Andhra Pradesh (Telugu: ఆంధ్ర ప్రదేశ్, Āndhra Pradēś ^?, [aːnd̪ʱrə prəd̪eːʃ] ( listen),) abbreviated A.P., is a state situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India'sfourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad. The State has the second-longest coastline of 972 km (604 mi) among all the States in India.^[3] The primary official language of Andhra Pradesh is Telugu and Urdu is the secondary official language in some places,^[2]while other languages spoken in Andhra Pradesh are Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, Kannada. 10281 persons declare English as their first language in Andhra Pradesh according to the 2001 census.^[4]

Andhra Pradesh lies between 12°41' and 22°N latitude and 77° and 84°40'E longitude, and is bordered by Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Odisha in the north, theBay of Bengal in the East, Tamil Nadu to the south and Karnataka to the west. Andhra Pradesh is historically called the "Rice Bowl of India". More than 77% of its crop is rice; Andhra Pradesh produced 17,796,000 tonnes of rice in 2006.^[5] Two major rivers, the Godavari and the Krishna, run across the state. The small enclave (30 square kilometres (12 sq mi)) of Yanam, a district of Puducherry, lies in the Godavari Delta in the northeast of the state.

On 1 November 1956, the States Reorganization Act formed Andhra Pradesh by merging Telugu-speaking areas of Hyderabad St

History

Main article: History of Andhra Pradesh

An Andhra tribe was mentioned in the Sanskrit epics such as Aitareya Brahmana(800 BCE) and Mahabharata (400 BCE).^[7] The Natya Shastra written by Bharatha(1st century BCE) also mentions the Andhra people.^[8] The roots of the Telugu language have been seen on inscriptions found near the Guntur district^[9] and from others dating to the rule of Renati Cholas in the 5th century CE.^[10]

Megasthenes, a Greek traveller and geographer who visited the Court ofChandragupta Maurya (322–297 BCE), mentioned that the region had three fortified towns and an army of 100,000 infantry, 200 cavalry, and 1,000 elephants^{[citation needed]}. Buddhist books reveal that Andhras established their huts or tents near the Godavari River at that time.^{[citation needed]}

Inscriptional evidence shows that there was an early kingdom in coastal Andhra (Guntur District) ruled first by Kuberaka and then by his son Varun, with Pratipalapura (Bhattiprolu) as the capital. Around the same time, Dhanyakatakam/Dharanikota (present day Amaravati) appears to have been an important place, which was visited by Gautama Buddha. According to the ancient Tibetan scholar Taranatha: "On the full moon of the month Chaitra in the year following his enlightenment, at the great stupa of Dhanyakataka, the Buddha emanated the mandala of 'The Glorious Lunar Mansions' (Kalachakra)".^[11][12]

Kakatiya sculpture at Warangal

Literary evidence shows that long before Satavahanas, a legendary king named Āndhra Viṣhṇu ruled in and around the Diviseema region of Andhra Pradesh. After his reign, people came to believe that he had an amsa of the divine savior Lord Maha Vishnu himself. Perhaps in his honor, people dedicated a new temple now located at Srikākuḷam, Krishna District. The lord of the temple is known as Āndhra Viṣhṇu or Srikākuḷāndhra Viṣhṇu.

The Mauryans extended their rule over Andhra in the 4th century BC. With the fall of the Maurya Empire in the 3rd century BC, the Satavahanas became independent. After the decline of the Satavahanas in 220 CE, the Ikshvaku dynasty, Pallavas, Ananda Gotrikas,Rashtrakutas, Vishnukundinas, Eastern Chalukyas, and Cholas ruled the land. During this period, Telugu emerged as a popular language, supplanting Prakrit and Sanskrit.^[13] Telugu was made the official language by the Vishnukundina kings (5th and 6th centuries), who ruled from their capital city of Vengi. Eastern Chalukyas ruled for a long period after the decline of Vishnukundinas; their capital was also Vengi. As early as the 1st century CE, Chalukyas were mentioned as being vassals and chieftains under the Satavahanas and later under the Ikshvakus. The Chalukya ruler Rajaraja Narendra ruled Rajahmundry around 1022 CE.