guntur district guntur district guntur district is one of the twenty six districts in the coastal andhra region of the indian state of andhra pradesh. the administrative seat of the district is located at guntur, the largest city of the district in terms of area and with a population of 670,073. it has a coastline of approximately 100 km (62 mi) on the right bank of krishna river, that separates it from krishna district and ntr district. it is bounded on the south by bapatla district and on the west by palnadu district. it has an area of 2,443 km2 (943 sq mi) and with a population of 20,91,075 as per 2011 census of india. guntur districtdistrict of andhra pradeshclockwise from top-left: lakshmi narasimha temple in mangalagiri, annamayya library, vaikuntapuram temple in tenali, chuttugunta centre in guntur, flyover in pedavadlapudilocation of guntur district in andhra pradeshcoordinates (guntur): 16°18′n 80°27′ecountry indiastateandhra pradeshregioncoastal andhraheadquartersgunturmandals18government • district collectorsri m.venu gopal reddy, ias • lok sabha constituenciesguntur • mpgalla jayadev • assembly constituencies07area • total2,443 km2 (943 sq mi) • urban130.3 km2 (50.3 sq mi)population (2011) • total2,091,075 • density860/km2 (2,200/sq mi) • urban1,012,331demographics • literacy67.40% • sex ratio1003vehicle registrationap-07 (former) ap39 (from 30 january 2019)major highwaysnh-16websiteguntur.ap.gov.in the district is often referred to as the land of chillies. it is also a major centre for agriculture, education and learning. it exports large quantities of chillies and tobacco. etymology the district derives its name from its district headquarters, guntur. there are several opinions on the meaning and origin of the word guntur. the word owes its origin to words like gundu (a rock), gunta (a pond) and kunta (1/3 of an acre). in sanskrit guntur is called garthapuri (guntlapuri). the earliest reference to guntur, a variant of guntur, comes from the idern plates of ammaraja i (922-929 ad) of the chalukyas of vengi. guntur also appears in another two inscriptions dated 1147 ad and 1158 ad. history historical populationyearpop.±% p.a.19011,133,968— 19111,299,257+1.37%19211,385,050+0.64%19311,563,095+1.22%19411,755,986+1.17%19511,975,395+1.18%19612,327,246+1.65%19712,844,488+2.03%19813,434,724+1.90%19914,106,999+1.80%20014,465,144+0.84%20114,887,813+0.91%source:the original sanskrit name (ancient vedic culture) for guntur was garthapuri. the 'agasthyeswara sivalayam' in the old city of guntur is an ancient temple for siva. it has inscriptions on two stones in 'naga lipi' (ancient script). it is said that agastya built the temple in the last treta yuga around the swayambhu linga and hence the name. the 'nagas' were said to have ruled the region. the place of sitanagaram and the guthikonda caves can be traced (through vedic puranas) back to the traditional timescale treta yuga and dvapara yuga. guntur district is home to the second oldest evidence of human habitation in india, in the form of palaeolithic (old stone age) implements. ancient history can be traced from the time of sala kings who ruled during the 5th century bce. the earliest reference to guntur, a variant of guntur, comes from the idern plates of ammaraja i (922–929 ce), the vengi chalukyan king. guntur also appears in two inscriptions dated 1147 and 1158 ce. brahmi script inscribed on a railing pillar at velpurusince the beginning of buddhist time, guntur stood in the forefront in matters of culture, education and civilisation. gautama buddha preached at dharanikota/dhanyakatakam near guntur and conducted kalachakra ceremony, which takes its antiquity to 500 bce. taranatha, a buddhist monk writes: "on the full moon of the month chaitra in the year following his enlightenment, at the great stupa of dhanyakataka, the buddha emanated the mandala of "the glorious lunar mansions" (kalachakra). buddhists established universities in ancient times at dhanyakataka and amaravathi. scores of buddhist stupas were excavated in the villages of guntur district. acharya nagarjuna, an influential buddhist philosopher taught at nagarjunakonda and is said to have discovered mica in 200 bce. chinese traveller and buddhist monk hiuen tsang (xuanzang) visited amaravati in 640 c.e., stayed for sometime and studied 'abhidhammapitakam'. he observed that there were many viharas and some of them were deserted, which points out that hinduism was gaining ground at that time. xuanzang wrote a glorious account of the place, viharas and monasteries that existed. guntur was successively ruled by famous dynasties such as the satavahanas, andhra