page_title: Telugu language
section_title: Vijayanagara Empire
hierarchical_section_title: Telugu language / History / Vijayanagara Empire
caption_attribution_description: Amma II (Eastern Chalukya), Sanskrit language written in Canarese-Telugu script, 10th century AD. Copper plates, exhibited in the National Museum, New Delhi, India.
context_page_description: Telugu is a Dravidian language spoken by Telugu people predominantly living in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Yanam district of Puducherry, where it is also the official language. It stands alongside Hindi and Bengali as one of the few languages with primary official language status in more than one Indian state. Telugu is also a linguistic minority in the states of Odisha, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is one of six languages designated a classical language of India by the country's government.
  Telugu ranks fourth among the languages with the highest number of native speakers in India, with nearly 82 million speakers as per the 2011 census, and 15th in the Ethnologue list of languages by number of native speakers. It is the most widely spoken member of the Dravidian language family and one of the twenty-two scheduled languages of the Republic of India. It is also the fastest-growing language in the United States, where there is a large Telugu-speaking community. Roughly 10,000 pre-colonial inscriptions exist in the Telugu language.
context_section_description: The Vijayanagara Empire gained dominance from 1336 to the late 17th century, reaching its peak during the rule of Krishnadevaraya in the 16th century, when Telugu literature experienced what is considered its Golden Age.
caption: Telugu script on Copper plates, Eastern Chalukya, 10th century CE.
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