Where do exactly Telegu people live? Is it close to ancient Amaravati area?
Correct. But let me elaborate below.
Nagarjunakonda – The Island To Plan Your Visit
TRAVEL
28 NOVEMBER 2015
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Summary: Can you imagine visiting an island in South India? Yes, this is possible as the Guntur District has one such island. Let us explore some details about this island called as Nagarjunakonda.
The term Nagarjunakonda is translated as Nagarjuna Hill and it is nothing, but a historical Buddhist town. It is now an island that is located close to the Nagarjuna Sagar in the Guntur District of the state of AP.
Site of historical importance:
The ancient remains of this site, which is located at a distance of about 150 kms southeast of Hyderabad were discovered in the year 1926. Before the year 1953, two major excavations were carried out in this place. The first excavation was done when it was announced that the area would be flooded by the Nagarjuna Sagar Reservoir. It was presumed that the major flood would arise as a result of the massive hydroelectric project that was initiated in the area in the year 1960.
To protect the Buddhist remains in this area, a massive excavation work was carried out, during which the unearthing of many Buddhist stupas, ruins, viharas, chaityas and mandapams happened. During the period, many white marble depictions explaining the life of Gautam Buddha were found. From the remains found during the excavation, some of them were moved to Nagarjunakonda Island that now has a museum for showcasing these remains from Buddhist period to the tourists.
Significance of Nagarjunakonda:
This island was one of the most important and largest Buddhist centers in entire South India right from the second century BC until the third century AD. This place was named after Acharya Nagarjuna, who was a renowned Buddhist philosopher and scholar and who is also considered as the pioneer to spread Buddhism in this region. It is stated that he had migrated to this place from Amaravati for spreading the message of Gautam Buddha of brotherhood and universal peace.
Acharya Nagarjuna as he was popularly called is the founder of Mahayana Buddhism and there is also a university that functions even today in the name of this Acharya. He also established the Madhyamika School for which students from different countries of the world like China and Sri Lanka were attracted to learn the preaching of Gautam Buddha. The Acharya also governed the community of Buddhist Priests for nearly 60 years during the 2nd Century AD.
http://www.amaravativoice.com/Travel/nagarjunakonda-the-island-to-plan-your-visit
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Where most people go wrong is that they mistake current geography with historical geography.
Even though Telugu people are part of current states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, The southern parts of both Chhattisgarh and Odhisha have a considerable portions of Telugu people.
Late President Varahagiri Venkata Giri (V.V.Giri) was from Berhampur in the Ganjam district of Odisha from where the Late PM P. V. Narasimha Rao has also successfully contested. Kota Harinarayana - Programme Director and Chief Designer of India's Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Programme and Freedom fighter Wunnava Venkata Varaha Buchi Ramalingam are also from the same place. Ganjam is associated with both Kalingas & Gajapatis
Look at the Gajapati Kingdom.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gajapati_Kingdom
The
Gajapatis were a
medieval Hindu dynasty from the
Indian subcontinent (ଗଜପତି ସାମ୍ରାଜ୍ୟ୍), that ruled over
Kalinga region (present
Odisha) from 1434 to 1541. Their territory also included large parts of
Andhra Pradeshand
West Bengal, and the eastern and central parts of
Madhya Pradesh and
Jharkhand.
The region known as Kalinga (present-day Odisha) was controlled by the
Odia rulers
Eastern Gangas of the
Vasistha gotra. The early Eastern Gangas ruled from Kalinga-nagara (Mukhalingam near
Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh). They shifted their capital to Puri in the 12th century. Religious leader
Ramanujacharya had a great influence on the Raja Choda Ganga Deva, who renovated the temple at
Puri. Narasimha Deva built the
Sun Temple at
Konark. The Gangas were succeeded by the Gajapati rulers. Two copper plates of the early
Pallava dynasty have been found in the Kolleru Lake, traced to Gajapati Langula Narasimha Deva, an Oriya ruler(Odiya Rajulu/Vaddi). According to legend, the Gajapati fort was located at Kolleti Kota on one of the eastern islands of the lake, which protected the Odia forces. The enemy general encamped at Chiguru Kota located on the shores and tried to excavate a channel in the modern-day Upputeru, so that the water of the lake would empty into the sea and allow an attack on the Gajapathi fort.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhattiprolu
Bhattiprolu is a village in
Guntur district of the
Indian state of
Andhra Pradesh. It is the headquarters of
Bhattiprolu mandal in
Tenali revenue division.
[4] It also forms a part of
Andhra Pradesh Capital Region.
[5] The
Buddhist stupa in the village is one of the centrally protected
monumemts of national importance.
[6]
History[edit]
The original name of Bhattiprolu was Pratipalapura, a flourishing
Buddhist town in the ancient Sala kingdom that predated Andhra
Satavahanas. From available inscriptional evidence, King Kuberaka was ruling over Bhattiprolu around 230 BC. Bhattiprolu is well known for its Buddha
stupa (
Vikramarka kota dibba) built about 3rd-2nd century BC.
The stupa and the script[edit]
Main article:
Bhattiprolu alphabet
Three mounds were discovered in Bhattiprolu in 1870. In 1892 when excavations were undertaken by Alexander Rea, three inscribed stone relic caskets containing crystal caskets, relics of
Buddha and jewels were found.
[7]The
stupa was found to be 40 meters in diameter with an additional basement of 2.4 meters wide running all around. The most significant discovery is the crystal relic casket of sarira dhatu of the Buddha from the central mass of the stupas. The Mahachaitya (great stupa) remains of a large pillared hall, a large group of ruined votive stupas with several images of Buddha, a stone receptacle containing copper vessel, which in turn, contained two more, a silver casket and within it, a gold casket enclosing beads of bone and crystal were found.
One of the earliest evidence of
Brahmi script in
South India comes from Bhattiprolu.
[8] The script was written on an urn containing Buddha's relics. The script has been named the
bhattiprolu alphabet. Historians surmise that this script gave rise to the
Telugu Script and
kannada script.
[9]
"A manual of Krishna District - in the madras presidency: 1883" mentions Public Works Department at that time having demolished beautiful marble pillars, central casket and used the remains in the sluice flowing 2 miles east of bhattiprolu
[10]
Here is the map of The great Satavahana Empire with Amaravati as its Capital
