Famous temples in the district:

Chimakurthi:

It was one of the wonderful temples in the state and was constructed in April 2006. This temple is a collection of 5 temples, shining brightly in pure white colour. This temple was inaugurated on April 13th of 2006, assembling gods harharas and other Goddesses splendidly, with an expenditure of crores of rupees. In this holy place, temples are constructed for Ayyappa, Venkateswara swamy with padmavthidevi, Nagareswara with Parvathidevi, Vaavikanyakaparameswari. On the forepart of these temples, a 20 ft, statue of prasanna Anjaneyaswamy was present as a protector of the temple. Hundreds of skillful architects worked immensely of four and half years to make this temple beautiful.

Satyavolu temple:

This temple of Ramalingeswara swamy is at Satyavolu village, 7 k.m. away from Giddalur. This temple is believed to be built by Badami Chalukyas who ruled  this place from 543 A.D to 757 A.D. with their capital at Badamini. All  the six temples in this premise are the temples of Siva Bhimalingeswara temple is the biggest one. The style of sculptural arts was named by the foreign historian Ferguson, who was astonished by the chalukays sculpture, as chalukya style. It may be remembered that the style of sculpture of the temple in Mahanandi, Aalmpur and Satyavol are identical.

Ikshpuri temple:

It is at Cherukuru Village in Paruchuru Mandal. Ikshupuri was the ancient name of this village. Trivikrama Agasteswaraswamy temple in this village is one of the prominent temples in south India. As per the inscriptions, it had a wonderful history. Specialty of this temple is that Kalyanotsavas are, simultaneously, performed to Trivikramaswamy as per the tradition of Vykhanasaagama, and to Agasteswaraswamy as per the tradition of Smarthagama.

Vallabharamswamy temple:

This temple is at kurichedu ( Kurachaveedu ) village on Vallabharama hill. During the time of Kurachaveedu kings this temple was shined magnificently. The height of this hill is more than 200 ft. In the sivalayam on this hill there is statue of kumaraswamy with Devi on Peacock vehicle. Below this hill there is an Anjaneya swamy temple.

Manikanteswarudu:

The temple of sri malleswara swamy along with sri Ganga Bhramaramba is present, from several centuries, at Manikeswaram village in Addanki mandal. Here lord Siva is famous as Manikeswarudu. Towards the northern side of this temple there is river Gundlakamma (Gundinadi). This area is also known as Dakshina Kasi. It was known that this temple belongs to the year 1202; the village was called as Buddampudi and it belongs to the era of Cholas.

Glitters of the district:

This district formed on 2nd February 1970 with Ongole as capital. In 1972 it was renamed as Prakasam district in memory of Tanguturi Prakasam Panthulu. This district has great historical and

cultural background. Like many other normal areas, once upon a time, it was a sea-coast and forest area, habituated by Savarulu, Chenchulu. Later it  received civilization of Aryans and Dravidians. This district was ruled by kings of Satavahanas, Chalukyas and Pallavas. After Kakatiyas, Reddyrajas ruled it more than 100 years with Addanki as capital.

Ayyaparaju, descendant of Mandapati family established the kingdom in first half of the 16th century, with Konijedu as capital. The kingdom was developed under the reign of Ramchandararaju who ruled during 1792. Chennakesavalayam was constructed by him. In 1778, Guntur Mandal was undertaken by British along with Ongole. Ongole had played a prominent role in the Indian Independence Movement. Some youngsters tried to prepare and test a country bomb in the shaik Rehamtullah building at court center in Ongole. In that process it had exploded. Chimakurthi Seshagirirao, Ravinuthala venkateswarlu, Vemuti Venkata Subbaiah and Mudavarthi Satyanarayana were responsible for that incident. They had undergone imprisonment. That incident created history as Ongole bomb case. In 1790 this district was merged with Palnadu. In 1904 it became a part of Guntur district. Pothuri Ayyannasetty Chowltry, ancient Duvet memorial church, pedda masjid, Bairagi Matham, are the identity marks of the town Ongole. Historical Rangarayudi Cheruvu is now a tourist place. By the side of this place is the temple of Saibab. This temple, a boon to the town,is celebrated as Southern shirdi and is attracting pilgrims from far places.