ikshvakus, pallavas, ananda gotrikas, vishnukundina, kota vamsa, chalukyas, cholas, kakatiyas, musunuris, reddys, vijayanagara and qutb shahis during ancient and medieval times. the famous battle of palnadu which is enshrined in legend and literature as palnati yuddham was fought in guntur district in 1180 ce. qutb shahis, nizams and later during the 16th century guntur became part of the mughal empire. in 1687 ce when the emperor aurangzeb conquered the qutb shahi sultanate of golconda, of which guntur was then a part. in 1724 ce, asaf jah, viceroy of the empire's southern provinces, declared his independence as the nizam of hyderabad. the coastal districts of hyderabad, known as the northern circars, were occupied by the french in 1750. during this time, the manur rao family of deshastha brahmin community, the vasireddi family of kamma community and the manik rao family of velama community were prominent zamindar families in the present day guntur district. the manur rao family were rulers of chilakaluripet zamindari and sattenapalle zamindari, the vasireddi family were rulers of amaravathi zamindari and the manik rao family were the rulers of repalle zamindari. post independence the guntur region played a significant role in the struggle for independence and the formation of andhra pradesh. the northern, telugu- speaking districts of madras state, including guntur, advocated to become a separate state after independence. the new state of andhra region named andhra state, was created in 1953 from the eleven northern districts of madras state. in 1970, part of guntur district was split off to become part of the prakasam district. the district suffers from naxalite insurgency and is a part of the red corridor. geography guntur coast by nasa guntur district occupies an area of approximately 2,443 square kilometres (943 sq mi), the krishna river forms the northeastern and eastern boundary of the district, separating it from krishna district. the district is bounded on the southeast by the bay of bengal, on the south by bapatla district, on the west by palnadu district and on the northwest by ntr district and north east krishna district. guntur coast is located on the south east coast of india (also known as the coromandel coast) (quotes from nasa site). krishna river merges into bay of bengal at the coastal area of guntur district. the braided stream channels, broad floodplain, and extensive sandbars suggest that this part of the krishna river flows through relatively flat terrain and carries substantial amounts of sediment, especially during the monsoon season. suryalanka beach near bapatla, bobbarrlanka in repalle, nizampatnam beach in nizampatnam are tourist beaches in guntur coastline. demographics religions in guntur district (2011) religion percent hinduism 83.94% islam 13.37% christianity 2.21% other or not stated 0.48% distribution of religions as of 2011 census of india, the district had a population of 4,887,813 with a density of 193 inhabitants per square kilometre (500/sq mi). the total population constitute, 2,440,521 males and 2,447,292 females – a sex ratio of 1003 females per 1000 males. the total urban population is 16,52,738 (33.81%).: 19 there are 29,60,441 literates with a literacy rate of 67.40%. after bifurcation the district had a population of 20,91,075, of which 1,072,544 (51.29%) lived in urban areas. guntur district had a sex ratio of 1007 females to 1000 males. scheduled castes and scheduled tribes make up 4,21,861 (20.17%) and 69,017 (3.30%) of the population respectively.: 77–82 languages of guntur district (2011) telugu (86.14%) urdu (12.32%) others (1.54%) at the time of the 2011 census, 86.14% of the population spoke telugu and 12.32% urdu as their first language. administrative setup collectorate the collectorate play a pivotal role in the district administration. collector in the cadre of ias heads the district. he acts as the district magistrate for maintaining law and order in his jurisdiction. he deals mainly with planning and development. law and order, scheduled areas/ agency areas, general elections, arms licensing etc. the joint collector, who also belongs to the ias cadre, runs the revenue administration under various enactments in the district. he is also designated as additional district magistrate. he mainly deals with civil supplies,land matters, mines and minerals,village officers etc. the district revenue officer (dro), in the cadre of special grade deputy collectors, assists the collector and joint collector in discharging their duties. the district revenue officer looks after all the branches of the collectorate. he deals mainly with general