Welcome to Guntur

Summary: Many of us have heard the term ‘Guntur’, which is a popular city not only in Andhra Pradesh, but also all around India. Let us explore the history of this city.

Guntur is a city in the district of Guntur in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and it is third most populous city in the state. The city is popular for its agriculture, ecommerce, business and educational effectiveness and the city is also renowned for its exports, particularly in products like tobacco, cotton and chilli pepper. The city holds the pride of being the largest producer of chillies in the entire country. The city is otherwise called as ‘Garthapuri’, which is a Sanskrit term with meaning ‘water ponds’.

Guntur city Ariel View

History:

As mentioned earlier, the Sanskrit name of the city is ‘Garthapuri’ and there is ancient temple for lord Shiva in this city in the name of ‘Agasthyeswara Sivalayam’. The name of the temple states that this temple was built during the Treta-Yuga by sage Agastya around the Swayambhu Linga. It is believed that Nagas ruled this region.

The ancient history of the district can be traced from the time of the Sala Kings, who ruled the Guntur District during 5th century BCE. The earliest reference about Guntur comes from the 922-929 CE period and the city is known to have found a mention in two inscriptions dated 1147 and 1158.

Buddhism in Guntur:

Right from the beginning of Buddhist era, Guntur was a forerunner in the arenas of civilization, education and culture. The city holds the pride of having hosted Gautama Buddha, who preached Dhanyakatakam/Dharanikota near this city. Buddhists found universities in olden days at Amaravathi and Dhanyakataka. Acharya Nagarjuna University is highly popular in Guntur and the university was named to honour the pro-founder of Mahayana Buddhism.

NTR Circle Guntur

Ruling kingdoms:

Successively, Guntur was ruled by the popular dynasties like Satavahanas, Andhra Ikshvakus and many such rulers until Qutb Shahis during ancient and medieval times. The district has hosted the popular Palnadu battle during 1180. The city became a part of the Mughal Empire in the year 1687 and during this period the area was conquered by Aurangzeb. In the year 1724, the region came under the rule of Nizam. The coastal districts of Hyderabad, otherwise called as Northern Circars were occupied by the French in 1750. During 1783-1816, the area came under Raja Vasireddy Venkatadri Nayudu, who built many temples in Guntur region. By the year 1788, the region came under the control of British East India Company and turned out to be district of Madras Presidency.

Guntur City Bus

Freedom struggle:

This region played a crucial role in the Indian independence and in the gaining of separate status of Andhra Pradesh State. After Indian independence, the Telugu-speaking northern districts of the state of Madras inclusive of Guntur demanded for a separate state called Andhra Pradesh and the same was created in the year 1953 from the 11 northern districts of Madras.

Guntur Vijayawada Express Way

The city is well-connected to other cities in AP and other states in India by road, rail and airways.

Pramoda Book Center, Vijayawada

Summary: If you are like many other people, who have great interest towards books, the place to visit during your Vijayawada visit is the Prabodha Book Centre.

Prabodha Book Centre is known to have the great history in Vijayawada and this centre has played an important role in instilling reading habits among young minds of those days. Even though, this centre is not visited by many youngsters these days due to their internet access and because of the reduction of interest towards books, still this book centre has an important role in the history of Vijayawada. She played an important role in bringing a cosmopolitan look to the city as Vijayawada looked like a big village those days.

Man behind:

The surprising thing is that the man behind the establishment of this book centre at its earlier premises at Gopalareddy Road was an New Zealander.

Home for different collections:

This book centre was earlier acting as the one-stop solution for many people looking for different varieties of English books. In addition, they also dealt with greeting cards as well. The centre had books from all the leading publications in the world, while other book stalls in the city used to sell only school books and notebooks.

Acted as a library:

Even though, it was a book store, many people even these days, just visit the store to view the wide collection of books and they walk out just without purchasing any books. So, the store provides the opportunity to the reading enthusiasts. When it comes to winter, you can really experience the entertainment of reading in the peaceful atmosphere.

Plan your visit:

This is located in the CSI complex in the city of Vijayawada. Never forget to visit and get the glimpse of the latest collection of books, before you decide to leave the city.

Rayanapadu Railway Wagon Workshop

Summary: It is important that to ensure the proper functioning of goods train, the bogies should be maintained properly and overhauling takes place as Rayanapadu Wagon workshop.

Rayanapadu wagon workshop, which is otherwise referred to as Wagon Workshop, Guntupalli is located at a distance of about 12 kms from the Vijayawada Railway Station. It is one of the premier workshops that belong to the Indian Railways and it is also known to be the best among the 13 workshops in India, where repairs of wheels and wagons take place.

