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

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.