My City My Pride

My city My pride Vijayawada General Information A CITY OF MYSTERIOUS CHARM Vijayawada is a City with a hoary past. According to historians and archaeologists, there must have existed a very great city long ago on the very site of the present city of Vijayawada and its surroundings. Huan Tsang, the well-known Chinese traveler visited this place in 639 A.D. and wrote about an Andhra King having bored a hole in the hill to enable the river to pass through. According to Digavalli V.Siva Rao, an Advocate of this place endowed with rare spirit of enquiry and research into the past, the discovery of coins of Satavahana kings in and around Vijayawada and a Roman Coin having been actually picked up there by Mr. Rea in 1888, clearly show that trade and commerce flourished in and around Vijayawada even before the Christian era. Subsequently it grew in importance as a Buddhist Centre. Numerous Buddhist remains and the caves of the Vishnu Kundin period (305 – 610) show that Vijayawada was a Cultural and religious centre of those times. “Emperor Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagaram Visited this place more than once and the inscription near the Kanaka Durga Temple Shows that he had also made endowments. Akkanna and Madanna of Golconda are believed to have built a hall here in honor of the Goddess. The French traveler Tavernier passed through the city in the 17th century and elaborately described the shrine and the structure.”

The city, which was known as Bezawada till we attained independence, has some interesting legends around the name. According to one legend, when the river Krishna reached Indrikiladri, the abode of Kanaka Durga, the river prayed to the Goddess to give it just as much space as that of the ‘Eye of a needle’ (Bezzam) so that it could continue its flow towards the sea. The Goddess, being Pleased, made a Portion of the hillock move away to allow the river’s Passage and so the Place came to be Known as ‘Bezzam Wada’ which later changed into ‘Bezawada’ According to another legend, Arjuna (Vijaya) came to ‘Indrikiladri’ to do penance during the Pandavas’ exile, to acquire Pasupatestra from Lord Shiva and succeeded in his efforts, Thus it came to be known as ‘Vijayawatika’ or ‘Vijayawada’.

It is the perennial river ‘Krishnaveni’ and the Presiding deity ‘Kanaka Durga which made this area a hallowed place of great religious importance. It has become an important pilgrim centre and for the devout, a dip in the sacred river and darshn of Kanaka Durga are a ‘must’ for washing off their sins and embarking upon a new life of purity and piety.

Coming to the recent times it is the advent of the East India company which has marked the beginnings of a new chapter in the history of the city, Machilipatnam, a port town, was the head quarter of the British from where they controlled of tidal wave which took a heavy toll of life in 1887, it shifted to Madras and after that gradually Machilipatnam lost its importance and Vijayawada took its place. Its importance increased with the construction of Rail Bridge across the river in 1892 and the Vijayawada railway junction became an important link between the north and the south. The construction of the Krishna Anicut in 1855 by one Mr. ORR, under the supervision of the celebrated Sir Arthur Cotton is an important land mark in the development of the city. This provided to be a boon to farmers of five lakh acres of the eastern and Western deltas of the river. A hillock near the Indrikiladri was named after the great Engineer as ‘Orr hill’ to commemorate his services. The same is now called ‘Gandhi Hill’ after a memorial column was erected in 1968, one of the six in the Country, by the national Gandhi memorial Trust. There are three irrigation Canals Eluru, Rives and Bandar coursing through the City on the left side of the Anicut and has earned the title ‘Venice of the East’ because of them. With the City growing in importance because of its location advantages and other factors, the establishment of Municipal Council in 1888 on the first of April was a development quite on the expected lines. For seven years, the assistant collectors themselves functioned as chairmen and the first fullfledged Chairman was Mr. L.M Wynch. For the next 23 years there were only nominated chairmen and the first Indian to be nominated was Rao Bahadar Singaraju Lingaraju Pantulu in 1885. The first elected Chairman was Mr. D.V. Hanumantha Rao who was also a nominated Chairman once prior to his election. Politically, Vijayawada has always been in the forefront, be it freedom struggle or agitation for a steel plant or a separate state or something else. The first AICC session in the state was held here in 1921 and it was at this session the city made history when the Tricolor flag with a spinning wheel in the centre, designed by Pingali Venkaiah, a great Patriot was accepted by Mahatma Gandhi as the congress flag which was subsequently adopted as national flag with slight changes after we attained independence, The stalwarts of freedom-movement like Mr. Pattabhi Seetha Ramaiah, Tanguturi Prakassam Duggirala Gopalakrishnaiah Ayyadevara Kaleswar Rao, Konda venkatappaiah, Gottipati Bahmiah and N.G. Ranga made this city as the base from where they operated. It also provided shelter for the leaders of the erstwhile Hyderabad state when they were fighting with the Nizam for the merger of that state with the Indian Union Swami Ramanada Tirtha, Burgula Ramakrishan Rao, P.V. Narasimha Rao, V.B. Raju, M. Chenna Reddi and Hayagrivachari were helped in their struggle by he people here when Razakars under the leadership of Kasim Razvi unleashed a rig of terror in that state, men and material were supplied from her and that paved the way for liberating the state from the clutches of Nizam. In 1952 when Potti Sreeramulu immolated him self for the formation of separate state for Andhras, the City was in flames and the agitation which spread to all other parts of the State brought the leadership in Delhi to its senses to concede the long-standing demand of the Andhras for state of their own. The birth of Andhra state in October 1953 was the forerunner of the division of the Country on linguistic basis. That subsequent developments in the Country often make the right – thinking people even question the wisdom of that decision is a different matter and the less we talk about it now the better lest the whole country should blame us as being responsible for all that is happening now between one state and another for some-thing or the other. When Andhra State was formed in 1953, it was almost taken for granted that Vijayawada would become the capital of the new State. Kurnool was chosen by the manipulation of some vested interests and that proved to be a very costly mistake. If Vijayawada was chosen in 1953, there would have been no glamour for Hyderabad as the capital of enlarged state in 1956, and Vijayawada would have registered a tremendous growth during these 35 years because of its location and other innumerable advantages. The tow agitations which rocked the state and impeded its progress wouldn’t have been there probably and the Vijayawada City would have been an ideal capital of the state. The tragedy of Andhras having a capital in which the ‘Lingua Franca’ is not the widely spoken Telugu would have been probably averted. No other state in the Country is in such an unenviable position in this respect as ours.

