Teluguvāru తెలుగువారు | |
|---|---|
.JPG) Telugu Talli, the personification of Telugu people and culture | |
| Total population | |
| c. 104.5 million[1][2] (Estimate of Telugu speakers in 2024) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Majority Andhra Pradesh Telangana Yanam Minority Tamil Nadu Karnataka Maharastra Orissa Chhattisgarh Pondicherry West Bengal | |
| India | 81,127,740 (2011 Census) |
| United States | 1,230,000 (Telugu Americans)[3] |
| Malaysia | 500,000 (Malaysian Telugus)[4] |
| United Arab Emirates | 408,000[5] |
| Saudi Arabia | 383,000[1] |
| Myanmar | 200,000[6] |
| Australia | 90,400[7] |
| Canada | 74,685[8] |
| Bangladesh | 40,000[9] |
| United Kingdom | 33,000[10] |
| Fiji | 34,000[11] |
| Mauritius | 20,000[12] |
| Bahrain | 18,700[1] |
| Oman | 13,300[1] |
| New Zealand | 5,754[13] |
| South Africa | 5,000[14] |
| Germany | 23000[15] |
| France | 20000[16] |
| Thailand | 15000[17] (Estimated) |
| Netherlands | 12000[18] (Estimated) |
| China | 5000[19] |
| Sri Lanka | 40,000[20] (Sri Lankan Telugus) |
| Israel | 4000[1] |
| Japan | 2000[21](Estimated) |
| Sweden | 3000[22] |
| Switzerland | 3000[23] |
| Mexico | 3000[1] |
| Ukraine | 2500[1] (Estimated) |
| Hong Kong | 2500[24] (Estimated) |
| Scotland | 2500[25] (Estimated) |
| Italy | 4000[1] (Estimated) |
| Denmark | 2000[26] (Estimated) |
| Russia | 2000[1] (Estimated) |
| Austria | 2000[27] (Estimated) |
| Norway | 2000[1] (Estimated) |
| Singapore | 40,000[28] |
| Caribbean | 150,000[29] (Estimated) |
| Languages | |
| Telugu | |
| Religion | |
| Majority: Hinduism Minority: Christianity,Islam,Buddhism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| OtherDravidian peoples South Indians | |
| Person | Telugu |
|---|---|
| People | Teluguvāru |
| Language | Telugu |
| Country | Telugu Dēśaṁ |
Telugus,[a] also known by theethnonymĀndhras, are aDravidianethnic group native to thesouthern Indian states ofAndhra Pradesh andTelangana, and theunion territory ofPuducherry (Yanam district). They natively speak theTelugu language and form the most populousDravidian linguistic group. A significant number of Telugus also reside in the Indian states ofKarnataka,Tamil Nadu,Odisha,Chhattisgarh,West Bengal andMaharashtra; with a significantdiasporic population spread across theWestern world, with larger concentrations inNorth America, theFar East,Mauritius, theGulf Arab states,Malaysia,Burma,Australia and other parts of the world, Telugu is the 3rd most spoken language in India with 96 million speakers in the country and 14th most spoken language in the World with 110 million speakers across the globe.[30]
Telugu is thefourth most spoken language in India[31] and the14th most spoken native language in the world.[32] Telugu is the fastest-growing language in the United States.[33] It is also a protected language inSouth Africa.[34]
Andhra is anethnonym used for Telugu people since antiquity.[35] The earliest mention of theAndhras occurs inAitareya Brahmana (c. 800BCE) of theRigveda.[36] In theMahabharata, the infantry ofSatyaki was composed of a tribe called the Andhras, known for their long hair, tall stature, sweet language, and mighty prowess. They were also mentioned in the BuddhistJataka tales.[37]Megasthenes reported in hisIndica (c. 310 BCE) that the Andhras, living in theGodavari andKrishnariver deltas, were famous for their formidable military strength, which was second only to that of theMaurya Empire in the entireIndian subcontinent.[38] The first major Andhrapolity was theSatavahana dynasty (2nd century BCE–2nd century CE) which ruled over the entireDeccan plateau and even distant areas ofwestern andcentral India.[39] They established trade relations with theRoman Empire, and their capital city nearAmaravathi was the most prosperous city in India during the 2nd century CE.[40] Inscriptions in Old Telugu script (Vengi script) were found as far away asIndonesia andMyanmar.[41]
