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).

Telugu Language Day

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).

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.