Abstract Submiited to 47th AIOC, in Manuscriptology Section

History and Development of Telugu Script

- A.V.Kiran
Telugu is a South-Central Dravidian language. It is primarily spoken
in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also
spoken in some neighboring states. Telugu is the language with the third largest
number of native speakers in India (74 million). Telugu is thought to have been
derived from Trilinga, as in Trilinga Desa, the country of the three lingas.
According to a Hindu legend, Shiva descended as a linga on three mountains,
namely Kaleswara, Srisaila and Bhimeswara, which marked the boundaries of the
Telugu country.
Prakrit was the official language of communication used by the Satavahana Kings
who were also referred to as the SaatakarNis and Andhras (Andhra BhRtya) in the
Puranas. There is some evidence that the kings used a mother tongue that is
different from the official language. It is highly likely that this tongue was a
mixture of the precursor to modern Telugu and derivatives from other languages
such as praakRtaM. The official Prakrit dialect was based on Sanskrit. But several
pure Telugu words had crept into it. In fact, many Prakrit texts such as 'gaathaa
sapta Sati,' 'vajjaa laggaM,' etc., had many Telugu words. This Prakrit was
originally written in the northern Brahmi.
The evolution of the alphabet in the Telugu land over the centuries. Telugu script,
an abugida from the Brahmic family of scripts, is used to write the Telugu
language, a language found in the South Indian states of Andhra Pradesh,
Telangana as well as several other neighboring states. It gained prominence during

Abstract Submiited to 47th AIOC, in Manuscriptology Section

Vengi Chalukyan era. It share high similarity with its sibling Kannada script. The
Kannada and Telugu alphabets are essentially regional calligraphic variants of a
single script. The Muslim historian and scholar Al-Biruni called the Telugu
language and script Andhri.
Telugu uses sixteen vowels, each of which has both an independent form and a
diacritic form used with consonants to create syllables. The language makes a
distinction between short and long vowels.
The present article will focus on history and development of Telugu Script.

A.V. Kiran
Tirupathi