In the 13th century,Kakatiyas unified various Telugu-speaking areas under one realm.[42] Later, Telugu culture and literature flourished and reached its zenith during the lateVijayanagara Empire.[43][44] After the fall of the Vijayanagara Empire, various Telugu rulers calledNayakas established independent kingdoms acrossSouth India serving the same function asRajput warriors clans of northern India.[45]Kandyan Nayaks, the last dynasty to ruleSri Lanka were of Telugu descent.[46] In this era, Telugu became the language ofhigh culture throughoutSouth India.[47] Vijaya Ramaswamy compared it to the overwhelming dominance ofFrench as the cultural language of modernEurope during roughly the same era.[48] Telugu also predominates in the evolution ofCarnatic music, one of two main subgenres ofIndian classical music.[49]
The architecture developed by Andhras inKrishna river valley in early first centuriesCE, called theAmaravati School of Art, is regarded as one of the three major styles of ancient Indian art and had a great influence on art inSouth India,Sri Lanka, andSoutheast Asia.[50]Mahayana, the predominantBuddhist tradition inChina,Japan, andKorea and the largest Buddhist denomination in the world, was developed among Telugus in Andhra.[51]
Telugu is one of six languages designated as aclassical language by theGovernment of India. It has been in use as an official language for over 1,400 years[52] and has an unbroken and diverseliterary tradition of over a thousand years.[53][54] Teluguperforming arts include theclassical dance formKuchipudi, as well asPerini Sivatandavam, andBurra Katha. The Telugushadow puppetry tradition,Tholu Bommalata, dates back to the 3rd century BCE,[55] and is the ancestor ofWayang, the popular Indonesian art form that has been a staple of Indonesian tourism.[56]Telugu cinema is the largest film industry in India in terms of box office as well as admissions.[57][58] The industry has produced some of India'smost expensive andhighest-grossing films, influencing Indian popular culture well beyond Telugu-speaking regions.[59]
Speakers of Telugu refer to it as simplyTelugu.[60] Older forms of the name includeTeluṅgu andTenuṅgu.[61]Tenugu is derived from theProto-Dravidian word*ten ("south")[62] to mean "the people who lived in the south/southern direction". The nameTelugu, then, is a result of an "n" to "l" alternation established in Telugu.[63][64]
P. Chenchiah and Bhujanga Rao note that Atharvana Acharya in the 13th century wrote a grammar of Telugu, calling it theTrilinga Shabdānushāsana (or Trilinga Grammar).[65] However, most scholars note that Atharvana's grammar was titledAtharvana Karikavali.[66][67][68][69]Appa Kavi in the 17th century explicitly wrote thatTelugu was derived fromTrilinga. Scholar Charles P. Brown made a comment that it was a "strange notion" since the predecessors of Appa Kavi had no knowledge of such a derivation.[70]
George Abraham Grierson and other linguists doubt this derivation, holding rather thatTelugu was the older term andTrilinga must be the laterSanskritisation of it.[71][72] If so the derivation itself must have been quite ancient becauseTriglyphum,Trilingum andModogalingam are attested in ancient Greek sources, the last of which can be interpreted as a Telugu rendition of "Trilinga".[73]
Andhras is anethnonym used for Telugu people since antiquity.[35] The name Andhras has been consistently used since theIron Age to refer to the Telugu people in ancientHindu andBuddhist texts. They were mentioned asDasyus (non-Aryans) living on the fringes of Aryan settlements.[74] TheAitareya Brahmana of theRigveda (c. 800 BCE) refers to the Andhras as descendants of SageVishvamitra.[75] The Greek historianMegasthenes, in hisIndica (c. 310 BCE), described the Andhras as a distinctrace.[76]
Iravatham Mahadevan, notes that since mostDravidian-speaking men had names ending with the suffIx-(a)nṟ, the Dravidianetymon-(a)nṟ was borrowed as a loanword into Indo-Aryan asandha and later asāndhra to denote the name of the neighbouring Dravidian-speaking people.[77]