Vijayawada occupies a prominent place in the country as a stronghold of the communist party. Stalwarts like P. Sundaraiah, Chandra Rajeswara Rao and M. Basava Punnaiah who played significant role on the national arena made this their home town and built up the party as a force to reckon with in these parts. In the first General elections held in 1952, a rank outsider and an actor-poet in his own right, Harindranath Chattopadhya was elected from here to the Parliament with the support of communists. The city had another distinction of sending to the Parliament, well-known Engineer – Administrator, Dr. K.L. Rao unopposed. He was the only M.P. from here to become a Minister at the centre. Mr. Godey Murahari another outsider was elected from here and he held the office of the Deputy speaker. The same Dr. K.L. Rao was later defeated at the hands of a new-comer into Politics, Smt. Chennupati Vidya and that was his own making as at that time he was not in perfect mental or physical health and the people were not at all to be blamed for his defeat. Educationally, Vijayawada was lagging behind much smaller places for a long time. Lt started well when Andhra University was inaugurated here way back in 1928 but it was shifted shortly afterwards to Visakhapatnam as its first vice – chancellor, Dr. C.R. Reddy, one of the brightest intellects of Andhra felt that there was no conducive atmosphere here for its growth. After that the city had to wait for nearly a decade for the establishment of a mere second grade college with only Intermediate classes, not by the local people but by the munificence of Nuzvid Zamindars. Thus SRR College came into existence in 1937 in a rented building. It was upgraded to a Degree college in 1949 with B.A. (Math’s) and B. Com. Classes and B.Sc., was introduced in 1952. Till then the students were commuting to Guntur for their studies. The second College, Andhra Loyola College was started here in 1954 and the first Women’s college took its birth here a little later in 1962. During the sixties, only two more colleges, KBN College and Satavahana College were added. There had been very little progress as far as educational facilities were concerned till 1975 when the City took a great leap forward with the inauguration of Siddhartha Academy of General and Technical Education under the Chairmanship of Dr. Pinnamanneni Venkateswara Rao on 12th August 1975 P.B. Arts and Science College was their first institution and after that there had been no looking back. It has grown from strength to strength, adding one institution after another in quick succession. A public school, an Engineering College, a Medical College of Education and a Women’s college were their contribution to the City within a decade of their starting. Now added to the list a law college and a Residential Public School and many more are in the pipeline. At the school level besides the Municipal and SKPVV Hindu Schools there was a good school for girls, Bishop Azaraiah High School. In 1950 Dr Atchamamba and Mr. Gottipati Venkateswara Rao established children’s Montessori School and it has now grown into a huge Educational complex for women up to PG Classes Vijayawada Municipality had only 38 schools in 1940 and now it has more than a hundred schools under its management. Besides a large number of degree and Junior Colleges which came into existence during the last decade, several private residential institutions have also been started here and they have been attracting students from far off places. Dr. Nori Rama Sastry Ayurvedic College (1922), Govt. Polytechnic (1956), and Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao College of Music and Dance (1960), are other prominent institution in the City catering to the needs of the people in different disciplines. The Andhra Academy of Arts recognized by both the Central and State Lalit Kala Academy conducts art course and it has a Fine Art Gallery where Art exhibitions of well-known and upcoming artists are periodically arranged. There are 18 music and dance training institutions and nearly 15 cultural organizations patronizing and fostering talent and the most prominent among them are Kanaka Durga Kala Samiti (1950) and Tyagaraja Sangeeta Sabha and Sadguru Sangeeta Sabha.

Vijayawada is second to none in the state in encouraging sports activities. As far back as 1912, Andhra Gymkhana was stated by a few sports lovers of this place by putting up a Tennis court on a land leased out to them by the Municipality. It has done pioneering work in putting the City on the sports map of India and it has carved a niche for itself by organizing East Coast Tennis Championships and other events at the state and national level. Sri. M. Janakiramaiah and Sri S. Bhujanga Rao brought laurels to the city by winning All India Doubles Title. With the Municipal Corporation Putting up Indira Gandhi Out-Door Stadium and Dandamudi Rajagopala Rao Indoor Stadium, the sports activities have now been shifted to these fine stadium and they are always full of players making the fullest use of these facilities in the city.