Rajahmundry
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rajahmundry | |
State - District(s) |
Andhra Pradesh - East Godavari |
Coordinates | |
Area - Elevation |
- 14 m |
Time zone | IST (UTC+5:30) |
Population (2001) - Density |
313,347 - |
Rajahmundry is a city and a municipal corporation in East Godavari district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located on the holy banks of River Godavari. It is known as cultural capital of Andhra Pradesh. It has a rich cultural past with a flourishing present and a promising future. The population is 6,13,347 (agglomeration 7,08,341) (2006 census). It is located at the top of the Godavari River delta.
Contents |
[edit] History
Its original name was Raja Mahendri or Raja Mahendravaram. It was the first capital of many known Telugu Kingdoms. The Chalukya ruler Rajaraja Narendra ruled this city around 1022. The city has traces of 11th century fine palaces, and fort walls. However, new archeological evidence suggests that the city may have existed far before the Chalukyas.[citation needed] In the Middle Ages, it was called Raja Mahendra Varam. Later the name underwent various changes to Rajahmahendravaram, Rajahmahendramu, Rajamandramu and Rajahmundhri. It later became Rajahmundry during British rule.
Nannayya, the poet laureate, who was called 'Adi Kavi' (The first Poet) of Telugu belonged to this place. He, along with Tikkana and Yerrana, is responsible for the translation of Jaya, Sanskrit version of Mahabharata, into telugu. Kandukuri Veeresalingam, who is a social reformer and also the author of Rajashekhara Charithra, the first Telugu novel, was also from Rajahmundry.
[edit] Geography
Rajahmundry is located at [1]. It has an average elevation of 14 metres (45 feet).
[edit] Demographics
As of 2001 India censusGRIndia, Rajahmundry had a population of 313,347. Males constitute 50% of the population and females 50%. Rajahmundry has an average literacy rate of 70%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 74%, and female literacy is 66%. In Rajahmundry, 10% of the population is under 6 years of age.
[edit] Attractions
Sir Arthur Cotton had great plans for Rajahmundry but he decided to build a dam in Dowleswaram due to its proximity to a hill that suited his purpose. The dam consisted of four divisions: Dowleswaram Division, Ryali Branch Division, Madduru division and Vijeswaram division. This was in all 900 yards long and 9 feet high. It was a great moment in the life of this great man to achieve this rare feat. The Godavari lost a lot of its fury and was able to generate four-fold revenue through irrigation and Godavari district suddenly jumped from being a poor district to one of the richer ones, second only to Tanjore. Asia's largest rail-cum-road bridge on the river Godavari linking Kovvur and Rajahmundry is considered to be an engineering feat. The Dowleswaram bridge across the Godavari is seven kilometres south of Rajahmundry. Rallabandi SubbaRao museum has an amazing collection of artifacts including coins, sculpture, pottery, inscriptions and palm-leaf manuscripts.
It is also one of the Hindu piligrimages. There are a number of temples here like the Kotilingalu(10 million Sivalingas) temple on the bank of the river Godavari. The city hosts holy congregations called the Pushkaram that takes place only once in every 12 years, which brings together millions of people from all over the country to take a holy dip in the river. It generally lasts for 12 days and people over prayers and make offerings to their departed family members.
Papi Hills and its surroundings located near Rajahmundry is a visual treat to the spectators. And Pedapatnam Lanka is a beautiful place. It is called as Konaseema which lustres with greenery. Many places in konaseema are rich sources of oil and natural gas.
[edit] Cloth and Gold Business
The people from diffrent places will come to here to sepcial purchase the cloths here. It is having very big cloth markets.
In and around Rajahmundry there are many Cooperative handloom houses where we can get fine quality of Sarees with different designs and borders, suiting and shirting’s in large varieties of cloths from cotton to silk. And in fact Rajahmundry is the second biggest cloth market in India, next only to Mumbai. Of all the cloth makers around Rajahmundry, the Bandarulanka production unit is famous for Sarees. with Gold/Silver bordered hand woven Sarees. Rajahmundry has the Mahatma Gandhi Cloth Complex which is one of the biggest shopping complex in AP.
The Gold/Silver market of Rajahmundry is famous in AP. One can get 22 - 24 carats of gold and silver ornaments with original stones like Pearls, Rubies, Emeralds, Diamonds etc. studded in the models and designs of our requirements done by the experts in this field.
[edit] Industrial Development
Rajahmundry also hosts a few corporates and multinationals as part of its industrial development, such as, GlaxoSmithKline[1], Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills [2] etc. With thousand's of crores of rupees flowing in for the whole East godavari district, this city is all set to be the center of industrialization. This city & east godavari district promise to be having bright future and it is being speculated that it would be the capital city if the telengana separates from Andhra Pradesh.
[edit] Educational Institutions
Rajahmundry has a very well infrastructure for education. It has all institutions which offer courses from KG to PG. "Godavari Institute Of Engineering & Technology" is the engineering college in Rajahmundry. GIET offers B.Tech in CSE, IT, ECE, EEE, MECH, BIO-Medical, BIO-Technology. GIET also offers MCA, M.Tech and B.Pharmacy courses. For more details about GIET please visit [3]. GSL Medical college is located near by GIET on NH-5. The "Arts College" has a significant historical background and the college now hosts "Nannaya University". Rajahmundry has excellent schools like St.Anns, APPM Model High School, Sri Gowthami, SKVT, NNT, and various other private and Government schools. The 10+2 colleges in Rajahmundry are Aditya, Sri Chaitanya, Narayana, Vikas and various other private and Government Junior Colleges.
Central Tobacco Research Institute CTRI headquarters is situated in Rajahmundry. Regional Filaria Training and Research Centres RFTRC is also located in Rajahmundry.
[edit] Transportation
Rajahmundry is well connected to all parts of the state. NH-5 passes by this place so it as an excellent road connectivity to all important places like Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam etc.,. Rajahmundry is the biggest railway station for godavari districts and is situated on the madras-howrah railway line. The Rajahmundry airport[4] which is located in Madhurapudi provides flights to important destinations like Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Chennai. Plans are afoot to expand this airport and to build a new terminal building. The runway would be expanded to handle larger aircrafts and night landing facilities would be added. Speculations are rife that plane services would be started to Banglore and Tirupathi as well.
[edit] External links
- Rajahmundry profile
- Rajahmundry in its entirety
- Link to Rajamundry Paper Mills
- Link to another national industry based in town
[edit] References
Andhra Pradesh Topics | History | Politics | Telugu people |
|
---|---|
Capital | Hyderabad |
Districts | Adilabad • Anantapur • Chittoor • East Godavari • Guntur • Hyderabad • Kadapa • Karimnagar • Khammam • Krishna • Kurnool • Mahbubnagar • Medak • Nalgonda • Nellore • Nizamabad • Prakasam • Rangareddi • Srikakulam • Visakhapatnam • Vizianagaram • Warangal • West Godavari |
Major cities | Anantapur • Adoni • Chittoor • Kadapa • Eluru • Guntur • Kakinada • Karimnagar • Khammam • Kurnool • Machilipatnam • Nandyal • Nalgonda • Nellore • Nizamabad • Ongole • Proddatur • Ramagundam • Rajahmundry • Sangareddi • Secunderabad • Srikakulam • Tirupati • Vijayawada • Vizianagaram • Visakhapatnam • Warangal |