Andhras (Telugu:ఆంధ్రులు) were mentioned in the Hindu texts such asAitareya Brahmana (c. 800BCE) of theRigveda. According to Aitareya Brahmana, the sageVishvamitra had hundred sons; fifty of them were older thanMadhuchhanda, and fifty were younger. The older ones were not pleased with (the installation of Sunahsepa to the primogeniture). Visvamitra then pronounced against them a curse: “You shall have the lowest castes for your descendants. ” Therefore are many of the most degraded classes of men, the rabble for the most part, such as the Andhras, Pundras, Sabaras, Palindas, and Mutibas, descendants of Visvamitra....” All of those tribes are referred to asDasyus, or non-Aryans living on the fringes of Aryan settlements.[78]
Andhra was a kingdom mentioned in the epicsRamayana andMahabharata.[37] Andhra communities are also mentioned in theVayu,Skanda,Markandeya andMatsya Purana. In the Mahabharata the infantry ofSatyaki was composed by a tribe calledAndhras, known for their long hair, tall stature, sweet language, and mighty prowess. They lived along the banks of theGodavari river. Andhras and Kalingas supported the Kauravas during the Mahabharata war. Sahadeva defeated the kingdoms of Pandya, Andhra, Kalinga, Dravida, Odra and Chera while performing theRajasuya Yajna. Buddhist references to Andhras are also found.[79][80][81] They were also mentioned in theMahabharata and BuddhistJataka tales.[82]
Andhra was also a VedicJanapada (c. 1100–600 BCE) which were the prominent realms, republics (ganapada), and kingdoms (sāmarājya) of the Vedic period in the Indian subcontinent. In the seventh century BCE,Asmaka was one of the sixteenMahajanapadas. Andhras were mentioned byMegasthenes in hisIndica (c. 310 BCE) as being second only toMauryans in military strength in the entireIndian subcontinent. They had 30 fortified towns along the Godavari River and an army of 1,00,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry and 1,000 elephants.[84] They are mentioned at the time of the death of the great Mauryan KingAshoka in 232 BCE.[85][86][87]
The first major Andhrapolity was theSatavahana dynasty (2nd century BCE–2nd century CE) which ruled over the entireDeccan plateau and established trade relations with theRoman Empire.[88][89][90] The kingdom reached its zenith underGautamiputra Satakarni. Their capital city,Amaravati was the most prosperous city in India in 2nd century CE.[40] At the end of the Satavahana rule, the Telugu region was divided intoKingdoms ruled by lords. In the late second century CE, theAndhra Ikshvakus ruled the eastern region along the Krishna River. During the fourth century, thePallava dynasty extended their rule across southern Andhra Pradesh andTamilakam and established their capital atKanchipuram. Their power increased during the reigns ofMahendravarman I (571–630) andNarasimhavarman I (630–668). The Pallavas dominated the southern Telugu-speaking region and northern Tamilakam until the end of the ninth century. Later, various dynasties have ruled the area, including theSalankayanas,Cholas,Vishnukundinas andEastern Chalukyas.[91]
Between 1163 and 1323, theKakatiya dynasty emerged, bringing the distinct upland and lowland cultures of Telugu lands, which brought into being a feeling of cultural affinity between those who spoke theTelugu language.[42] Kakatiya era also saw the development of a distinct style of architecture which improved and innovated upon the existing modes.[93] Most notable examples are theThousand Pillar Temple inHanamkonda,Ramappa Temple in Palampet,Warangal Fort,Golconda Fort andKota Gullu inGhanpur.[94] During this period, theTelugu language emerged as a literary medium with the writings of Nannaya,Tikkana,Eranna,Pothana etc. are the translators and poets of the great Hindu epics likeRamayana,Mahabharatha,Bhagavatha etc.
Telingana, a term referring to the land inhabited by Telugus, was first used during the 14th century CE.[95][96] In 1323, thesultan ofDelhi,Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq, sent a large army commanded by Ulugh Khan (later, asMuhammad bin Tughluq, the Delhi sultan) to conquer the Telugu region and laysiege to Warangal. The fall of theKakatiya dynasty led to an era with competing influences from the Turkic kingdoms of Delhi and the Persio-Tajik sultanate of central India. The struggle for Andhra ended with the victory of theMusunuri Nayaks over the TurkicDelhi Sultanate.
