Nellore is known as Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore District and Vikrama Simhapuri.
Sri Amarajeevi Potti Sri Ramulu Nellore District is one of the 13 districts of Andhra Pradesh. Nellore is famous for high paddy field, and so it got its name from “Nelli”. The population of the district was 2,966,082 of which 22.45% were urban as of 2011.
Nellore city is its administrative headquarters. The major cities in the district are Nellore, Kavali, Gudur and Kovur. It is bordered by the Bay of Bengal to the east, Chittoor and state of Tamilnadu to the South, Kadapa to the west, and Prakasam to the north.
It was earlier known as Nellore district. In 2008 June, the government of Andhra Pradesh officially renamed the district as Amarajeevi Potti Sri Ramulu Nellore District after the name of freedom fighter from this district.
Nellore History
Nellore District had an important role in Telugu history during the emergence of the language and also during the formation of the state.
Mauryas, Early Cholas and Pallavas
With the rise of the Mauryan Empire, many parts of the Andhra Pradesh including Nellore came under its influence and was part of the Ashoka empire in the third century B.C. The caves near Nellore have inscriptions in the brahmi script used by Ashoka. The Cholas were an important dynasty in the south peninsula. The early Cholas ruled between the 1st and the 4th centuries A.D. The earliest chola inscription from 1096 A.D. was found at Jummaluru. The district was part of the first and the most famous Chola, Karikalan. He was well known for his great engineering marvel.
Chola power declined with frequent attacks by the Pallavas, Cheras and Pandyas, until they rose to power again around the 9th century. Chola rule was broken when the Cholas were overthrown by Simha Vishnu Pallava and the region came under the Pallava rule between the fourth and sixth centuries A.D. With the dawn of the seventh century, the political centre of Gravity of the Pallavas shifted to the south and weakened their power towards the north. Several ancient Pallava and Chola temple are in Udayagiri village. Several inscriptions about Pallava rule were found in the Guntur-Nellore tract of the Andhra Pradesh. The big four storeyed cave at Vundavalli and 8 cave temple at Bhairavkonda resembles the Pallava architecture during Mahendravarma’s period.
Nellore Chola kings
This was the period when the political power of Nellore was at its peak and also reached its ebb. Tikkana Somayajulu, a minister and famous Telugu poet who translated Mahabharatham into Telugu, gave the account of the history of this family in his other book called Nirvachanottara Ramayanamu. A branch of Telugu Cholas, feudatory of the Western Chalukyas of Kalyani appointed them as rulers of Pakanadu for helping in the war between Cholas and Chalukyas. They ruled over the region consisting of the Nellore, Kadapa, Chittur and Chengalput districts with Vikramasimhapuri (modern Nellore) as their head capital.
Tikka (1223–1248) defeated both the Hoyasala and the Pandyas and got the Tondaimandalam region and assumed the title Cholasthapanacharya. During the reign of Tikka’s son and successor Manumasiddhi II (1248–1263), Nellore faced lot of attacks from other Chalukyas and Pandyas. Tikkana visited Ganapatideva of Kakatiyas and gained military support for his king. About the year 1260, a dangerous feud broke out between Manumasiddhi and Katamaraju, the chief of Erragaddapadu in Kanigiri region. The feud was on the issue of the rights of the two princes to use certain wide meadows as grazing grounds for their flocks of cattle. It led to the bloody battle fought at Panchalingala near Muttukuru on the coast of river Penna. Manumasiddhi’s forces led by Khadga Tikkana, the cousin of poet Tikkana won the battle, but the leader perished. This feud and the consequent battle formed the theme of the popular ballad entitled “Katamaraju Katha”. Shortly after or during this battle, Manumasiddhi died and Nellore lost its significance.
Kakatiyas, Pandyas, Vijanagaras etc.
The Kakatiyas, the feudatories of the Western Chalukyas of Kalyani, under influence of Prola declared his independence. Ganapati Deva, the first great king of Kakatiyas brought most of the Telugu area under his rule. Nellore was part of kakatiya kingdom in the 13th century. It changed hands between them and Pandyas few times until Prataprudra II defeated Pandyas. After the fall of Kakatiya Empire, the region was under Tuglaq and then was later under Kondavidi Reddis.
The most parts of the district were annexed by the Sangama dynasty of the Vijayanagara empire in 14th century. The remaining portions of the district like Udayagiri were conquered in 1512 by Krishnadeva Rayalu, the greatest king of the kingdom. The ruins of fortress built by the Vijayanagar kings in the 14th century are at Udayagiri.
