Udayagiri is a town in Udayagiri

Mandal A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

in the Nellore district of the state of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

in India.

Geography

Udayagiri is located at . It has an average elevation of 230 meters (757 feet).

History

First known history of the city was from 14th century. It was the capital of local kingdom of Langula Gajapati, chieftain to

Gajapatis The Gajapati Empire or the Suryavamsa (IAST: Sūryavaṃśa, "Solar dynasty") dynasty was a medieval dynasty from the Indian subcontinent, it originated in the region of Trikalinga (most of the present-day Odisha and North coastal Andhra) an ...

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

. It came under rule of

Krishna Deva Raya Krishnadevaraya (17 January 1471 – 17 October 1529) was an emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire, also known as the Karnata Empire, reigning from 1509 to 1529. He was the third monarch of the Tuluva dynasty, and is considered to be one of the g ...

Vijayanagara Vijayanagara () was the capital city of the historic Vijayanagara Empire. Located on the banks of the Tungabhadra River, it spread over a large area and included the modern era Group of Monuments at Hampi site in Vijayanagara district, Bellary ...

around 1512. The Udayagiri fort, constructed by Langula Gajapati was inaccessible on most sides. It could be only penetrated only by a jungle track in the east side and a pathway on the west side. The siege by

lasted for 18 months and resulted in defeat for

Prataparudra Deva Prataparudra Deva (Odia: ଗଜପତି ପ୍ରତାପରୁଦ୍ର ଦେବ) was the third Gajapati emperor of Odisha from the Suryavamsa Gajapati Empire started by his grandfather Kapilendra Deva Routaraya. He ruled from the year 149 ...

of the

. During the reign of

and the

Vijayanagara Empire The Vijayanagara Empire, also called the Karnata Kingdom, was a Hinduism, Hindu empire based in the region of South India, which consisted the modern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and some parts of Telangana an ...

, the fort was extended. The entire city and the surrounding hill of 1000 feet height were encircled with walls. The fort consisted of thirteen buildings, with eight of them on the hill and five below. It also consisted of several beautiful temples and gardens. After the fall of the

, it was ruled by sultan Ahamed Proxy of Abdullah Arafath.The mosque on top of the hill has two Persian inscriptions that credits the construction of the mosque and the planting a nearby garden to Then it came under the rule of Abdullah Arafath in 1682,His descendants controlled it till 1859. It was formerly a place of immense importance. The walls which once encircled the town have almost entirely disappeared, but much of the fortifications on the neighbouring hill to the west still remains. The fort originally consisted of thirteen separate strongholds, eight on the hill and five below. Inside the walls are the ancient remains of tombs, temples, and palaces. A part of the hill is so precipitous and thus inaccessible, the cliffs being in places nearly 1,000 feet high, and every path up to the fort was commanded by lines of defence forces. Other structures include Chinna Masjid and Pedda Masjid. A great Sufi saint belonging to the 18th century, Rahamathulla Nayab Rasool, got absorbed in the higher-self here. Every year the Sandal Festival is celebrated on the 26th of the Rabi-Ul-Aval month. Mahaboob subhani sandal s also celebrated every year. Demographics This town is known as "Nawabi Adda", as this was ruled by the Nawabs and the Muslim population is very high in this town. The town people mostly follow

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

and

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

religions. Languages spoken are

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Udayagiri Assembly constituency''
Udayagiri is an assembly constituency in Andhra Pradesh. As of 1999, there are 1,58,292 registered voters in Udayagiri constituency. And the leading mandals are Vinjamur, Duttalur, Sitarama Puram, Kaligiri, Jaladanki and Varikuntapadu. Mr

Venkaiah Naidu Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu (born 1 July 1949) is an Indian politician who served as the 13th vice president of India from 2017 to 2022. He is the first Indian vice president born in independent India. He has also served as the minister of Housi ...

, now vice president of India had been elected as MLA of Udayagiri when he first entered politics. In 2014 elections Bollineni Venkata Ramarao from TDP elected as MLA.

References

External links

Udayagiri at Digital south asia library
{{Nellore district Towns in Nellore district Forts in Andhra Pradesh