Guntur district

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  ?Guntur
Andhra Pradesh • India
Map indicating the location of Guntur
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Location of Guntur
 Guntur 
Coordinates: 16°18′N 80°27′E / 16.3, 80.45
Time zone IST (UTC+5:30)
Population 4,465,144

Coordinates: 16°18′N 80°27′E / 16.3, 80.45

Guntur is a district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh on the east coast of Bay of Bengal. The district has a coastline of around 100 kilometers. Guntur City is the largest city in the district and administrative center of Guntur District. The district is a major center for learning, it has one of the largest universities of India, Acharya Nagarjuna University.

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[edit] Guntur district

Guntur district covers an area of 11,391 km²., and has a population of 4,465,144 of which 28.80% is urban as of 2001. [1] The Krishna River forms the northeastern and eastern boundary of the district, separating Guntur District from Krishna District. The district is bounded on the southeast by the Bay of Bengal, on the south by Prakasam District, on the west by Mahbubnagar District, and on the northwest by Nalgonda District. It is divided into 57 mandals as listed below for the ease of administration and taking governance closer to the people.

Paddy, tobacco, cotton and chillies are the main agricultural products cultivated in the district.

Places of historical importance in Guntur District are Amaravathi, Ponnur, Bhattiprolu, Kotappakonda, Undavalli caves, Gurazala, Macherla and the archeological museum in Guntur.

[edit] History

  • Garthapuri
An old temple at Garthapuri
An old temple at Garthapuri

The original Sanskrit name (ancient Vedic culture/tradition) for Guntur was Garthapuri. The 'Agasthyeswara Sivalayam' in the old city of Guntur is an ancient temple for Lord Siva . It has inscriptions on two stones in 'Naga Lipi' (ancient script) dating back to about 1100 CE. The backyard of the temple hosts a very old tree . It is said that Agastya built the temple in the last Treta-Yuga around the Swayambhu Linga and hence the name. The 'Nagas' were said to have ruled the region. The place of Sitanagaram and the Guthikonda Caves [1] can be traced (through Vedic Puranas) back to the last Treta-Yuga and Dwapara-Yuga (Traditional Time scale: 1.7 to 0.5 million years ago, Ref).

Guntur District is home to the second oldest evidence of humans in India, in the form of Palaeolithic (old stone age) implements. Ancient history can be traced from the time of Sala kings who ruled during the 5th century BCE. The earliest reference to Guntur, a variant of Guntur, comes from the Idern plates of Ammaraja I (922-929), the Vengi Chalukyan King. Guntur also appears in another two inscriptions dated 1147 and 1158.

Since the beginning of Buddhist epoch, Guntur stood foremost in matters of culture,education and civilization. Lord Buddha preached at Dharanikota/Dhanyakatakam near Guntur and conducted Kalachakra ceremony, which takes its antiquity to 500 BCE.[2]. Taranatha, the Buddhist monk writes: "On the full moon of the month Caitra in the year following his enlightenment, at the great stupa of Dhanyakataka, the Buddha emanated the mandala of "The Glorious Lunar Mansions" (Kalachakra) [3]. Buddhists established universities in ancient times at Dhanyakataka and Amaravathi. Acharya Nagarjuna, an influential Buddhist philosopher taught at Nagarjunakonda and is said to have discovered Mica in 200 BCE. Guntur district roughly straddles the Kammanadu / Kammakaratham, the region in the Krishna river valley, where Buddhism prevailed, got the name from Theravada Buddhist concept of Kamma (Pali) or Karma (Sanskrit)[4][5][6][7][8].

Guntur was successively ruled by famous dynasties such as the Satavahanas, Ikshvakus, Pallavas, Ananda Gotrikas, Vishnukundina, Kota VamsaChalukyas, Cholas, Kakatiyas, Vijayanagara and Qutb Shahis during ancient and medieval times. The famous battle of Palnadu which is enshrined in legend and literature as Palnati Yuddham was fought in Guntur district in 1180.

Guntur became part of the Mughal empire in 1687 when the emperor Aurangzeb conquered the Qutb Shahi sultanate of Golconda, of which Guntur was then a part. In 1724, Asaf Jah, viceroy of the empire's southern provinces, declared his independence as the Nizam of Hyderabad. The coastal districts of Hyderabad, known as the Northern Circars, were occupied by the French in 1750. Raja Vasireddy Venkatadri Nayudu (1783-1816 CE) shifted his capital from Chintapalli in Krishna district to Amaravati across the river Krishna. He ruled with munificience and built many temples in Guntur region. Guntur was brought under the control of the British East India Company by 1788, and became a district of Madras Presidency.

