Ventrapragada
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Ventrapragada is a village in Krishna District in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Ventrapragada is situated 30 km from Vijayawada and 9 km from Gudivada.
The neighbouring villages are Kalavapamula, Mudunuru, Vanapamula, Cheruvukommu and Nandamuru.
The famous ancient temple of Sri Nameswara Swamy (Lord Siva) is here. Nowhere else in the world is Lord Siva called with this name or has a temple with this name. The sivalingam in this temple has Namam (which is uncommon for siva) and hence the name. It is told that the lingam is so long and deep-rooted that the end has not been found, but there is a well in the temple, the depth of which is said to be a measure of how deep the lingam was seen when it was first discovered.
For many generations there has been a strong belief that couples or women who pray for children get their wish fulfilled – they then name the child Nameswara rao, Nameshwari, Namesh etc. There is a strong belief that those who want to have children or get married or wish for anything, do 108 pradakshinas around the temple in a period of 1-3 months or 108 days.
In the temple there are idols of Veerabhadra swami and his wife; he is believed to be guardian of the village.
The festivals of Shivaratri, Srirama navami, Dussera, and Sankranthi fill the temple with pilgrims. Sankranthi is celebrated at harvest time, and it is traditional to decorate the village with rangolis.
This village also has an ancient famous temple of Shirdi Sai Baba.
The village has a bus station and an old railway station. Villagers here grow rice, wheat, sugar cane, and many vegetable crops. The village has a stream of the Krishna River flowing through it, which is mainly used for agricultural purposes; the stream provides irrigation around a 1000 acres (4 km²).
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