Nalgonda is a city and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...

. It is the headquarters of the Nalgonda district, as well as the headquarters of the Nalgonda

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 ...

in the Nalgonda

revenue division A sub-division is an administrative division of a List of districts in India, district in India. In some states (Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala) they are called Revenue Divisions. It is headed by a sub-divisional magistrate (also ...

. It is located about from the state capital

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

Etymology

In the past, Nalgonda was referred to as ''Nilagiri''. During the medieval Bahamani kingdom, it was renamed Nalgunda. The name was changed to "Nalgonda" for official uses during the rule of the later Nizam kings.

History

Paleolithic Age

There is archaeological evidence that

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...

people lived in the area that is now Nalgonda, fashioning tools and weapons out of stone. Some of these implements have been found in the Nalgonda area, similar to those discovered at the Sloan archaeological site in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

Neolithic Age

Traces of

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

culture were found at Chota Yelupu, where sling stones and other contemporary objects were excavated. Evidence of

Megalithic A megalith is a large Rock (geology), stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. More than 35,000 megalithic structures have been identified across Europe, ranging ...

culture was also found via the discovery of innumerable burials at various places around Nalgonda.

The Mauryas and Satavahanas (230 BC – 218 BC)

The political history of the Nalgonda district commences with the Mauryas. During the reign of

Ashoka Ashoka, also known as Asoka or Aśoka ( ; , ; – 232 BCE), and popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was List of Mauryan emperors, Emperor of Magadha from until #Death, his death in 232 BCE, and the third ruler from the Mauryan dynast ...

the Great, the Mauryas maintained control over the Nalgonda region. Later, the Satavahanas, who ruled between 230 BC and 218 BC, took control of the area. During this period, the region established trade contacts with the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

Ikshvakus (227 AD – 306 AD)

In 227 AD, the

Ikshvaku dynasty The Solar dynasty or (; ), also called the Ikshvaku dynasty, is a legendary Indian dynasty said to have been founded by Ikshvaku. In Hindu literature, it ruled the Kosala Kingdom, with its capital at Ayodhya, and later at Shravasti. They ...

took control of the region. During this period, members of various

Saka The Saka, Old Chinese, old , Pinyin, mod. , ), Shaka (Sanskrit (Brāhmī): , , ; Sanskrit (Devanāgarī): , ), or Sacae (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples, Eastern Iranian peoples who lived in the Eurasian ...

tribes migrated to the area.

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

flourished during this time.

Invasion of Samudragupta

After the Ikshvakus, the

Pallava The Pallava dynasty existed from 275 CE to 897 CE, ruling a significant portion of South India, the Deccan, also known as Tondaimandalam. The Pallavas played a crucial role in shaping in particular southern Indian history and heritage. The ...

s and Yadavas fought for supremacy over the region. However, after Samudragupta (c. 335 AD – c. 375 AD) invaded and conquered most of India, the area fell under the control of his

Gupta Empire The Gupta Empire was an Indian empire during the classical period of the Indian subcontinent which existed from the mid 3rd century to mid 6th century CE. At its zenith, the dynasty ruled over an empire that spanned much of the northern Indian ...

. The Empire fell in the 6th century.

The Chalukyas and Rashtrakutas

Starting in the 6th century, the

Chalukya dynasty The Chalukya dynasty () was a Classical Indian dynasty that ruled large parts of south India, southern and central India between the 6th and the 12th centuries. During this period, they ruled as three related yet individual dynasties. The ear ...

ruled the modern-day Nalgonda region, as well as much of southern and central India. A major portion of the Nalgonda area appears to have passed from the Chalukyas of Badami to the Rashtrakutas. However, the Rashtrakutas fell in 973, and power shifted to the Chalukyas of Kalyani. The Chalukyas continued to rule the area until the end of the 12th century.

