Telugu Historyతెలుగు చరిత్ర

Andhra Prakasika

A Telugu weekly of Madras, started in 1885 and called the first Telugu political newspaper. Its editor, A. P. Parthasarathy Naidu, ran it for more than twenty-five years. It reported the troubles of farmers and village officers, criticised officials who took bribes, and spoke against the insults that Indians suffered from Europeans.

The Andhra Prakasika was a Telugu weekly newspaper published at Madras from 1885.1 Sarojini Regani calls it the first Telugu political news weekly.1 It is part of the story told in Telugu newspapers and journals and on the page Reform, freedom & people’s movements.

Editor and readers

Regani writes that A. P. Parthasarathy Naidu of Madras edited the paper from its start.1 She calls him an ardent nationalist, who kept the weekly going with energy for more than twenty-five years.1 The paper began in 1885, the year the Indian National Congress was founded.1

It had readers and writers far from Madras. S. Mahaboob Basha writes that Sattiraju Sitaramaiah began his life in journalism as a correspondent of the Andhra Prakasika.2 Sitaramaiah later founded the women’s journal Hindu Sundari.2 Basha counts the paper among the journals of the late nineteenth century that fought social evils and took up the problems of women.3

What it wrote about

G. Samba Siva Reddy studied what papers of this time wrote about Rayalaseema. He found the Andhra Prakasika writing often about the troubles of the countryside.4 In 1885 it complained that governors and other officials spent money on tours and holidays in cool places, while petitions for relief were ignored.4

The paper reported revenue and village officials who took bribes and whipped people who could not pay their dues.4 It wrote at length on the grievances of the karanams (village accountants).4 With other papers, it described the shortage of water, the failure of rains and the lack of food.4 It also reported government orders on murders in the Forest Department and on crimes by farmers against the forest laws.5

Speaking for Indians

The paper protested when Indians were treated as inferior. One of its writers said that Europeans looked down on Indians and believed that special laws were made for them.5 With other papers, it complained that Indian employees were paid less and placed below British ones.6

It reported a case from Kadapa district in which officials removed Brahmin employees, and another case of religious bias by revenue officers.7 Samba Siva Reddy uses such reports to show how the press of those years built awareness among the people.4

Where the sources disagree

No disagreement was found among the sources used for this page.

Footnotes

  1. Sarojini Regani, Highlights of the Freedom Movement in Andhra Pradesh (1956), p. 19 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  2. S. Mahaboob Basha, “Flagging off the Marathon: Print Culture and Women’s Intellectual Movement in Colonial Andhra: Story of the Hindu Sundari, 1902–1947”, Kakatiya Journal of Historical Studies, Vol. V (2010), p. 79 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  3. S. Mahaboob Basha, “Sculpturing a ‘New Woman’ with Print Culture in Colonial Andhra: A Biography of Telugu Zenana, 1893–1907”, Kakatiya Journal of Historical Studies, Vol. IV (2009), p. 125 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  4. G. Samba Siva Reddy, “Role of Press in Promotion of Socio-Political Awareness in Rayalaseema (1858–1947)”, Kakatiya Journal of Historical Studies, Vol. V (2010), p. 113 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  5. Samba Siva Reddy, “Role of Press in Rayalaseema”, KJHS V (2010), p. 114 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  6. Samba Siva Reddy, “Role of Press in Rayalaseema”, KJHS V (2010), p. 115 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  7. Samba Siva Reddy, “Role of Press in Rayalaseema”, KJHS V (2010), p. 116 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

References

Sources (4)
  1. Sarojini Regani, Highlights of the Freedom Movement in Andhra Pradesh (opens in a new tab), Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, 1956, pp. 19. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]
  2. G. Samba Siva Reddy (article); Thallapally Manohar and K. Vijaya Babu (eds.), Kakatiya Journal of Historical Studies, Vol. V, No. 1 (May 2010), incl. G. Samba Siva Reddy, 'Role of Press in Promotion of Socio-Political Awareness in Rayalaseema (1858-1947)', pp. 111 ff. (opens in a new tab), 2010, pp. 113–116. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]
  3. S. Mahaboob Basha (article); Thallapally Manohar and K. Vijaya Babu (eds.), Kakatiya Journal of Historical Studies, Vol. IV, No. 1 (May 2009), incl. S. Mahaboob Basha, 'Sculpturing a "New Woman" with Print Culture in Colonial Andhra: A Biography of Telugu Zenana, 1893-1907', pp. 124 ff. (opens in a new tab), 2009, pp. 125. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]
  4. S. Mahaboob Basha (article); Thallapally Manohar and K. Vijaya Babu (eds.), Kakatiya Journal of Historical Studies, Vol. V, No. 1 (May 2010), incl. S. Mahaboob Basha, 'Flagging off the Marathon: Print Culture and Women's Intellectual Movement in Colonial Andhra: Story of the Hindu Sundari, 1902-1947' (opens in a new tab), 2010, pp. 79. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]

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