Why is ‘Telugu Language Day’ celebrated? Know history and significance

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New
Delhi,
Aug
29:
Every
year,
August
29
is
celebrated
as
Telugu
Language
Day
to
commemorate
the
birth
anniversary
of
Telugu
poet,
Gidugu
Venkata
Ramamurthy.

On
this
day,
the
Government
of
Andhra
Pradesh
provides
funds
and
presents
awards
with
the
objective
of
the
betterment
of
the
Telugu
language.
The
Department
of
Culture
is
responsible
for
organising
the
day
on
behalf
of
the
government.
The
date
of
29
August
was
chosen
to
be
the
Telugu
Language
Day
to
coincide
with
the
birthday
of
Telugu
poet,
writer
and
social
visionary
Gidugu
Venkata
Ramamurthy.

History

Born
on
1863,
Gidugu
Venkata
Ramamurthy
was
a
Telugu
writer
and
one
of
the
earliest
modern
Telugu
linguists
and
social
visionaries
during
the
British
rule.
He
championed
the
cause
of
using
a
language
comprehensible
to
the
common
man
(‘Vyavaharika
Bhasha’)
as
opposed
to
the
scholastic
language
(‘Grandhika
Bhasha’).

Ramamurthy
was
not
only
adept
in
Telugu
but
also
dabbled
with
multiple
other
languages.
He
wanted
the
Telugu
being
taught
in
schools
to
reflect
the
one
spoken
by
native
speakers
and
was
also
well-versed
in
linguistic
theory.

In
his
time
there
was
only
a
poetic
approach
and
never
was
a
prosaic
treat.
He
launched
a
monthly
titled
Telugu
to
drive
his
point.
Gidugu
gave
a
social
base
to
Telugu
literature
and
rendered
services
to
the
tribals,
especially
the
Savaras,
in
Parlakimidi
area
of
Srikakulam
agency
area
and
tirelessly
worked
for
the
development
of
tribal
languages.
He
gave
Savara
language
a
script
and
prepared
lexicons.
During
his
research
for
Savara
language,
he
had
to
travel
in
the
forests
resulting
in
excessive
use
of
quinine
due
to
which
he
became
deaf.

Significance:

India’s
fourth
most
spoken
language
is
Telugu.
There
are
around
8.11
crore
native
speakers
of
Telugu,
as
per
the
2011
Census.
It
is
not
just
India
where
Telugu
is
spoken.
In
fact,
the
language
is
the
largest
member
of
the
Dravidian
language
family
and
is
spoken
in
Bahrain,
Malaysia,
Mauritius,
the
United
States,
Fiji,
Singapore,
United
Arab
Emirates,
and
the
United
Kingdom.

Telugu
is
sometimes
called
“The
Italian
of
the
East”
because
Niccol
de
Conti,
a
16th-century
Italian
traveller,
found
that
the
Telugu
language
finishes
with
vowels
just
like
the
Italian
language.
The
International
Alphabet
Association
chose
the
language’s
script
to
be
the
2nd
best
in
the
world
in
2012.