visakhapatnam: History

According to the history, the city was named after the god of ‘Valor-Vishakha’. It was a part of the Kalinga Kingdom, under Ashoka’s rule in 260 B.C. It passed on later to the Andhra Kings of ‘Vengi’. After this Pallava, Chola and Ganga dynasties ruled the city. This region, formerly part of the great Kalinga empire that stretched up to the river Godavari, has also been mentioned in Hindu and Buddhist texts from the 5th and 6th centuries BCE, as well as by Sanskrit grammarians Panini and Katyayana in the 4th century BCE.This city was ruled by several dynasties including famous Kalingas during 7th century, Chankya’s during 8th century, Rajahmundry Reddy kings, Cholas, Golkonda Nawabs etc., Archaeological sources, however, reveal that the temple was possibly built between the 11th and 12th centuries AD by the Chola king, Kulottunga.

Local legend says that an Andhra king (9-11th century) on his way to Benares rested there. So enchanted was he with the sheer beauty of the place that he ordered a temple to be built in honour of his family deity, Visakha. A shipping merchant, Sankarayya Chetty, built one of the mandapams, or pillared halls of the temple. Though it no longer exists - it may have been washed away about 100 years ago by a cyclonic storm - elderly residents of Vizag talk of visits to the ancient shrine by their grandparents.The antiquity of the region is evident in its mention in the Ramayana and Mahabharata. The former tells of the forests through which Rama travelled in search of his abducted wife, and where he met his devotee, Shabari, who directed him to the mountains where Hanuman lived. Rama also met Jambavan, a bear man, who helped him in his battle with Ravana.

It was here, too, that Bheema defeated the demon Bakasura - the Pandava’s huge stone club can be seen in the village of Uppalam, 40 kms away.In the 18th century, visakhapatnam was part of the Northern Circars, a region of Coastal Andhra that came first under French control and later that of the British. visakhapatnam became a district in the Madras Presidency of British India. After Independence this was the biggest district in the country, which was then divided into three districts viz. Srikakulam, Vijayanagaram and visakhapatnam.