The Telugus achieved independence underKrishnadevaraya of theVijayanagara Empire (1336–1646). TheQutb Shahi dynasty of theBahmani Sultanate succeeded that empire. TheQutub Shahis were tolerant of Telugu culture from the early 16th to the end of the 17th centuries.[97]
The arrival of Europeans (the French under theMarquis de Bussy-Castelnau and the English underRobert Clive) altered polity of the region. In 1765, Clive and thechief and council atVisakhapatnam obtained theNorthern Circars fromMughal emperorShah Alam. The British achieved supremacy when they defeated Maharaja Vijaya Rama Gajapati Raju of Vizianagaram in 1792.
Andhra's modern foundation was laid in the struggle for Indian independence.India became independent from the United Kingdom in 1947.Potti Sreeramulu's campaign for a state independent of theMadras Presidency andTanguturi Prakasam Panthulu andKandukuri Veeresalingam's social-reform movements led to the formation ofAndhra State, withKurnool as its capital and freedom-fighter Prakasam Pantulu as its first chief minister. Andhra, the first Indian state formed primarily on a linguistic basis, was carved from the Madras Presidency in 1953. Although the MuslimNizam of Hyderabad wanted to retain independence from India, he wasforced to cede his kingdom to theDominion of India in 1948 to formHyderabad State. In 1956, Andhra State was merged with the Telugu-speaking portion ofHyderabad State (the Telangana region) to create the state ofAndhra Pradesh. TheLok Sabha approved the formation ofTelangana from ten northwestern districts of Andhra Pradesh on 18 February 2014.[98]
Different regions of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana all produce distinctive variations of Telugu cuisine. Telugu cuisine is generally known for its tangy, hot, and spicy taste. Andhra Pradesh is the leading producer of red chili and rice in India. The concentration of red chili production in Andhra Pradesh has led to the liberal use of spices in Andhra cuisine. Rice is the staple in Telugu culture along with Ragi (రాగి) which is popular in Rayalaseema and Palnadu regions.
Telugu is a South-CentralDravidian language primarily spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where it is also the official language. The oldest inscriptions with Telugu words date to 400 BCE found atBhattiprolu inGuntur district.[99] Other early inscriptions with more refined language were found in Kantamanenivarigudem,Guntupalli inWest Godavari district and Gummadidurru andGhantasala inKrishna district. The earliest inscription completely written in Telugu dates to 575 CE were found at Kalamalla village in Kadapa district.[99]
Telugu has an unbroken and diverseliterary tradition of over a thousand years.[53][54] The earliest Telugu literature dates to 11th century CE withNannaya'sAndhra Mahabharatam. The language experienced a golden age under the patronage of theVijayanagara king-poetKrishnadevaraya.[43]
Kuchipudi, originating from theeponymous village inKrishna district, is of the eight majorIndian classical dances.[100][101] It is a dance-drama performance, with its roots in the ancient Hindu Sanskrit text ofNatya Shastra.[102] It developed as a religious art linked to traveling bards, temples and spiritual beliefs, like all major classical dances of India.[103] Other Teluguperforming arts include:
Amaravati School of Art is an ancient Indian art style that evolved in the region ofAmaravati (then known as Dhānyakaṭaka) from 2nd century BCE to the end of the 3rd century CE.[104][105][106] It is also called the Andhra School or Vengi School.[105] Art historians regard the art of Amaravati as one of the three major styles or schools of ancient Indian art, the other two being theMathura style, and theGandharan style.[107][108] Amaravati school flourished under the local Sada rulers, Satavahanas, andAndhra Ikshvakus till 325–340 CE.Amaravati Stupa is the most famous monument of this style, and it was for some time "the greatest monument in Buddhist Asia",[109] and "the jewel in the crown of early Indian art".[110] Apart from Amaravati, the style is also found inNagarjunakonda andChandavaram Buddhist site.