Main activity at the workshop:

The workshop is engaged in the activity of revamping railway wagons of goods trains. This is done on a regular basis for ensuring the smooth functioning of the wagons. In addition, the workshop also offers assistance for maintenance depots that are located in important junctions in the country. Even though, it is believed that this workshop is mainly for revamping wheels, but revamping of bogies and other parts of goods train also take place in this place.

Workforce is the strength:

This workshop that works under the Indian railways has a huge workforce. As most of us know, Indian railway is the one of the biggest employers in India and some of the workforce is deputed in this workshop. Not just repairs to wagons owned by Railways, the workshop also gets wagons that are owned by the Defence and many thermal power stations as well for overhauling. Even, records state that the workshop earns huge income every year from such works that are done for outside organizations apart from Indian Railways.

Railway Coach Guntupalli

Why maintenance of railway wagons?

When asking about the regular renovation of goods wagons, representatives from the workshop said that each railway wagon has the capacity to carry 70 tonnes of load, regardless of the type of item loaded and the wagons generally have a durability of 30 years. But, they should be regularly overhauled once in every four years and 6 months to ensure that they can be used for the utmost durability period. However, they state that it is not possible to increase the durability of wagons.

Achievement of the workshop:

The history of Rayanapadu wagon workshop shows that it has done many achievements, but the most important of them is the switching of oil tankers into fly ash or cement brick carriers. The authorities state that they completed this project by spending Rs. 50,000 for each wagon and they converted 150 oil wagons into cement brick wagons.

Nataraj Hotel Vijayawada

Summary: Do you wish to stay in a hotel, where celebrities like the great NTR used to stay in Vijayawada? This is what Natraj Hotel in Vijayawada is all about.

Most of us are attracted by the invitations and great people charisma enjoyed by celebrities. Even though, all of us cannot get such an opportunity in life, we can at least visit places or stay in places, where the great celebrities of Andhra used to stay. Yes, one such place in Vijayawada is Natraj Hotel and let us explore some details in this regard:

A View of Nataraj Hotel In VIjayawada

About Natraj Hotel:

The great thing about this hotel is that it is called as the culinary history of Vijayawada. Yes, with its great history, this is one of the best hotels in the city with 5 star facilities. The hotel is standing tall in the city right from 1970s and the great NTR and many other film fraternities used to stay in the only suite room that was well-maintained those days.

It was those celebrities, who can be named as the foundation triggers for the most popular Banthi Bhojanam, which is followed in weddings in Andhra Pradesh these days. For food service tables, they used English standards for arrangement in Telugu marriages. Also, they used to hire Anglo Indians for service.

Nataraj Hotel in VIjayawada

Hotel for celebrities:

In olden days, many celebrities inclusive of the late Indian Prime Minister Ms. Indira Gandhi had their foods in this hotel with great history. Even, many other Indian Prime Ministers had their food in this legendary hotel. The hotel is being operated for generations by the same family and they are continuing to rock the city with their great tasting food and great accommodation.

Nataraj Hotel Lobby Vijayawada

So, during your Vijayawada trip, even when you do not stay here, just try the food and the taste will be in your taste buds for your entire life for sure.

Lenin Statute, Vijayawada

Summary: If you are interested towards communism, you might have heard about Lenin. There is a statue for Lenin in Vijayawada, which can be the ideal place for you to visit.

Lenin was called as the Father of the Russian Revolution. He became a popular personality as he lived up to the ideologies of Marxism. As his parents were school teachers, right from his childhood, he was brought up with the ideology that education is highly important for communist ideals. So, he insisted upon literacy to a great extent.

First successful communist revolution:

The Russian communists during the period of Lenin, were led by him and he is known to have brought the first successful communist revolution. He gained importance because of the growth of communism and we are still able to feel the impact of his thoughts and ideologies.

Statue for Lenin in Vijayawada:

Lenin Statue in Vijayawada is one among the many attractions for tourists visiting this city. This statue also has political importance in the city as the status is garlanded every year on May Day by the local authorities to honour the contributions of Lenin towards Communism.

The status rightly symbolises the ideologies of communism. Besides that it also showcases the struggles faced by the working community and it is one of the four places in which there are statues for Lenin in India. There are two statues in New Delhi, one at Kolkata and one at Vijayawada.

Why statue for Lenin in Vijayawada?

During 1980s, there was communist rule in this region and this is the reason why there are statues both for Lenin and Karl Marx in this city.

So, plan your visit this place, which is surrounded by lush green trees and it can be a relaxing place to spend time with your kids during weekend.