishnamurthy Yadav’s ‘TokkuduBanda’ was written in true Telangana spirit. ‘Pokkili’ was the first compilation published during the Telangana movement. The very name of this compilation created a huge sensation. Vemuganti Murali’s ‘ Munum’ which was published at the height of the separate Telangana movement also showed the path to be followed. Annavaram Devender’s conribution in this aspect is also significant.

Poets named hundreds and thousands of their books with Telangana words. Telangana poet and historian Sunkireddy Narayana Reddy hailed the uniqueness of the Telangana people by naming his literary research work ‘Mungili,’ his poems ‘Dali,’ his compilation ‘Mattadi,’ and his essays ‘Ganuma.’ An association of writers was formed by the name ‘Singidi.’ Every writer named his or her work with the consciousness of the struggle for a separate Telangana. The magazine ‘Soyi’ became the forum for the expression of these sentiments. The Telangana writers association formed by this magazine enhanced the respect and provided publicity to Literature by conducting public meetings in various places.

The language spoken by people of Telangana may vary from district to district or for that matter between the tahsils within the same district. However the language spoken by the majority of the people in the ten districts of the state of Telangana or the language understood by a majority of the people in Telangana can be principally agreed upon as the standard language of the people of Telangana. New words and coinages keep getting added to this existing stream.

Nalimela Bhaskar’s work, the Telangana word dictionary brought out in 2003 was inspired by the spirit of the separate Telangana movement. He created a primary resource pool of around 7000 neglected, forgotten words to marshal them for the separate Telangana struggle. As informed by Nalimela Bhaskar the words which are in usage in the districts of Mahabubnagar and Nalgonda did not find a place in this dictionary. As an example the black Scorpion is called ‘Ingilikam’ in Nalgonda is not found in this dictionary. There is a need to add more such words and make it more comprehensive.

Bhaskar has made a significant effort and compiled his work in spite of the several constraints faced by him. This has shown the way. While continuing the good work done there is a need to rework this and produce an academically new dictionary. Government should constitute a committee under the leadership of intellectuals like Ravva Srihari for this purpose. When this cultural change continues to happen and all the discarded and forgotten words of Telangana are brought back to usage, it will be possible to relish the sweetness of its native Telugu once again.

 

Translated from the Telugu by A. Krishna Mohan
Sangisetti Srinivas is a librarian, Telangana activist, interested in culture, literature and history.
A Krishna Mohan works in government (BC Welfare commission) and is interested in literature.