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.