Eminent persons:

Gadepalli sivaramaiah:

He is a versatile genius in feats of memory (avadhani), can perform eight of them simultaneously (astavadhani) and has given several such performances. He was born on 11-5-1940 at Gaddameedi palle in Yerragondapalem. He worked as a lecture and now retired. He is famous for his novel Viswanadha Nayakudu and several poetic works.

Mutukula Padmanabha rao:

Poet, writer and avadhani' He was born in 1929 at Mutukula village in Yerragondapalem mandal. He had conducted several astavadhanams. He had written Padmanabha Ramayanam with 7,000 poems and was well known as palanti Valmiki. He wrote several Satakams (100 poems) practiced medicine also.

Eddupaul:

Famous player. He was born in 1940 at Ongole. He won several national and international medals in several athletic events. He got name and fame as an all-rounder. He played football, volleyball and kabaddi but won several competitions. He worked as RTC traffic inspector in Hyderabad 91963-96). He is a gem of athletics, created wonders in veteran track and field, created several records in events like 100 mts running, triple jump and high jump. In 2006 he started fighting with cancer. He once won several gold, silver and bronze medals, but nowadays he is in trouble, looking for helping hands.

Konijeti rosayya:

Born at Vemuru in Guntur district. He is an elderly person in congress party like Bhishma in Mahabharatha. From the beginning he has been concentrating on Chirala constituency of the district. As an independent candidate he contested in 1967 and lost. Again in 1989 he contested, elected and worked as minister of Finance, medical & Health and Electricity. In 1999 he contested as congress party candidate and lost. Again in 2004 he contested, elected and appointed as Finance minister.

Kuppa venkatarama sastri (1916-2000):

Freedom fighter, skilfu doctor. He was born at Cheemakurthy a nearby village of Ongole. When he was a student he participated in  several movements and detained for 2 years. He had become a well known doctor in and around bundar. He worked as an editor for magazines Brindavani and Andhra pradesh Medical Journal. He shined in social service for 8 decades. 

Jagarlamudi chandramoule (1914-1987):

Born at karamchedu. He was a politician. He was a lawyer and in 1955 he entered politics. He contested from Ammanabrolu constituency and elected. He was twice elected as president of the district marketing committee of Guntur. In 1962, he joined swathantra party and was elected  to rajysabha. He established Ranga Kisan Organisation at Ongole. He joined Janata party and was elected as  MLA in 1978 from martur.

Akurati chalamayya (1903-1985):

Born at Eepurupalem. He was a famous writer. He wrote biography of several eminent people Ravindranath Tagore, Devendra Tagore, Gandhi). He published

speeches of Netaji in Telugu. Gora, Vidya, Santhiniketan, Upadhyayulu Vidyardhulu are some of his famous books.

Ulchi:

His name is Reddiboyina Krishna Murthy. He was born at Ulchi village in Ongole mandal. He created many modern arts. He did several researches, developed five new methods, painted hundreds of paintings, conducted exhibitions of them all over the world and earned lot of name and fame. At Chirala he arranged a rare art gallery consisting more than 500 paintings in different styles and 100 images. He has spread the name of the district in all regions. He got expertise in modern poetry. He received several felicitations.

Ramisetti syamala devi:

Weight lifter. She was born in 1984 at Ongole. She got bronze medal in senior nationals (2004) gold medal in south Indian Championship (2004). 4 bronze medals in junior National Championship (2005,2006), gold medal in junior section of Federation cup (2005,2006), silver medal in the all India Inter University Competitions, gold medal in the competitions between 25 countries, conducted is South korea. She got the eligibility to participate Asian Weight Lifting. She is studying M.com at Gudivada.

Jyothi chandramouli:

Vidwan Jyothi Chandramouli has written a book Prakasam Zilla janapada kalalu explaining the folk arts famous in this district street plays. Burra kadhalu, Panchi kadhalu, Chekka Bhajanalu, Picchi gutlu, Haridsulu, Gaaradi Vidyalu etc. This book tells us the importance of this district in the field of folks arts. He is staying at Ramnagar in Addanki.

