The Wonder That Is Andhra Pradesh

Over the years Andhra Pradesh has emerged as a major educational hub, attracting students from various parts of the country. The most prominent, Andhra University was established in 1926 at Waltair/Vizag. It has been an epicentre and repository of knowledge for several decades.

- RAVI VALLURI

Years—if not aeons—ago, when the iconic film Shankarabharanam scorched the cinema halls of undivided Andhra Pradesh, the headlines of tabloids screamed that Andhras would be and has (visually impaired) if they failed to watch the much-celebrated and acclaimed movie. This was an epoch-making statement about the state.

"In Andhra, particularly the Bharata Sashtra had been highly developed in the medieval times, in the courts of the Kakatiyas, Reddis, Rayas and Nayudus of Warangal, Kondavidu and Vijayanagar. In the Kuchipudi tradition, the Bhagavatas of Andhra preserved a considerable amount of the knowledge of Bharata Sastra," penned Sri Ponangi Sri Rama Appa Rao, talismanic Telugu writer.

Andhra Pradesh is a viridescent and fertile land beyond the Vindhyas, in South India. It is bordered on the south by the terrain of the state of Tamil Nadu, the western part is fringed by Karnataka, and the northern area is flanked by Maharashtra, while the north-eastern areas are encircled by the states of Madhya Pradesh and Orissa.