Telaga

[45][46] Historians like Etukuru Balaramamurthy and Chintamani Lakshmanna note that Telagas are the descendants of Telugu Choda dynasties like Durjayas of Velanadu (1076–1216 CE) who ruled Coastal Andhra.

Surnames like Tupakula (musket), Eetela (spear), Bakula (dagger), Soorakattula (knife), Katari (katar) are found among them.

[46] An inscription dating to 1205 CE (1127 Saka year) mentions Teliki Kapulu, which K. Iswara Dutt interprets as referring to Telagas.

[61] At the end of the eighteenth century, Telagas, along with Niyogi Brahmins, were the leaders of the Maha-nad, a multi-caste secret assembly that was created to exact retribution for breaking the rules and rights of castes.

[47] First edition of Charles Philip Brown's Telugu-English Dictionary (1852) mentioned Telaga caste as equivalent to Mahanati Kapu (మహనాటి కాపు).

[68][69] H. A. Stuart wrote in 1891, "The Telagas are a Telugu caste of cultivators, who were formerly soldiers in the armies of the Hindu sovereigns of Telingana.

[77] The second Krishna district Telaga Mahajana Sabha was held in February 1925 in Pūlla under the presidentship of the Zamindar of Vallur, Bommadevara Naganna Naidu.

[78] In 1936, Kurma Venkata Reddi Naidu, a leading advocate and Telaga leader was appointed as the Governor of Madras Presidency, one of the only two Indians in history to have held the post.

[79][80] In 1937, he was elected as the Chief Minister of the Madras Presidency, which included the present-day states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu along with parts of Kerala and Karnataka.

[87] Andhra Vignanamu (1939) mentions Eluru, Ganapavaram and Akividu in former West Godavari district as places ruled by Telagas.

K. S. Singh noted, "In East and West Godavari districts, quite a few Telaga zamindari families exist, with extensive landholdings.

[95][96] Some of the Telaga zamindaris (samsthanams) include: Charles Philip Brown's Telugu-English Dictionary (1852) mentions Telaga-Balija (తెలగ బలిజె) as a caste name.

[114][111] In the government formed after the first legislative council election to Madras Presidency in December 1920, Venkata Reddy Naidu was one of the three ministers in the Cabinet.

[115] Rokkam Lakshmi Narasimham Dora, a Telaga from Srikakulam district served as the second speaker of Andhra State Assembly from 1955 to 1956.

[118] For the 1983 election for the united Andhra Pradesh, the Kapus, in general, supported the newly formed Telugu Desam Party.

[72][73][74] In a 1965 study on the history of Guntur district, Robert Eric Frykenberg called Telaga, "a high caste with a tradition of military and police employment.

"[72] In 1976, Christopher John Baker in his work on South Indian political history called Telaga, "a respectable cultivator caste of Andhra.