Largely because of the maritime trading links of the East Indian coast, the Amaravati school of sculpture had great influence on art inSouth India,Sri Lanka, andSouth-East Asia.[111][104][105][108][112] Buddha image in sculptures which later on became the prototype of images in different Buddhist countries was standardised here.[108][113] The Amaravati style of Buddha image retained its popularity in Sri Lanka till the 12th century.[113]
Kakatiya era also saw the development of a distinct style of architecture which improved and innovated upon the existing modes.[115] It is a fusion ofDravidian architecture andNagara Bhumija styles in whichsandbox technology is used to constructVimana—horizontal stepped tower. Most notable examples are theThousand Pillar Temple inHanamkonda,Ramappa Temple in Palampet, andKota Gullu inGhanpur.[94] Ramappa Temple, also known as the Rudreswara temple, is aUNESCO World Heritage Site located inMulugu.[116]
Telugu cinema is the largest film industry in India in terms of box-office as well as admissions.[117][57][58] The industry has produced some of India'smost expensive andhighest-grossing films of all time over the years.
Important festivals celebrated by Telugu people include:
The Telugu people are subdivided into several castes and communities. Some of them include:Yadav,Reddy,Vishwakarma/ Vishwabrahmana,Kapu/Balija,Kamma,Brahmin,Raju,Komati,Boya,Devanga,Padmasali,Bhatraju,velama,Goud,Mala,Madiga,Jangam,Kuruba,Relli andVaddera
Telugu is the third most common language in India, right behind Bengali. Telugu is predominantly spoken in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, although it’s also the official language of several other states likeAndaman and Nicobar,Tamil Nadu,Karnataka,Orissa,Kharagpur of West Bengal,Bellary Of Karnataka, Where alsoBellary City has the highest density of Telugu speakers in the state of Karnataka and also the city to have highest number of Telugu speakers outsideTelugu States with nearly 30.03% of population being Telugu Speakers.
It is a part of the Dravidian language family, which has been around for about 2000 years. OutsideTelugu states the largest number of Telugu speakers are found in Karnataka (3.7 million) and Tamil Nadu, making them the second largest language groups in those neighbouring states.[118] In Karnataka, Telugu people are predominantly found in the border districts with majority inBengaluru city andBellary city. InMaharashtra, the Telugu population is over 1.4 million, followed by 0.7 million inOrissa. Other states with significant populations includeWest Bengal,Chhattisgarh andGujarat with 200,000, 150,000 and 100,000 respectively.[118]
Members of the overseasTelugu diaspora are spread across countries likeUnited States,Australia,Canada,United Kingdom,New Zealand in theAnglosphere;Malaysia,Myanmar,Mauritius,Fiji,South Africa;UAE,Saudi Arabia,Kuwait in theArabian Gulf.[30][119] Telugu speakers number more than 1,000,000 in theUnited States, with the highest concentration in Central New Jersey, Texas, and California.[120] There are around 500,000Telugu people in Malaysia,[121] and 200,000 inMyanmar.[122]
http://www.amssa.org.za/ was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).https://taggermany.org/ was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).https://indoeuropean.eu/join-the-france-telugu-community-bathukamma-dasara-sambaralu-on-12th-october-at-massy-palaiseau/ was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).https://www.teluguthai.org/ was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).https://manatane.org/ was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).https://www.business-standard.com/amp/article/pti-stories/telugu-associations-in-china-celebrate-ugadi-118031900894_1.html was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).https://worldteluguconference.com/en/telugucommunity-srilanka.html was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).https://nrievents.com/telugu-association-of-japan-taj-sankranthi-sambaralu-2025-a-grand-celebration-of-telugu-culture/ was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).https://www.telugusweden.org/ was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).https://teluguswiss.org/ was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).https://herald.uohyd.ac.in/tag/telugu-association-in-hong-kong/ was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).https://teluguscot.org.uk/ was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).https://www.instagram.com/denmarkteluguassociation?igsh=MWl6aWJvaHl4dDdyOQ== was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).https://www.austriatelugus.org/ was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)Apparently originating somewhere between the peninsular rivers Godavari and Krishna, homeland of the Dravidian Telugu-speaking peoples whose descendants now live in a state called Andhra, the great Andhra dynasty spread across much of south and central India from the second century BC till the second century AD.
