TEL'UGUS. The northeastern division of the Dravidian family, numbering more than 20,000, 000. They present the typical aspect of the race —medium statured, mesocephalic to dolichoceph alic in head-form. The Yanadis of Nellore, con sidered by sonic authorities to he the primitive Telugus, both with respect to physical character istics and general culture status, are markedly dolichocephalie, broad-nosed, short-statured, and dark-skinned. The castes of the Telugus, adopt ed through Hindu influence, run down from the Brahmans to the despised Madigas, who are leather-workers. Other divisions are the Palay yakkarans and Tottlyans (cultivators), the lat ter of whom practice cousin-marriage; the Ko matis (traders). who have their sacred book, the Kanyakapuran; the Boyas (hunters) the Bes tas (hunters and fishers). Hinduism has large ly, even among such primitive tribes as the Yanadis, superseded the old 'animistic' religion of the Telugus, though ancestor-worship and other relics of more ancient faiths appear here and there. About the middle of the sixth century some of the Telugus made their way into Ceylon, forming part of the advance-guard of the large Dravidian element in the island.
The Telugu language is second in importance of the Dravidian dialects, the first being Tamil (q.v.). In its linguistic structure Telugu coin
cides in the main Nv ith Tamil, although it differs widely from its older cognate in phonology and vocabulary. The alphabk is derived from one of the old forms of the Sanskrit devanagari script. (See DEvANAchiaL) The vocabulary is strongly influenced by Sanskrit, from which about one-third of the literary Telugu words are borrowed. While Telugu is less primitive than Tamil, it far exceeds it in euphony. and is some times called the Italian of the East. The litera ture, which is outlined under the title DRAVID IANS. is abundant and of much stylistic merit. Csonsult: Caldwell, Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian, or South Indian Family of Lan guages (2d ed., London, 1875) ; Arden, Progres sire Grammar of the Telugu Language (Madras, 1873)1 Morris, Simplified Grammar of Telugu (London, 1890) ; Brown, Telugu-English and English-Telugu Dictionary (ib., 1852-54) ; Sank aranarayana, English-Telugu and Telugu-Eng lish Dictionary (ib., 1900) ; Carr, Collection of Telugu Proverbs (ib., 1868) ; Burnell, Elements of South Indian. Pahrography (2d ed., ib., 1878).