The Guntur region played a significant role in the struggle for independence and the formation of Andhra Pradesh. India's independence came in 1947, and Madras Presidency became Madras State. The northern, Telugu- speaking districts of Madras state, including Guntur, advocated for a separate state, and the new state of Andhra Pradesh was created in 1953 from the eleven northern districts of Madras.

[edit] Mandals

Guntur district is divided into 57 mandals for ease of administration and taking the government closer to the people.

  1. Achampeta
  2. Amaravathi
  3. Amruthaluru
  4. Bandarupalli
  5. Bapatla
  6. Bellamkonda
  7. Bhattiprolu
  8. Bollapalle
  9. Chebrole
  10. Cherukupalle
  11. Chilakaluripet
  12. Dachepalli
  13. Duggiralla
  14. Durgi
  15. Edlapadu
  16. Guntur
  17. Gurazala
  18. Ipuru
  19. Kakumanu
  20. Karempudi
  21. Karlapalem
  22. Kollipara
  23. Kolluru
  24. Krosuru
  25. Machavaram
  26. Macherla
  27. Mangalagiri
  28. Medikonduru
  29. Muppalla
  30. Mutluru
  31. Nadendla
  32. Nagaram
  33. Nakarikallu
  34. Narasaraopet
  35. Nizampatnam
  36. Nutakki
  37. Nuzendla
  38. Pedakakani
  39. Pedakurapadu
  40. Pedanandipadu
  41. Phirangipuram
  42. Piduguralla
  43. Pittalavanipalem
  44. Ponnur
  45. Prathipadu
  46. Rajupalem
  47. Rentachintala
  48. Repalle
  49. Rompicherla
  50. Sattenapalli
  51. Savalyapuram
  52. Siripuram
  53. Tadikonda
  54. Tenali
  55. Thadepalle
  56. Thulluru
  57. Thotlapalem
  58. Tsunduru
  59. Vatticherukuru
  60. Veldurthi
  61. Vemuru
  62. Vinukonda

[edit] Temples

Amaravati:

Amaravati is famous for the temple dedicated to the god Shiva. The Amareswara temple walls have inscriptions that give information about the kings who ruled over the area. The present holy shrine of Amaralingeswara (Lord Shiva) temple is associated with the reign of Vasireddy Venkatadri Nayudu who ruled the region before the advent of the British rule (See Amararama). He was well-known for his benevolence, munificience and construction of a large number of temples in the Krishna river delta.

Kotappakonda

Kulothunga Chola's inscription dated 1172 A.D. reveals the history of this temple[9]. Raja Mallaraju renovated it in 1763. There are three mountain peaks called Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra peaks, the reason why this temple is called ‘Trikutadrai’. Sivaratri festival is celebrated on a grand scale here.

Ponnur

Bhavanarayanaswamy temples at Bapatla and Ponnuru are famous among the devotees from in around the state.

Number of temples were constructed during the reign of Vasireddy Venkatadri Nayudu. Tall towers (Gaali Gopuram) of these temples in many villages and towns of Guntur district stand testimony to his devotion and munificience.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Guthikonda caves. All-IndiaTravel.com.
  2. ^ Buddha's Preaching of the Kalachakra Tantra at the Stupa of Dhanyakataka, H. Hoffman, in: German Scholars on India, Vol. I, 1973, PP. 136-140, Varanasi
  3. ^ Taranatha; http://www.kalacakra.org/history/khistor2.htm
  4. ^ J. Burgess, Buddhist Stupas of Amaravathi and Jaggayyapeta, Madras Presidency, 1886, p. 110
  5. ^ Epigraphica Indica, Vol VIII, pp. 233-236 (Chandaluru copper plate inscription of Kumara Vishnu)
  6. ^ Epigraphica Indica, Vol XV, pp. 249-252 (Ongole copper plate inscription of Pallava king Vijaya Skandavarma)
  7. ^ Epigraphica Indica, Vol XVIII, p. 250 (Kopparapu copper plate inscription of Pulakesi II, 7th century CE)
  8. ^ Epigraphica Indica, Vol XVIII, p. 27 (Aluru inscription of Chalukya king Vikramaditya V, 1011 CE)
  9. ^ Kotappakonda.com

[edit] External links

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