History:

This district was formed on 2nd February 1970 by merging some taluks of the districts of Nellore, Kurnool and Guntur. Hence its history is the history of the 3 districts. In 1981 the district was divided into 14 taluks and again divided into 56 mandals in 1983.

After the decline of Andhra Sathavahanas, this area was ruled by ikshwaks. During their rule the present Pakanadu, part of this district was called as Pooginadu. After ikshwakas, this area was joined into the kingdom established by the pallavas in 3rd century and under their reign till 7th century. In 611 A.D. the west chalukya king sathyasraya pulakesi possessed this area from the pallavas. In the 9th century the boya leaders in kanigiri taluk declared independence and established their kingdom. The east Chalukya veingi king, after suppressed them and occupied kanigiri, podili, darsi, kandukuru and some part of Nellore area and made kandukuru as a protection fort.

In 12th century, after the fall of vengi chalukas, their tributory rulers-Velanati chodulu-established a kingdom. The east Chalukya vengi king after suppressed them and occupied kangiri,Podili, Darsi, Kandukuru and some part of Nellore area and made Kandukuru as a protection fort. In 12th century, after the fall of Vengi Chalukas, their tributory rulers-Velanati Chodulu-established a kingdom with Chandavolu as its capital and Prakasam district was a part of that. After the decline of Kakatiya's dynasty, numbers of Independent kingdom were vanished and later in 1324 Prolaya Vemareddy established Kondveeti Reddy kingdom with Addanki as its capital. Anapota Reddy, son of Vemareddy, shifted the capital from Addanki to Kondaveedu, Narsaraopet taluk. In 1427 Vijayanagara kings conquered Kandukur Cheruvu were constructed by Vijayanagara Kings.

Later this area was undertaken  by Golkonda Nawabs followed by Karnataka  Nawabs. In 1811 Kingdom of Karnataka Nawabs was taken under control by British people and up to 1947 it was

under their charge. On February 2nd, 1970 Ongole district with Ongole as its head quarter was created by separating Kandukuru, Podili and Darsi taluks from Nellore district, Giddalur and Markapur taluks from Kurnool district, Ongole and Bapatla taluks from Guntur district. In 1972 this district was renamed as Prakasam district in memory of the late Tanguturu Prakasam panthulu who belonged to this district.

One roman Catholic chapel was there in Ongole by the time of 1860. Bastion church was opened on January 1st, 1867. In 1876, Ongole was formed into municipality. During the British rule, it was decided to merge chirala and perala into one municipality. Against the interest of people these two towns were merged into one municipality. As the people rejected to pay the taxes, 12 persons including a woman were arrested in March 1921. She was the first woman imprisoned during the agitation for freedom.

On April 6th, 1921 Mahatma Gandhi visited Chirala, advised the agitators to continue the agitation in non-violent way or to go to other place leaving Chirala and perala. Following this advice, Duggirala Gopala Krishnaiah established a voluntary army Ramdandu and helped the people. For leaving the place all of them returned to their homes only in 1922 after the non-cooperation movement was stopped. Till 1939 there was district board in Ongole. Kasu Brahmananda Reddy worked as its president for a long period.

The Ongole town has a prominent place in history. Its old names were Oomvolu and Ogiprolu when it was the capital of Vengi kingdom which was extended from Kunditarangani (gundlakamma) to Sriparvatham. The kingdom of Yagnasri Satakarni was extended up to Ongole. As a result of the Tallikota war Ongole had gone into the reign of Nawabs. It was said that during the reign of Aurangazeb, descendants of Mandapati family in Ongole had established Kingdom. As per the historic narrations, Raghupatiraju one of these kings constructed the present fort and Chennakesavaswamy Temple. Prakasam Bhavan, an aggregate of 32 offices, was built  in memory of Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu. This is a special attraction, not  available in any other district.

