Mangalagiri (panakala swami temple)

                           sri lakshmi narasimha swami

                                                         

Mangalagiri is a town in Guntur District of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is one of the 12 municipalities in the district. The town is the headquarters of Mangalagiri mandal and administered under Guntur Revenue Division.It is situated on National Highway 5 between Vijayawada and Guntur.
     

History:

Mangalagiri temple main entranceIt is dated to 1520 and mentions the capture of Kondavidu by Timmarasu, general of Krishna Deva Raya, in 1515 from the Gajapati rulers of Kalinga (ancient Odisha). Another stone near the temple of Garudalvar has inscriptions on four sides recording grants in the reign of Sadasiva Raya of Vijayanagara Empire 1538. The lofty gopuram in the temple at the foot of the hill was erected by Raja Vasireddy Venkatadri Nayudu in 1807-1809, and in terms of sculpture and architecture this temple stands to be an ultimate testament for the ancient vishwakarma sthapathis in planning and sculpting these temples.

Mangalagiri was under the control of Golkonda Nawabs for a long period. It was plundered in 1780 by Hyder Jung but could not be conquered. In 1816, a gang of Pindaris again looted the place. It slowly recovered from these two attacks during the time of Raja Vasireddy Venkatadri Nayudu who ruled the place from Amaravati. There is a big koneru (tank) in the center of the place which went dry in 1882. As many as 9,840 guns and 44 bullets which might have been related to Pindaris have been found here after the Pindaris looted this place.The picturesque hill was visited by the great Sri Krishna Deva Raya.

In the 1970s there was huge water scarcity in Mangalagiri. Goli Gopala Rao, the then municipal chairman of Mangalagiri, brought water to the town through water pipelines and he was called "Apara Baghiratha" due to his services to the public.