AN OVERVIEW ON ANDHRA PRADESH: KOH-I-NOOR OF INDIA

          ANDHRA PRADESH: KOH-I-NOOR OF INDIA

                                   

As with the title, the first question arises in our Mind, Why Andhra Pradesh is being adorned here with the title koh-i-noor of India, is probably because of two reasons, which would be first the origination of the world famous diamond which was once pride of India for several of decades and being the symbol of royalty and power for several dynasties and another reason in a obvious manner would be because of the rich culture, tradition, food and heritage of Andhra Pradesh. So, here we will be discussing about the history of the world’s prestigious diamond Koh-i-noor and its long and tragicfull journey and the culture and heritage of Andhra Pradesh make shine like koh-i-noor not only in India but in the world.

Koh-I-Noor is an Iranian word which means (Mountain of Light) was first pronounced by Nadir shah the king of Persia when he invaded India in March 1739. So, how does it related to Andhra Pradesh. The story starts from here of the koh-I-Noor, The diamond was discovered first at the river bed of Krishna at Kolluru near Guntur in Andhra Pradesh India in 13^th century and from here the journey of koh-i-noor starts and since then it has remained in the hands of Kakatiya rulers, until the invasion lead by the general of Allauddin Khilji, Malik Kafur which was the part of his expeditions in South. When Warangal was looted, at that time the present ruler of Kakatiya dynasty Prataparudra has to surrender the koh-i-noor to Malik kafur as a symbol of treaty, then with the loot the koh-i-noor diamond was presented before Allauddin khilji and from there it was passed on to Turks, Siddies, Lodhis and in the 15^th century it was given as a present to the Mughal sultan Babur in the sence of treaty. after his successful expedition against Agra and Delhi. The later Mughal ruler Jahangir has placed the diamond in the peacock Throne, until it was looted by the Persian king Nadir shah, after having a first look of precious diamond the word came out of his mouth is Koh-I-noor (Mountain of Light) and after the assassination of Nadir shah. It has gone into the hands of one of the Nadir shah’s general Ahmed Shah Durrani and remained into his family. Until Durrani ancestor Shah shuja Durrani handed over it to the Sikh ruler of Punjab Maharaja Ranjit Singh,

There is small story behind it, As the Shah Shuja Durrani need a powerful assistance in the war against Britishers. So, in this matter he met Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab who was the most influential and powerful ruler in North India. So, as a trophy of friendship they exchanged their turbans with each other and as a result Maharaja Ranjit Singh received the Koh-i-noor diamond which was hidden inside the turban of shah shuja. So, in other terms we can also say that the Maharaja of Punjab was the last Indian owner of precious uncut diamond koh-i-noor. Until it was surrendered to Queen Victoria by Maharaja Duleep singh son of maharaja Ranjit singh in the treaty of Lahore in 1849 and this was a small story that how koh-i-noor dig out from the Diamond mine of Andhra Pradesh to becoming the pride of Queen Elizabeth  crown of Britain. There are also some interesting facts about koh-i-noor is that it brings bad luck to a male owner rather than it brings luck to the female owner and it said in the Hindu mythology that it is the same diamond that was once owned by lord Krishna, Which he got from Jamvan father of queen of Krishna’s wife Jamvati.

 

In the above paragraph we have talked about the relation of koh-i-noor to Andhra Pradesh, India and now we will talk about how is the  Andhra Pradesh state as a whole been represented as the koh-i-noor in terms of its Heritage , culture, floral diversity and its language. Andhra Pradesh as a whole is rich in its art & craft, literature and architecture. Discussing about various aspects of the state first we will start from the formation of the state Andhra Pradesh, it was formed in the year 1952 as a result of a severe revolution and hunger strikes, the basic motive of formation of separate state is that mainly because of the language, the base of Andhra Pradesh formation is because of the telugu speaking people, this state constitute the telugu speaking parts of madras. So, the language plays an important role in the heart of andhraties. Firstly, it is the maximum chilli producing state of the country and Guntur chillies are famous for that. In the following paragraph we will further talk about the culture, food, language, art & craft, and heritage of the state.

CULTURE: As already discussed the Andhra Pradesh is known for its rich culture. As we can also say that it has an imprint of several dynasties which have ruled over it, starts from Ikshvakus, pallavas, Cholas, Vijayanagara and Mughals. Each one has contributed to each part weather it is music, dance cuisine etc. talking about music of Andhra Pradesh is home of Carnatic music, It is said that folk music is created from the Carnatic music and Carnatic music is known been created by Gods. If we talk about Carnatic music, we should be taking the name of the trinity of Carnatic music Thyagaraja, Shyma sastri and Muthuswami Dixitar, who have exceptionally contributed to the music of Andhra Pradesh. With music the koh-i-noor of India Andhra Pradesh also known for its alluring handlooms like pattu sari which are woven with the border of silk threads and mostly the borders of the pattu sari are golden in colour, along with it Andhra Pradesh is also famous for voni sarees, Nirmal painting sarees, Kalamkari sari, with an excellent contribution of pochampalli, Gadwal, venkatagiri. Another quality which states Andhra Pradesh as a pearl like koh-i-noor is the traditional dance of Andhra Pradesh, which is none other than most famous and well known dance form Kuchipudi, which named after a village kuchelapuram of Andhra Pradesh, the dance form bharatnatyam is closely related to this dance form, it is a dance form which usually based on rhythm, A light make up with several ornaments and saree is the traditional attire for this dance form for female, This dance form is usually performed by men and women both.

 

LANGUAGE:- Telugu is the official language of Andhra Pradesh. It is one of the ancient dravadian language. If we talk about the world, it is spoken by 75 million people. Nannaya, Tikkana and Yerrapragoda are credited for moulding the telugu language into its present form.

 

ARCHITECTURE:- Along with its, culture Andhra Pradesh also sets an example for its alluring architecture, most of the temples, forts and Palaces are made by dravedian style. Some of the best examples are Tirumala venkateswara temple, Chandragiri fort, paigah tombs etc.

 

FOOD:- An easiest way of knowing about people of any state or country food plays an important role in mirroring the reflection of it.

This statement perfectly fits in the case of Andhra Pradesh the first and the most important thing about the food of Andhra Pradesh is that it is much more specier than any other state of India. Which also reflects in the behaviour and nature of its people. The food of Andhra Pradesh is mostly divided into two parts, the first one is the Rayalseema food which is mostly vegetarian in nature Pulihora, poppadomes, pesaratu, sambhar, rasam and payasam are the best examples of rayalseema food. The second part is the costal line food which is basically non-vegetarian and sea food, because this region is situated along side the ocean so the dishes are mostly prepared with fresh prawns and fishes.

 This was an overview that how Andhra Pradesh is considered as the koh-i-noor of India despite been actually loosing it. Still the people of Andhra Pradesh believes that koh-i-noor is an inevitable property of the state.

 

“The value of any precious thing does not represented by its appearance rather than its quality”