Jami (pronounced Jaami) is a village and a

mandal A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administrative c ...

Vizianagaram district Vizianagaram district is one of the six districts in the Uttarandhra region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Andhra Pradesh with its headquarters located at Vizianagaram. The district was once the part of ancient Ka ...

in the state of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

in India.

History

According to legend, the

Pandava The Pandavas (Sanskrit: पाण्डव, aɳɖɐʋᵊ IAST: Pāṇḍava) is a group name referring to the five legendary brothers, Yudhishtira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva, who are central figures of the Hindu epic ''Mahabhara ...

s of

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...

fame concealed their weapons on a "Jammi" tree (''Shami Vruksha '') before embarking on the final year of their fourteen years of banishment into the forests during which period they have to remain incognito (Agnathavasam). During their stay, King Dharmaraja and his mother Kunthi Devi sanctified the idols of Sri Tripurantaka Swamy and Sri Janardhana Swamy, at this place. About five hundred years ago the local people unearthed an idol of Sri Madhava Swamy while quarrying for sandstone on the nearby rocky knoll. They installed it in between the earlier two temples and built a third temple named after Sri Venugopalaswamy (another name of Lord

Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...

). The twin Jammi trees at the Tripurtantaka Swamy temple are considered to be holy and have miraculous healing properties. The temple is in existence at least for a thousand years as per the stone inscription on site. Modern day

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

s have estimated that the Shivalinga extends more than 179 feet deep into the earth. No wonder it is called a "Swayambhu Linga". Pilgrims from the north coastal districts of

come here during the holy month of ''Karthik'' for the ritual ''Pujas''.

Geography

Jami is located at on the bank of the river Gosthani which has its origin in the limestone caves of Borra in the

Eastern Ghats The Eastern Ghats is a mountain range that stretches along the East Coast of India, eastern coast of the Indian peninsula. Covering an area of , it traverses the states and union territories of India, states of Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Prade ...

. It has an average elevation of 46 meters (154 feet).

Demography

Jami Mandal has a population of 58,112 in 2001. Males constitute 29,170 and females 28,942 of the population. The average literacy rate is 51%, much below the national average of 59.5%. Male literacy rate is 63% and that of females 39%. Two public sector banks SBI and APGVB are having branches to serve public at Jami.

Assembly constituency

Jami was an assembly constituency in 1967 and 1972 elections. The elected members were: *Gorrepati Buchi Appa Rao, 1967. *Uppalapati Appala Suryanarayana Raju, 1972.

References

{{Mandal headquarters in Vizianagaram district Villages in Vizianagaram district