Politics and representation of caste identity in regional historiography

This article traces the role played by the modern historical consciousness of region and language in the writing of caste historiography during the first half of the twentieth century. It studies the Telugu-speaking Kammas, a dominant caste in Andhra, a region that has witnessed a vehement movement for linguistic states. Ever since the chaotic disputes on Andhra historiog-raphy flared up in 1910, ways to interpret the regional past have become crucial for their self-definition in the newly acquired idea of India as well as that of Hinduism, with the whole debate ultimately leading to the emergence of some influential historiographies on the Kamma caste. A close analysis of the development of different historiographies—from those of non-Brahmin leaders, Suriyadevara Raghavayya Chaudari and Tripuraneni Ramaswami Chaudari, to the socialist-cum-nationalist leader, N.G. Ranga, and a caste movement ideologue, Kotta Bhavayya Chaudari—demonstrates the correlation and complicity between history and caste identity and homeland language movements. They were, in a sense, on the lookout for a new, totally different history.