Andhra Pradesh Culture

Andhra Pradesh is the home of Kuchipudi, of the Telugu poetry and music of Annamacharya and the Vijayanagara court, and of crafts from Kondapalli toys to Kalamkari cloth. Its coastal deltas, the Rayalaseema uplands and the hill tribes of the Eastern Ghats each add their own songs, dances and festivals. For the culture of Hyderabad and the Telangana region, see Telangana Culture.

Dances of Andhra Pradesh

Kuchipudi

Kuchipudi, one of India's classical dance forms, owes its name and existence to a small village in Krishna district called Kuchipudi. Siddhendra Yogi, honoured as its founder, trained the young Brahmin men of the village to present dance-dramas on religious themes, and the tradition passed down through their families. Its dancers must be well versed in dance, mime, music and song, and need a good knowledge of Sanskrit and Telugu. Once performed under the night sky on makeshift stages, Kuchipudi is today danced by men and women on stages around the world; a well-known feature is the Tarangam, danced on the rim of a brass plate.

Andhra Natyam

Andhra Natyam is an ancient lasya (graceful) dance tradition performed by women in Andhra's temples, royal courts and public places for centuries. It was revived in the twentieth century by Nataraja Ramakrishna. The episode Nava Janardana Parijatam, from the story of Lord Krishna and his consort Satyabhama, is a favourite theme.

Tholu Bommalata

Tholu Bommalata is a shadow puppet theatre. Large, translucent leather puppets painted in bright colours take the form of characters from the Ramayana and Mahabharata, and are moved with bamboo sticks against a lamp-lit screen while the puppeteers sing and narrate. Nimmalakunta village in Sri Sathya Sai district is the best known centre of puppet making.

Veeranatyam

This is the dance of Lord Shiva's anger: outraged at the humiliation of Sati Devi, he plucked a hair from his matted locks and created Veerabhadra. The Veeramushti community, who claim descent from Veerabhadra, perform this vigorous dance with instruments such as the thambura, soolam, dolu, thasha and veeranam, usually at Draksharamam in the Godavari delta, believed to be Daksharama, where the story took place.

Butta Bommalu

The dance of masks, popular around Tanuku in West Godavari district. Butta Bommalu, literally "basket toys", are large masks made of wood husk, dry grass and cow dung. Each dancer wears a different mask over the head and shoulders and dances to a non-verbal rhythm.

Tappeta Gullu

The dance of the rain god, popular in Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts. Fifteen to twenty dancers with drums hung around their necks invoke the rain god with vigorous rhythm and acrobatics; it is also performed at festivals.

Dhimsa

The Dhimsa is a dance of the hill tribes of the Araku valley and the Eastern Ghats in the north of the state. Fifteen to twenty women in tribal dress and ornaments link arms in a chain and dance to the mori, thudumu and dappu in praise of their local deity, especially at fairs and festivals.

Lambadi

The dance of the Banjara (Lambadi) people, performed by women in mirror-work skirts, ivory bangles and brass anklets, celebrates daily tasks such as sowing, planting and harvesting.

Music, storytelling and literature

Telugu is often called the "Italian of the East" for its many words ending in vowels, which suit it to song. Annamacharya, the 15th-century poet of Tallapaka near Tirupati, is said to have composed thousands of songs to Lord Venkateswara, many of them engraved on copper plates kept at Tirumala. Kshetrayya of Movva in Krishna district wrote padams still sung in Carnatic concerts and danced in Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi. At the Vijayanagara court, King Krishnadevaraya, himself a Telugu poet, gathered the eight great poets known as the Ashtadiggajas, among them Allasani Peddana and Tenali Ramakrishna.

Burra Katha is a lively folk narrative in which a lead storyteller with a tambura and two companions with small drums tell stories from the epics or from history, mixing song, dance and humour. Harikatha, a single performer's musical discourse, and the village Veedhi Natakam (street theatre) are also popular.

Crafts of Andhra Pradesh

Kalamkari

Kalamkari ("pen work") is painting on cloth with natural dyes. At Srikalahasti in Tirupati district, artists draw stories from the epics freehand with a bamboo pen; at Pedana and Machilipatnam in Krishna district the patterns are printed with carved wooden blocks. Both styles have geographical indication tags.

Kondapalli toys

The Kondapalli toys from the village of Kondapalli near Vijayawada are carved from a light softwood called tella poniki. Limbs are attached with a paste of tamarind seed and sawdust, and the toys are painted in bright colours; village scenes, animals and the Dasavatara of Vishnu are favourite subjects.

Etikoppaka lacquerware

The village of Etikoppaka near Visakhapatnam turns wooden toys on a lathe and colours them with lacquer and natural dyes, giving them a smooth, glossy finish.

Budithi brassware

Budithi village in Srikakulam district makes brass and bell-metal vessels in traditional shapes, in both modern and antique styles.

Durgi stone craft

Durgi, about 10 km from Macherla in Palnadu district, has a school of sculpture and stone carving that keeps alive the craft of the Ikshvaku and Amaravati sculptors. Masterpieces of the old tradition can be seen at the Nagarjunakonda museum.

Bobbili veena

Craftsmen at Bobbili in Vizianagaram district make the Saraswati veena, the main stringed instrument of Carnatic music, carving its body from a single block of jackwood.

Bronze casting

Bronze idols are cast following the dhyana verses of the Shilpa Shastras, which prescribe the proportions, posture, symbols and ornaments of each deity.

Leather puppets

The leather puppets of Tholu Bommalata are also made as lampshades and wall hangings at Nimmalakunta.

Handlooms of Andhra Pradesh

Every region of the state has its own style and weave.

Dharmavaram saris from Sri Sathya Sai district are heavy silk saris with broad borders of gold brocade, worn at weddings and festivals.
Venkatagiri saris from Tirupati district are fine cottons with zari borders.
Mangalagiri saris and dress materials, woven from fine cotton at Mangalagiri near Vijayawada, have a characteristic zari border without butas.
Uppada saris from the beach town of Uppada near Kakinada are light silk saris with jamdani-style woven designs; Peddapuram nearby is known for silk.
Chirala weavers make cotton saris and the oil-treated yarn fabrics once famous as "telia rumal".
Eluru carpets: Eluru's woollen pile carpets go back to Persian weavers who settled there centuries ago.