About the 1st century CE the Satavahanas (or Satakarni), one of the most-renowned of the Andhra dynasties, came to power.
Amaravati on the banks of the Krishna, which was later the southeast capital of the Satavahanas, flourished in its trade with Rome, Ceylon, and Southeast Asia, and may well have been the most prosperous city of India during the second century of the Christian era.
The Telugu language became particularly prominent in ruling circles by the early sixteenth century, because of the large number of warrior lords who were either from Andhra or had served the kingdom there.
Telugu warrior nayaks (chiefs) were the ruling class over much of South India — including ethnic Tamil and Kannada areas — and were in some ways, served the same function as the rajput warrior clans of northern India. The last dynasty to rule Sri Lanka before the annexation of the Kingdom of Kandy by the British, were also Telugu nayaks.
All four worshipped at Buddhist and Hindu shrines, used Sinhala and Tamil as court languages (though they spoke Telugu), and encouraged their courtiers to take wives from Madurai and Thanjavur.
Telugu had become the language of high culture in southern India during the medieval period, and by the seventeenth century its status rivalled that of Sanskrit.
In Tyagaraja's time, Telugu was the language of high culture even in Tanjore, the heartland of the Tamil linguistic area.
In precolonial or early-modern South India, Telugu became the cultural language of the south, including the Tamil country, somewhat similar to the overwhelming dominance of French as the cultural language of modern Europe during roughly the same era. Therefore, Telugu predominates in the evolution of Carnatic music, and it is the practice to teach Telugu language in music colleges to those aspiring to become singers.
In precolonial or early-modern South India, Telugu became the cultural language of the south, including the Tamil country, somewhat similar to the overwhelming dominance of French as the cultural language of modern Europe during roughly the same era. Therefore, Telugu predominates in the evolution of Carnatic music, and it is the practice to teach Telugu language in music colleges to those aspiring to become singers.
Those of us who have studied the evidence above will prefer to locate this source of most of the Mahāyāna sutras in Andhra. (p. 355) From the internal evidence it appears that this sutra was written in South India, very likely in Andhra, in which case the country of origin of the Mahāyāna continued in the lead in the development of new ideas in India. (p. 402)
Developed before the 10th century, the form had origins in the tholu bommalata, the leather puppets of southern India. The art of shadow puppetry probably spread to Java with the spread of Hinduism.
Perhaps the most interesting of the south-Indian puppet types for me, however, were the tholu bommalata -- the articulated, leather, shadow puppets -- which are the probable ancestors of Indonesia's wayang.
The tolu bommalata shadow puppets are found in the Andhra region and may be the origin of the Javanese wayang kulit puppets.
Puppetry is one of the most ancient Indian folk arts and Andhra history records that this art was in vogue during the Satavahana period in the 4th century B.C. Art critics opine that the puppetry spread from Andhra to Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, and from there to Africa, Greece, Macedonia and the Byzantine empire.
Leather puppet shadow play is one of the most ancient performing folk art forms known to Andhras from 3rd century B.C. Historians and art critics opine that it spread to Java, Malaysia, and Indonesia from Andhra.
Indonesian version of Tholu Bommalata known as "Wayang" has roots in the Telugu-speaking region.
The easier and more ancient "Telugu" appears to have been converted here into the impressive Sanskrit word Trilinga, and making use of its enormous prestige as the classical language, the theory was put forth that the word Trilinga is the mother and not the child.
In the Aitareya Brahmaņa (VII, 18), the Andhras were mentioned together with the Pundras, Sabaras, Pulindas and Mūtibas as dasyu (non-Aryan tribes) living on the borders of the land
Megasthenes says that the Andhras were a separate race.
:33 was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).:62 was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).Apparently originating somewhere between the peninsular rivers Godavari and Krishna, homeland of the Dravidian Telugu-speaking peoples whose descendants now live in a state called Andhra, the great Andhra dynasty spread across much of south and central India from the second century BC till the second century AD.
About the 1st century CE the Satavahanas (or Satakarni), one of the most-renowned of the Andhra dynasties, came to power.
Media related toTelugu people at Wikimedia Commons