Flourishing literary works in the district:

What is the first poem in Telugu? the answer, the Addanki inscription ordered by pandarangadu in 848 A.D. was confirmed by the historians. Pandarangadu was the commander-in-chief of Ganga Vijayaditya, the Chalukya king who ruled the Addanki area. He had donated some land of Dharamavaram in Addanki mandal to Aditya Bhattaraka and the inscription was given in that occasion. This inscription was a poem in Taruvoja Chandassu. This inscription is now available in the Egmore museum in Chennai. A pillar was constructed in Addanki at the place where the original was found. The writers of this district got a duplicate of the inscription and installed it on the pillar.

The second poem was also found in this district only. Erranna, one of the three poets who translated Mahabharata into Telugu, belongs to Addanki and it shows the strong basics of Telugu poem this district had. While traveling in the streets of Addanki, Kavisarvabhomudu Srindahudu also dictated quick poetry. Bhattabanudu, Addanki Gangadhara Kavi, Narayana Teerdhulu etc. were also belonging to Addanki.

Development of the district:

As per the statistics declared by the government in the year 1977-78, the average per capital income of the district was rs. 1099. In same year the average per capital income of the state was rs.1018, which means if the average of the state is 100, that of this district is 108. At that time this district was in 7th rank.

The average per capital income of the district between 8 years, that is from 1993-94 to 2000-01, was arrived as the average of the per capital income calculated on the fixed rates as on 1993-94 and the per capital income calculated by the interim rate. The average per capital income of the district  thus arrived was rs. 12,372 and that of the state was rs. 13, 239. That means if the average of the state is 100 that of the district will be 93. As per the fixed rates, average of the district is rs. 8778, whereas that of the state is rs. 9679. It is in 14th rank. This survey reveals that during the last three decades this district, which had more average than the state in 1977-78, is lagging behind.

Profession:

Agriculture, Hand loom, Fishing and Labour in the Construction of buildings.

Bhairavakona:

This tourist place  is at a distance of 5 k.m. from ambavaram kothapalli in chandrasekharapuram mandal. This place is famous among the naturally formed tourist spots which are known for the cave temples. There are eight caves which belong to 7th and 8th centuries. All caves are identical in shape and size. First cave is in the north side of the hill. Nandi idol built with a single stone, square type seat for sivalingam, pillars in chitarkhanda style, idols of ganesh and chandesh and many more are here. Gundla brahmeswaram: This village is 30 km away from nandyal. The wild life sanctuary is extended to an area of 1194 sq.k.m. and is a part of nallamala hills. Different types of eye-catching birds and trees are there in this thick forest. Also found are leopards. Forest guest house no; 08154-242463

Odarevu beach:

This is 6 k.m away from chirala. Swamy arulannada ashramam is another attraction. Though there are no government guest houses, three private guest houses are available for the tourists. Proposals of developing this as a tourist place are at the proposal stage only. Cottage phone no 248222

Ramayapatnam beach:

This is 6.k.m. away from odarevu. This is a very beautiful place with big trees, plants and bushes. This tourist place attracts the people of prakasam and nellore districts. But the facilities here are not attractive, even drinking water is also not available. Beach resort phone no: 234248

Kothapatnam beach:

This is at a distance of 25k.m. from Ongole. It attracts visitors in large numbers. thousand of devotees take a dip in the sea on the day of karthika pournima. three cottages are there. Rtc bus facility is there from Ongole.

Motupalli:

A village in chinaganjam mandal. This village is 12 k.m. away from china ganjam, 27 k.m. away from bapatla and 45 k.m. away from Ongole. Its ancient names are mikulapuram. Numerous buddha stupas are found in loose condition. Once, it was a famous sea port. Historians like marcopolo and Mackenzie prominently mentioned that clothes worth of one crore varahas were exported from this port every week. Huge business of valuable stones like gems and pearls was there at kasuladibba. Also, there are some ancient temples. Sri ram temple is one of  them.Buddha stupas and sculptures of 1st century are also there.

Kanigiri:

Famous in the history as Kanakagiri. This village had its glory under the reign of pallavas during 6th and 7th centuries. Eight  temples are there in a single stone. A big square tank, constructed by sri krishna devarayalu between 15th and 16th centuries has weekend to a small well. Many prominent persons of the district belong to this village and Dr. Gujjula Ravindra Reddy (mayor of a city a Germany) is one of them.

