OVERVIEW
Telangana is a freshly added state in India that lies in the southern part of the country. With Hyderabad as the capital city, it is the twelfth biggest state by land area and population in the country. During bifurcation from the Andhra Pradesh state, some of the notable cities besides Hyderabad, allotted to the state include Warangal, Khammam, Nizamabad, and Karimnagar.
Telugu is the official language of Telangana, but people speak other languages, such as Hindi and Urdu. The Urdu spoken in the state is known as Hyderabadi Urdu, which in itself is a language of the superior Dakhini Urdu languages of South India.
The Telangana economy mainly depends on agriculture as the state is fed by two vital Indian rivers, such as the Krishna and the Godavari. These rivers are the main source of water to the entire state for irrigation. Some farmers in the state also mostly rely on rain-fed water resources for their irrigation. The state is the major producer of rice in the country. Other vital crops produced by the state include cotton, mango, sugar cane, and tobacco. Of late, crops used for the manufacture of vegetable oil, like sunflower oil and peanuts have gained importance.
As a part of Andhra Pradesh, its cuisines are spicy and hot, mainly eaten with hot pickles. The curries are made from tomato, tamarind and dal. Vegetarian dishes include roti, vepudu, uppudi, thonti koora, palakoora,etc. non-vegetarian dishes include mutton pulao, mamsam vedupu, golichina mamsam, and one of the most renowned is Hyderabadi Biryani.
Telangana is also crammed with renowned Sanctuaries and National Parks that make it one among the popular tourist destinations in the country. Nirmai art is quite famous and the town of Nirmai is well-known for its paintings. Kalamkari paintings are done on clothes and they flourished when Muslims ruled India. Cheriyal Scroll paintings originate from Warangal and were used for storytelling purposes.
Perini Sivatandavam is an ancient dance form that has been recently revived and originated from Telangana. It existed during the Kakatiya dynasty and it is believed it was performed by the soldiers before they marched for war. It is performed by men and also known as the “Dance of Warriors”.