Medieval period

During the medieval era, the

Kakatiya dynasty The Kakatiya dynasty (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: Kākatīya) was a Andhras, Telugu dynasty that ruled most of eastern Deccan Plateau, Deccan region in present-day India between 12th and 14th centuries. Their ter ...

took control of the region from the western Chalukyas. During the reign of Prataparudra II, in 1323, the kingdom was

annexed Annexation, in international law, is the forcible acquisition and assertion of legal title over one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. In current international law, it is generally held to ...

to the Tughluq Empire. When

Muhammad bin Tughluq Muhammad bin Tughluq (; ; 1290 – 20 March 1351), or Muhammad II, also named Jauna Khan as Crown Prince, further known by his epithets, The Eccentric Prince, or The Mad Sultan, was the eighteenth Sultan of Delhi. He reigned from 4 February 1 ...

ruled (around 1324–1351), Musunuri chief Kapayanayaka ceded a part of Nalgonda to Ala-ud-din Hasan Bahman Shah of the Bahmani Sultanate. He annexed the region to the Bahmani Kingdom. In 1455, Jalal Khan he declared himself king at Nalgonda, but this was short-lived. He was quickly defeated and the region brought back to the Bahmani Kingdom. During the time of the Bahmani Sultan Shihabud-din Mahmun, Sultan Quli was appointed as tarafdar of the

region (now the state of Telangana). Quli's son, Jamshid, took control of the region from his father. Later, Qutub Shahis took control of the region, and maintained it until 1687.

Modern period: Mughals and Asaf Jahis

Nizam-ul-Mulk ( Asaf Jah I) defeated Mubasiz Khan at Shaker Khere in Berar and ruled the Deccan autonomously. This district, like the other districts of Telangana, was controlled by Asaf Jahis, and remained under their rule for nearly two hundred and twenty-five years.

Geography

Nalgonda is located at . It has an average elevation of .

Climate

Nalgonda has been ranked 2nd best “National Clean Air City” under (Category 3 population under 3 lakhs cities) in India according to 'Swachh Vayu Survekshan 2024 Results'

Demographics

census of India The decennial census of India has been conducted 15 times, as of 2011. While it has been undertaken every 10 years, beginning in 1872 under Viceroy Lord Mayo, the first complete census was taken in 1872. Post 1949, it has been conducted by the R ...

, Nalgonda had a population of 135,744; of which 67,971 are male and 67,773 are female. An average of 86.83% city population were literate; where 92.91% of them were male and 80.78% were female literates.

Governance

The municipality of Nalgonda was categorized as a "Grade-III municipality" when it was first created in 1941. It is now a "Special Grade Municipality." Nalgonda's jurisdictional area is spread over . Its population is distributed over an area of , which includes residents of the municipality Nalgonda, the rural areas of Panagallu, Gollaguda, Cherlapalli, Arjalabhavi, Gandhamvarigudam, and Marriguda.

Economy

Nalgonda is being developed as part of KTR mantra of 3-D, Digitise, Decarbonize and Decentralize. As such it has an IT Tower.

Transport

The city is connected to major cities and towns by means of road and railways. National and

state highways A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either Route number, numbered or maintained by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered ...

that pass through the city are National Highway 565, State highway 2 and 18. Also National Highway 65 (Hyderabad to Vijayawada) passes through Nalgonda District.

Road

TGSRTC operates buses from Nalgonda to various destinations in

state.

Railway

Nalgonda railway station provides rail connectivity to the city. It is classified as a ''B–category'' station in Guntur railway division of the

South Central Railway zone South Central Railway (abbreviated SCR) is one of the 19 zones of Indian Railways. The jurisdiction of the zone is spread over the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka. It has three divisions under its administration, wh ...

and is located on the Pagidipalli-Nallapadu section of the division.

Attractions

Nalgonda contains several religious sites, including Maruthi Mandir and Kolanupaka Temple, a Jain shrine. Other attractions include the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, a Gowthama Buddha Museum, and the Bhuvanangiri Fort, built by Tribhuvanamalla Vikramaditya VI, panagallu someswara temple and many masjid built by Alamgir in and around the district.

Education

As district headquarters, Nalgonda serves as a hub for primary and secondary education for surrounding villages. Nalgonda has many primary and upper primary schools, offering instruction in Telugu,

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

, and English. It also contains a number of colleges specializing in engineering, medicine, pharmacy, and sciences, as well as vocational colleges. There are also many state government-operated schools and colleges in the city, such as Nagarjuna Government Degree college. * Kamineni Institute of Medical Sciences * Mahatma Gandhi University, Nalgonda * Government Medical College, Nalgonda

References

External links

Nalgonda Municipality
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Nalgonda district Municipalities of Telangana District headquarters of Telangana Cities in Telangana