administration and is vested with supervision of day-to-day functions of the collectorate. the administrative officer in the rank of a tahsildar is the general assistant to the collector. he directly supervises all the sections in the collectorate and most of the files are routed through him. the collectorate is divided into 8 sections as per the administrative reforms taken up by the government of andhra pradesh. section a:: deals with establishment and office procedures section b:: deals with accounts and audit section c:: deals with magisterial (court/legal) matters. section d:: deals with land revenue and relief section e:: deals with land administration section f:: deals with land reforms section g:: deals with land acquisition section h:: deals with protocol, elections and residual work. administrative divisions the district is divided into two revenue divisions, namely, guntur, tenali. these are sub-divided into 18 mandals, which are in turn divided as 57 panchayat samiti (block)s, 712 villages and 16 towns. these 16 towns includes, 2 municipal corporation, 2 municipalities and 1 census town. gurazala revenue division was newly formed in the year 2013. guntur city is the one municipal corporation and district headquarter mangalagiri tadepalli municipal corporation is the second municipal corporation in guntur district. vaddeswaram is categorised as a census town. the 2 municipalities in the district are tenali, ponnur. politics parliament segment guntur lok sabha constituency assembly segments guntur constituency presently comprises the following legislative assembly segments: constituency number name reserved for(sc/st/none) parliament 86 tadikonda sc guntur lok sabha constituency 87 mangalagiri none guntur lok sabha constituency 88 ponnur none guntur lok sabha constituency 91 tenali none guntur lok sabha constituency 93 prathipadu sc guntur lok sabha constituency 94 guntur west none guntur lok sabha constituency 95 guntur east none guntur lok sabha constituency mandals satellite view of guntur district mandals the below table categorises the 18 mandals into their respective revenue divisions in the district: guntur revenue division guntur east guntur west medikonduru pedakakani pedanandipadu phirangipuram prathipadu tadikonda thullur vatticherukuru tenali revenue division mangalagiri tadepalle duggirala kollipara chebrolu kakumanu ponnur tenali cities and towns largest cities or towns in guntur districtas per the 2011 census rank division pop. gunturmangalagiri 1gunturguntur division670,073 tadepalletenali 2mangalagiritenali division207,197 3tadepalletenali division174,937 4tenalitenali division164,937 5ponnurtenali division59,913 6pedakakaniguntur division23,201 7namburuguntur division19,676 8tadikondaguntur division18,505 9kaza, guntur districttenali division11,098 10nutakkitenali division9,743 municipal bodies in guntur district s.no. city / town civic status of town municipality formation year 2011 census population 2001 census population 1991 census population 1981 census population 1971 census population 1961 census population 1951 census population 1 guntur municipal corporation 1866 670,073 514,461 417,051 367,699 2,69,991 1,87,122 1,25,255 2 mangalagiri-tadepalli municipal corporation 2021 300,497 63,349 59,152 46,172 32,850 22,182 17,586 3 tenali municipality grade - special 1912 164,937 153,756 143,726 119,257 102,937 78,525 58,116 4 ponnur municipality grade - 2 1964 59,913 57,640 54,363 50,206 31,463 22,872 17,972 note - dachepalli nagar panchayat includes dachepalli and nadikudi. gurazala nagar panchayat includes gurazala and jangamaheswaram. erstwhile talukas population. s.no town civic status of town 2011 census population 1 prathipadu grama panchayat 14,305 2 tadikonda grama panchayat 18,505 village panchayats guntur district has 1022 gram panchayats covering 58 mandals including seized mandals. panchayat secretaries have been working for the cluster headquarter gram panchayats. the main objective of the panchayat raj department is to provide civic amenities to the rural public. erstwhile talukas before formation of mandals, administration was done through taluka system. guntur district had 8 talukas in 1971, later in 1978 they were increased to 21 talukas. in 1985, mandal system was created and 57 mandals were formed in the district. in 2018, guntur mandal is split into guntur east and guntur west mandals making a total of 58 mandals. in 2022, with 18 mandals new district was formed. s.no. erstwhile talukas in 1971 newly formed talukas in 1978 newly formed mandals in 1985 1 guntur guntur guntur, pedakakani, chebrolu prathipadu prathipadu, vatticherukuru,