Kanaparthy:

This village is at a distance of 15 K.M. from Nagulapadu. It's a great ancient place. First, it was a Buddhist place and later became a worship place of Lord Siva. It has a rare collection of sculpture and eye-catching sea coast for tourists. The ancient names of this village were Kanakappuri and Kanakajam bhavapuri.

Dupadu:

In this village which is 80 k.m away from ongole , there is a famous buddha stupa. On this stupam brahmilipi belonging to satavahanas of 1st and 2nd centuries can be seen.

Chandavaram:

An ancient boudharamam in donakonda mandal. It is at a distance of 75 k.m from ongole near vellampalli village on the banks of gundlakamma river.It has become public in 1965.Many small stupas and 15 large stupas can be seen here.The biggest of them is on a hill top of 200 ft.Its height is 9 ft. and it has a beautiful construction with the symbols of the bodhi tree and  dharma chakra. The height of maha chaitya is 1.6 meters and its circumference is 60 cm.Many rare arts and coins,black and red colored local museum.A marble image of meditating budha is at the north side of the buddha stupam.

Medipi:

This village reflects the history of palenadu. It is 10 K.M away from Tiruranta. Brahmanaidu developed this village, constructed Chennakesava temple and the pond Medi cheruvu. Veerlakoluvu will be celebrated with much pomp and show on every new moon day of the month Karthika masam. Though this area has historical importance, it has been a neglected place.The ancient ruins are symbols of the national culture.

Pakala:

A village in singarayakonda. As on may 2006, its population is 8727 and the no. of voters is around 5,000. This village has the dignity of having 50 doctors; all are from the families of farmers. All of them are working not only in our country but also in other countries. Many of them serve the poor by taking nominal fee of rs.1/-or rs. 2/-. Out of the 25 engineers of this village 15 are in the U.S.A others are in different fields in top positions. All of these educated people are extending their helping hand for the development of their native place.

Present prominent people in the district:

* Political field:                                  * G.v. seshu

* Dagguabti Venkateswararao            * Jada koteswara rao

* Domacharal anjaneyulu (kondapi)  * Angalakurthi jalaiah

* Rondanarapareddy                           * Chunduri Rangarao

* Gutta venkatasubbayya                   * Bachchala Balayya

* Gottipati hanumantha rao

Historical and tourist places:

Ongole:

This town is the district head quarter. Ongole, an eminent town, is on the grand trunk road, 109 k.m away from guntur. The railway station on the madras Howrah  line is an important one in the district. This town was indicated in the inscriptions of pallava rulers vijayaskandha varma and simha varma. These kings ruled this place, as per the history available, during 3rd and 4th centuries. Idols of Chennakesava and lakshmi can be seen in the chennakesava swamy temple, constructed in 18th century.

Vetapalem:

This railway station is in the south-east side of bapatla away by 22 k.m.the ancient name of this place is mrugayapuri. The kings, who came for hunting (Veta) in the surrounding forests, used this village to take rest. During 16th and 17th centuries vetapalem was called as ventapalem. Once, this  village was a good business center. The famous library saraswata niketam which was started on 25th of October 1918, is a great treasure for researchers. it's like a pilgrim place for scholars, intellectuals and pundits.

Kambham:

This town is 34 k.m away from and in the north side of Giddalur on the Giddalur-markapur road. The railway station is on guntur-hubil line. A big lake constructed during the reign of vijayangara kings has been very famous. This lake is in an area of 23 sq k.m. and provides water facilities to 4880 hectares, approximately. Nineteen inscriptions were found on the banks of this lake, in the rest house near masjid, and in Gajanala masjid. Sri kanaka surabheswara kona' which is 2 k.m away from turimmella village in kambham mandal, is believed to be the ancient field of jamadgni and people worship the God and celebrate sivaratri every year. This place was constructed in the later part of Trethayugam. The collection of lingams near the papanasanam mandir is called kotilingala gutta. The three rivers gundlakamma vagu, lothuvagu and Erravagu flowing from the nallamala forests, meet in between the two hills and flows by the side of this place. The scenery here became very attractive for

tourists.

