gidugu awarded KAIZER-E-Hind

Distinguished pandits like CV sastry Sri T.Sivasankara Sastry, Sri Veerasalingam, Sri P. Adinarayana Sastry, Sri V. Rama Sastry supported the reformation towards colloquial language. On 28 February 1919 “Varthamaana Andhrabhasha pravartaka samajam” was established with Veeresalingam as President and Gidugu as secretary. In 1924 Andhra Sahitya Parishat lifted the ban on Colloquial language.

On 15 January 1940, Gidugu addressed some editors as his last request. He was glad to see the colloquial language use was spreading. He lamented the fact that the Government's education department and the Universities are still using the Prose.

Madras government recognized Gidugu's services and awarded his 'Kaizer-e-Hind' medal.

Gidugu Rammurty died on 22 January 1940.

Telugu Language Day

Telugu Language Day

29 August

In Mauritius every year we celebrate or commemorate a ‘Day’ which marks an event, whether social, cultural, linguistic or religious, as per our faith, philosophy or appartenance.  Some people also celebrate the English language Day or the French language Day.

The Telugu community commemorates Telugu Day on the 29 August. In Mauritius, Telugu is spoken by many inhabitants who are of Telugu origin and whose ancestors hail from the state of Andhra Pradesh, India.

Telugu is the official language of the state of Andhra Pradesh, which is one of the largest states in the South of India. Telugu belongs to the Dravidian family of languages and it has been largely influenced by Sanskrit. It is one of the twenty-two scheduled languages of the Republic of India and was conferred the status of a classical language by the Government of India in October 2008. This Dravidian language is the mother tongue of the majority of people of Andhra Pradesh. It is also spoken by many people in all the neighbouring states, namely Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Maharashtra, Chattisgarh as well as in many countries in the world to which the Telugus have migrated, like the U.S., Canada, England, Australia, Mauritius, Malaysia, Singapore, Burma, New Zealand, Holland, the Gulf countries, Botswana, South Africa and other African countries.

Commemorating Telugu Language Day is one more step taken by the Telugus of Mauritius to sensitize and encourage our youngsters to learn and speak this language. Telugu is the second most-spoken language in India (80 million native speakers in Andhra Pradesh, India).

Birth anniversary of Gidugu Venkata Ramamurthy

THE TELUGU LANGUAGE DAY COINCIDES WITH THE BIRTH ANNIVERSARY OF GIDUGU VENKATA RAMAMURTHY PANTULU. GIDUGU LIKE GURUZADA APPA RAO AND OTHERS, ADVOCATED THE USE OF SPOKEN TELUGU SO THAT THE MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE COULD UNDERSTAND IT INSTEAD OF THE LANGUAGE THAT WAS USED BY EARLIER POETS AND SCHOLARS. PREVIOUSLY SCHOLARS ADVOCATED A LANGUAGE OF STATUS WHICH WAS THE BOOKISH LANGUAGE OF SCHOLARS AND POETS LIKE SRINATHA, TIKKANA AND POTANA, AND THEY LOOKED DOWN UPON THE COLLOQUIAL SPOKEN DIALECT WHICH THEY CONSIDERED INFERIOR TO THE LANGUAGE OF THE SCHOLARS AND PUNDITS. BUT THIS BOOKISH LANGUAGE WAS MORE SANSKRITIZED AND, AS SUCH, COULD NOT BE UNDERSTOOD BY THE LAY PEOPLE.

Telugu speaking Richard Naidu in South Africa

Telugu speaking Richard Naidu in South Africa

The Telugu community has their own Telugu organisations which cater to the needs of their culture and traditions. The Andhra Maha sabha in Durban is one such organisation. There is also the Telugu Cultural Centre which has a beautiful multipurpose hall that can accommodate some five hundred people. Reception and wedding ceremony are held in that hall. It is situated in 

Telugu may extinct India by UNESCO Report

The day is observed as per the call given by UNESCO in memory of students killed in Dhaka while fighting for official language status to Bangla in 1952. Telugu was among 196 languages identified as under threat for extinction in India by UNESCO in its report submitted in 2008. Dr. Lakshmi Prasad called for change in mindset of people to educate their wards in Telugu and demanded compulsory teaching of Telugu from first standard to degree as one of the language papers.

UNESCO study ON TELUGU

As per UNESCO study, of 6,500 languages in the world, 2,500 were under threat for want of patronage.

UNESCO thinks that promoting recognition and practice of various languages will prevent the threat of their extinction.

Several Indian languages are facing the threat due to growing craze by parents to teach their children in English medium and make them good at communication in English to get good jobs at the cost of their own mother tongues.

The rally by schoolchildren on the beach road from the statue of NTR to the statue of Puripanda Appalaswamy was organised under the aegis of Loknayak Foundation.

Andhra University Vice-Chancellor B. Satyanarayana, HMTV Chief Editor K. Ramachandra Murthy, Andhra Bhoomi Editor M.V.R. Sastry and Lok Nayak Foundation chairman Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad were among those present.