The Mulukanadu community is a caste of Telugu speaking Vaidiki Smartha Brahmins. Variations of the spelling of the name of the community include Muluknadu, Mulakanadu, Mulikinadu, Moolakanadu or Mulukanaadu.

Prominent members of the community have included the saint-composer Sri Thyagaraja, the statesman and scientist Sir M. Vishweshwaraiah, the author Devudu Narasimha Sastry and justice H V Nanjundaiah.

Although the Telugu language is the mother-tongue of ALL members of this community, the caste is domiciled mainly in the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Indeed, the community tends to define itself in terms of being expatriate from Andhra Pradesh. There is however a relatively large population of this community in the Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh, but this may well be a function of the proximity of that region to Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, rather than an indication of the community's origin. The author of this piece is informed that a certain region of the present-day state of Maharashtra was once known as the "Moolaka" land, and that a community of people have been referred to in various texts as the "Moolakas". However, no memory whatsoever of association with the Marathi country currently abides in the Mulukanadu community.

Adherence to the Telugu language is still common in the community, which however has developed a distinct dialect of its own, one that features numerous loan-words from Tamil and Kannada, and a remarkable paucity, in comparison with standard Telugu, of loan words from Urdu. However, there are very many differences bewteen this dialect and standard Telugu that cannot be explained by the influence of other languages; one is led to speculate upon whether the community preserves features of a dialect of Telugu that was once common in some region of the Telugu country, and which is now forgotten in that area while being preserved by the expatriate Mulukanadu community. The dialect spoken by the community is one of great anthropological significance, since it is a language defined by community rather than geography. This dialect has not received the attention it deserves from the scientific community; indeed, even the name "Mulukanadu Telugu" has not received recognition, although it differs very significantly from standard Telugu. Usage of the dialect is somewhat on the decline, since the community is of late required to speak not only the language of the area of residence (Tamil, Kannada) but also the English and Hindi languages; conversely, fluency in the Mulukanadu Telugu dialect is of no earthly use whatsoever.

The Mulukanadu community has contributed richly to the fields of classical music and literature, and has always been strongly represented in administration, academia, the judiciary, and in the government services. It has tended to shun commercial pursuits.

It is a fact little known outside the community that the saint-composer Sri Thyagaraja belonged to this community. A body known as the Mulukanadu Sabha released a souvenir in 1947 to mark the centenary of the demise of Sri Thyagaraja. That publication listed some of the prominent Carnatic musicians who hailed from the Mulukanadu community. The list includes Melattur Arunachalaiah, Karur Devudu Brothers, Sadhu Ganapathi Sastrulu, Giriraja Kavi (the grandfather of sri Tyagaraja), Pallavi Gopalayya, Pratapam Gopalakrishnan, Tanjore Govindaswami Bhagavatar, Paidala Gurumoorthy Sastry, CS Krishnaswamiah (Patnam's disciple), Guddi Krishnaiah, Tsallagalli Krishnaiah, Kavi Matrubhootayya, Sutram Nayarana Sastrulu, Swaragath Narayanaswamaiah, Kalidas Narayanaswamaiah, Tiruvayyaru Panchapakesaiah, Puducheri Rangaswamy Iyer, Moovanur Sabhapatayya, Pallavi Seshayya, KN Srikantaiah (Papa's father), Manambucchavadi Venkatasubbaiyya and Swarakadu Venkatasubbayyah. If that was a list of past (in 1947) musical greats, the Who's Who of the souvenir goes on to cover musicians from this community then living. The list includes Karur Chinnaswamiah, Pratapam Natesayyah, Papa Venkataramaiah, Alathur Venkatesa Iyer, Sivasubramania Iyer and Madurai Subramanya Iyer.

This is the contribution of this "unsung" community to the world of Carnatic music. Its contribution to other fields of human excellence is no doubt on a similar scale. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.