Singarayakonda:

This railway station is on the madras howra line. Here is a very famous temple of Varahanrusimha swamy. It is said that 200 years ago  a yogi installed the idol of prsannanjaneya swamy at the roof of the hill during the installation of main pillar on the hill. Gundikanadi is the ancient name of the gundlakammavagu which flows nearer to the town.

Sangameswaralayam is there at place where river bhavanasi merges in to gundikanadi. A barrage was constructed on bhavanasi in 1918 and this place is famous for beautiful sceneries.

Markapuram:

It is at a distance of 161 k.m. from kurnool, in the area of river gundlakamma. Trains to vijayawada and guntakal pass through this railway station. It is a mandal head quarter and also a revenue division center. This town was used to be called as markapuram in the name of a shepherd girl markapur. Chennakeswara swamy temple in this area attracts numerous devotees. Architectural talent, seen on the few temples in this town, is rewarded by everyone. There are seven pillars on the southwest corner of the kalyana mantapam and they sound sapthaswaras when we touch them. Another wonder worth mention is, early in the shine on the feet of sri mahalakshmi during dakshinayanam. Twelve inscriptions were found, narrating about vijayangara maharajas who ruled during 1533-1569. Mohammadians' festival moharam is celebrated splendidly in markapuram. Slate factory has been developed here and 80% of the slate pencils manufactured in the country are from this place only.

Political status of the district:

Parliament members:

Peesapati raghavayya: Elected from ongole constituency. He died in 1992. Dr.d.ramanaidu: He belongs to karamchedu and in 1999 elections he was elected from bapatla. He is a famous personality in cine field. His name was entered in Gunnies book of world records for producing highest number of cinemas.

Members elected from ongole constituency:

M.nandas (1952), konda narapareddy (1957), m.narayana swamy (1962), k.jaggaiah (1967), P.Ankineedu prasadarao (1971), pulivenkatareddy (1977,80), magunta srinivasulareddy (1991, 1998), magunta parvatamma (1996), k.balakrishnamurthy (1999).

Eminent people of this district in cine field:

*Tottempudi Ramayya chowdary

(born near tangutur, designed the movie paleru)

*Dhevukonda subbarao

(born in Ongole, music director for Usha parinayam played the role of narada)

*Csr chilakapati sita ramanjaneyulu

(Ongole, an eminent actor and singer)

*G (Garikapati) Varalakshmi

(Ongole,. famous character artist in telugu and tamil cinemas)

*P (paluvayi) Bhanumati

(Doddavaram village, singer, writer, music director and studio owner)

*C.Nagabhushanam

(Kondepi mandal, Anakarlapudi: cine and stage actor)

*M.venkateswararao (Uppugunduru, hero for the movvie malapilla)

*Galipenchala narasimharao (Ammanbrolu, music director)

*Yarlagadda venkanna chowdary (karamchedu, producer)

*Groantla veerayya chowdary, yerra seshagirirao (Veerannapalem, producers)

*Jagaralamudi radhakrishan, vadde balaji, Daggubati ramanaidu, vasiraju prakasam (producers)

*Madala rangarao (mynampadu, producer and actor)

*T.krishna (Tanguturu mandal, kakuturivatipalem, director)

*Pokuri baburao (Ongole, producer)

*B.gopal(m.nidamanuru, director)

*Rajachandra  (Inkollu, director)

* m.v.pani (Uppalapadu, director)

*perala (Uppugunduru, writer and director)

*M.v. babu (kandukuru, director)

*Yerramaneni chandramouli (lingamgunta, director)

*Vasanti (Timmasamudram, actor and producer)

*Prasadbabu (Ongole, actor)

*Daggupati raja (chirala, actor)

*Dharamavarapu subrahmanayam (Addanki mandal, Komminenivaripalem, actor)

*Nalluri venkateswarulu (actor)

*M.v.s Haranathbabau (writer) etc. are from this district.