Publications

- Some Thoughts on Mauritian Telugu Identity- by R. Sokappadu

R. Sokappadu

Travelling abroad in Paris, London, Toronto, Washington, etc. we would definitely
come across a China Town selling Chinese food, handicraft, listening to Chinese music,
etc. Vietnamese restaurants have started appearing in every nook and corner of the world. 
Penjabis are exported the bangra music. What about the Telugus? Have they nothing to offer 
to the World? The Telugus are present in London, Paris, Singapore and other Indian cities 
outside Andhra Pradesh. Have we heard of something specific to the Telugus? 

Propagating the Telugu culture and traditions in a multicultural environment is a major
challenge. Can the Telugus succeed like the Chinese? Is there anything specific that the 
Telugus can export to other people with different cultures? 

Sri Satya Sai Baba, Sri Jiddu Krishna Murthy and Sri Sarvepalli RadhaKrishna are known outside 
India for their philosophical works. How many people outside Andhra Pradesh know that they 
belong to a community that is known as Telugu? How many people know of Mr. Rao who has 
contributed a lot to statistics? Do the devotees outside India know that Sri Satya Sai Baba 
expresses uniquely in a language that is called Telugu? How many people in India know that 
Telugu is the single largest spoken language in India? How many people know that, the written 
history of Malaysia started with a king known as Parameswara, who was nobody else that the 
brother of Krishnadevaraya, a Telugu king. Who knows about the contribution of Nagarjuna to 
Buddhism? How many people outside India (or even in India) know about Tirumala, the shrine that 
receives the greatest number of devotees daily. Indian communities outside India do talk of 
great film like "Prem Nagar" by Rajesh Khanna. But how many, even in India, know that it was a 
remake of a Telugu hit? And many other things, the list is long.


Making the Telugus known outside India (and why not outside Andhra Pradesh in India?) is the 
greatest challenge that the Telugus should make as a Telugu living in multicultural countries. 
I would share my personal experience as a Telugu born and living in a multi-racial, multi-religious, 
multi-language and multi-ethnic country like Mauritius.

Living in Mauritius means a continuous battle to preserve the cultural heritage. The merchants of
the "western religions" and "culture" are constantly at your doors. The invasion of the western 
culture through films and television, the fast foods Mc Donald and Kentucky culture and not to 
forget the Telugus who are "so called" sophisticated and themselves look down on the Telugu 
culture, etc. And not to mention the fight from within the Indo Mauritian who would like to see 
the culture and tradition of other indo Mauritian minorities dying so that theirs could flourish.
To live in Mauritius, a Telugu should at least know the creole dialect (the lingua franca),
English (the official language), French (the language of the media i.e. the press and radio/ tv 
and the private sector) and Telugu (the language of identity). During the early days of colonization 
we have to face the forced proselytisation process.

The Telugu community is just one of the many minorities of the Mauritian population (around 5 per 
cent of the total population). Despite all the odds mentioned above and despite we have lost some
cultural feathers (which is inevitable), the culture and community have survived the last 160 years
of its presence. For that we must congratulate our elders. The very fundamental thing done by our
ancestors, though they have not been to a school, is the setting up of separate Telugu temples
which have acted as a pivot in the preservation and propagation of our Telugu culture and tradition.
It would be surprising for a Telugu from Andhra Pradesh to hear such thing as Telugu temple rather
than a Hindu temple. Had our ancestors not done this, our Telugu culture would have been wiped 
out from the soil of Mauritius as the Bangalis and Oriyas. The next revolutionary thing done is
the setting up of Telugu associations to manage these temples. It was and it is still in these 
temples that the Telugu language is taught. In the Telugu temples, the Telugus are free to perform 
prayers in Telugu (though they do not speak nor understand the language), singing the raamadaasu
kirtanaalus and bajanaalus, performing the ammoru panduga, ugaadi, etc. etc. This is an exploit.
Surprisingly, Telugus in Mauritius do celebrate the creation of Andhra Pradesh state on 1 November 
of every year and have special cultural programmes on radio and tv and at both regional and 
national level.

Being one of the several minorities and with the complexity of local politics where ethnicity has
its influence, the Telugu votes, though marginal, have got its say. Successive governments have
contributed to the propagation of the language. Today Telugu is taught in some 90 Government
primary schools. The Teachers are paid by the Government. The Government has recently set up the
Mauritius Telugu Cultural Trust and provides it with fund from the Government Budget.

As mentioned previously, though we have the institutional support, the fight to preserve the 
Telugu culture should remain a continuous process. Many Telugus still do not attend to the weekly 
prayer sessions at the nearby temples. Many speak either English or French at home and do not let 
their children learn the language at school thinking that this is an additional burden. Let alone 
the mixed marriage where the children are nowhere.

The Telugu traditional weddings are being influenced by certain western culture. Ladies are wearing 
the saris only on auspicious occasion like religious and wedding ceremonies. The food habits as mentioned 
are being changed except on religious occasions. We would need a different approach to make the 
Telugus feel they are Telugus. The concept that one should propagate the Telugu culture only through 
the learning of the language is absolutely nonsense in multicultural countries. We need not know 
the Chinese language to enjoy the delicious Chinese cuisine, to listen to the Chinese music, etc.
The French cake is sold in India though the Indians do not speak French. We have lot of examples 
like this. 

About the Author

Ramanaidoo Sokappadu, also known as Vishnu, was born on the 17th of October 1958 at Camp Jeanette
,Chemin Grenier, Mauritius. His father was late Bapnaidu Sokappadu (born in 1923 in Mauritius), 
the greatest Telugu singer Mauritius has ever produced. His grand father, late Sokappadu (born in 
1896 in Mauritius) was one and the only one who was playing violin in ramabhajana ceremonies.

Vishnu had his primary and secondary education in Mauritius. From 1979 to 1982 he studied Economics, 
Mathematics and Statistics at the Andhra Loyola College in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. In 1982 he 
was awarded the Professor V. Baliah B. A. Gold Medal award by the Nagarjuna University.

Back to Mauritius, he joined the Central Statistical Office and later on was appointed economist 
in the Budget Division of the Ministry of Finance, Mauritius. Vishnu is now Principal Economic 
Analyst at the Ministry of Financial Services.

Vishnu has worked as consultant on debt recording and management for the Commonwealth Secretariat 
and the World Bank in London and Bulgaria. He had visited several countries in Asia, Africa, Europe 
and America on both official and private visits.

Like his father and grand father, Vishnu is a great lover and fighter for the cause of the Telugus
in Mauritius. He has on his own account written, compiled and published nine booklets/ books on 
the Telugu culture and tradition with emphasis on the Telugus in Mauritius.

Married to Veda Juggapah, an electronic engineer, Vishnu is the father of a daughter.

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