Telugu is spoken by about 103 million people, primarily in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where it is an official language. As part of the Dravidian family, Telugu is written in the Telugu script, an abugida. It features agglutinative grammar with seven cases, three genders, and an SOV word order. Telugu boasts a rich literary tradition and is known as the "Italian of the East" for its musical cadence and poetic expression.