Reddy

Reddy (also transliterated as Reddi, Raddi, Roddy, Ruddy) is an elite social group or caste of India, predominantly inhabiting Andhra Pradesh. They are enlisted as a forward caste by the government. Traditionally, they are a high-caste community of nobility, warriors and cultivators. According to academics, they were a warrior caste in the remote past and later became feudal overlords and peasant proprietors. Historically they have been the land-owning aristocracy of the villages. Their prowess as rulers and warriors is well documented in Telugu history. The Reddy dynasty (1325–1448 CE) ruled coastal and central Andhra for over a hundred years. The origin of the social group of Reddys has been linked to the Rashtrakutas.