The Nawabs and the British period
After the fall of the Vijayanagara Empire, the area was ruled by the Nawabs. It was under rule of Najeebullah, the brother of Arcot Nawab in 1753. The district witnessed wars between Najeebullah and Nawab with support from French at Machilipatnam and British at Madras. Army under colonel Cailluad took over Nellore fort in 1762 and handed it over to Nawab. On the assignment of revenues, Nawab Ajim Ud Duaula gave Nellore town back in 1781 and gave the rest of the district to East India company in 1801. East India Company had taken control appointed Mr. Dyton as the 1st Collector. Nellore was declared the revenue unit for the district.
During the British period, the district was at peace, the only event of any political importance being the sequestration in 1838, of the Jagir of Udayagiri, owing to its title holder’s participation in a conspiracy, engineered by the Nawab of Kurnool, against the ruling power. After the district came under the British administration, the jurisdiction of the district did not undergo any major changes, but for the transfer of Ongole taluk in 1904 to Guntur district when it was newly constituted.
Post Indian Independence
It was part of the composite Madras State until 1 October 1953. On 1 November 1956, when the states were reorganised on a linguistic basis, this district came under Andhra Pradesh. Nellore played a major role in the formation of Andhra Pradesh state. Potti Sriramulu, a Telugu patriot and activist, fasted to death for the formation of Andhra Pradhesh state. His sacrifice resulted in the creation of linguistic based states in Indian Union.
Nellore people participated in Indian Independence movement and also in fight for formation of separate state for Telugu people. Notable freedom fighters are Muttharaju Gopalarao and Potti Sriramulu. People of Nellore district have vivid interest in politics. It produced two former chief ministers of state, Dr Bezawada Gopala Reddy and Nedurumalli Janardhana Reddy. The main political parties of the district are Congress and Telugu Desam party. Communist parties of India also have more followers compared to the neighboring districts like Kadapa and Ongole. Puchalapalli Sundaraiah, the great communist who dedicated his life and properties for poor practiced communism here.
There are many patrons for the causes of district. Notable among them is Rebala Laxminarasa Reddy, who donated the town hall and pediatric hospital and Venkata Giri Raja, who constructed first college in the Nellore.
In 1970, part of Sri Amarajeevi Potti Sri Ramulu Nellore district was split off to become part of Prakasam district.
Geography
GeographyThe district lies between 13 30’ and 15 6’ of Northern latitude and 70 5’ and 80 15’ of Eastern latitude. Nellore’s total land area is 13,076 square kilometers (8,761) sq. miles. It is bordered by the Bay of Bengal to the east, the state of Tamil Nadu to the South, the district of Cuddapah, and the district of Prakasam to the north. The eastern side consists of area of low lying land extending from the base of the Eastern Ghats to the sea. The west side of the district is separated from Cuddapah district by Veligonda hills. The district is split by the River Pennar and is located on both south and north banks of it.
Sri Amarajeevi Potti Sri Ramulu Nellore district occupies an area of 13,076 square kilometres (5,049 sq mi), comparatively equivalent to the Phillippines’ Negros Island.[5] It has an average elevation of 19 metres (62 feet).
About the half of the total area is cultivated and the rest is wasteland[6] because of it is rocky land, sandy coastline or covered with scrub jungles. Pennar, Swarnamukhi and Gundlakamma are the main rivers that flow through the most of the district. They are not navigable, and are mainly used for irrigation purposes. Tributaries to Penna like Kandaleru and Boggeru serve the remaining area.
This area is rich in particular kind of flint called quartzite, out of which the prehistoric man made his weapons and implements.
Climate
Winter: January and February
Summer: March to May
South West Monsoons – June to September
North East Monsoons – October to December
The maximum temperature is 36-46c during summer and the minimum temperature is 23-25c during winter. The rainfall ranges from 700–1000 mm through South West and North East Monsoons. Nellore is subject both to droughts and to floods based on the seasons.
Agriculture
Nellore is also famous for quality rice production and aqua (prawn and fish) culture. Nellore district is called the “Shrimp capital of India” due to its high production of cultured shrimp. About 70 percent of the total work force is dependent upon agriculture either as farmers or as agricultural labour. The main crops are rice paddy and sugar cane. It is particularly famous for a rice breed called “Molagolukulu”. Other crops are cotton, lemon and oil seeds (like peanuts) and horticultural seeds.
A dam is located at Somasila across the Pennar River as it flows through the narrow Velikonda Hills. Another dam is located at Gandipalem across a tributary of Pennar. They support irrigation for many villages.