Vizianagaram district

Mandals

The below table categorises 34 mandals into their respective revenue divisions in the district:^[23]

#	Vizianagaram Division	Parvathipuram Division
1	Bhogapuram	Badangi
2	Bondapalli	Balijipeta
3	Cheepurupalle	Bobbili
4	Dattirajeru	Garugubilli
5	Denkada	Gummalaxmipuram
6	Gajapathinagaram	Jiyyammavalasa
7	Gantyada	Komarada
8	Garividi	Kurupam
9	Gurla	Makkuva
10	Jami	Pachipenta
11	Kothavalasa	Parvathipuram
12	Lakkavarapukota	Ramabhadrapuram
13	Mentada	Salur
14	Merakamudidam	Seethanagaram
15	Nellimarla	Therlam
16	Pusapatirega
17	Srungavarapukota
18	Vepada
19	Vizianagaram

Politics

There are 9 assembly 3 parliamentary constituencies in Vizianagaram district. The parliamentary constituencies includes Visakhapatnam, Araku, Vizianagaram . The assembly constituencies^[24] in Vizianagaram district are Bobbili, Kurupam, Cheepurupalli, Parvathipuram, Salur, Srungavarapukota, Gajapathinagaram, Nellimarla and Vizianagaram. There are 2 revenue divisions, 34 Mandals, 935 Panchayats and 1,551 revenue villages in Vizianagaram district.^[25] The revenue divisions are Parvathipuram and Vizianagaram. Vizianagaram parliamentary constituency is represented by the Former Union Civil Aviation Minister Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju.

Culture

Portrait of Gurazada Apparao at Vizianagaram

The predominant religion is Hinduism. The major festivals are Sankranthi, Ugadi and Rama Navami, Maha Shivaratri, Deepavali, Vinayaka Chavithi, Dasara and Vijayadasami. The nine-day festival celebrations during Rama Navami and Ganesh Chaturthi are very popular in many towns and associated with many cultural events including Stage Dramas, Harikathas, Burra kathas etc. Festivals of Gramadevatha are held annually at Vizianagaram, Bobbili, Salur, Parvathipuram and Sambara with much fanfare. The most popular amongst them is Pydithalli Ammavari Jatra, celebrated at Vizianagaram on the next Tuesday of Vijayadasami day. And also Polamma Jatara, at Sambara in Sambara Village of Makkuva Mandal is a Very much state known famous festival being celebrated in every 3rd week of January. This is a very renowned festival for north andhra people.

The cuisine is strikingly South Indian style with Rice as the staple food accompanied by Dals, Rasam or Sambar, Vegetable Curries, Pickles and Curd.

Transport

APSRTC Buses at Vizianagaram Bus Complex

The total road length of state highways in the district is 777 km (483 mi).^[26] Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation runs bus services to all the major cities and towns of the state from the district. Major railway stations in the district include Amudalavalasa, Srikakulam Road, Palasa etc. Railway network in the entire district comes under Waltair (Vishakapatnam) division of the South Coast Railway zone. Vizianagaram and Kothavalasa are the main railway junctions. There are 28 railway stations in the district.

National Highways 5 and 43 passes through the district and covers a distance of 200 kilometres. National Highway 43 (India) runs almost entirely in Vizianagaram district for a distance of 83 kilometres and passes through Odisha to Raipur in Chhattisgarh (total length of 551 kilometres). It passes through Vizianagaram, Gajapathinagaram, Ramabhadrapuram and Salur towns. National Highway 5 passes through coastal mandals of Bhogapuram and Pusapatirega. State Highways covers a distance of 122 kilometres, major district roads 852 kilometres and rural roads 781 kilometres.^[27]

Tourism

1000-year-old Sri Rama temple on top of Bodhikonda, Ramatheertham

Ramatheertham is a village panchayat in Nellimarla mandal of Vizianagaram district. It is located 12 km from Vizianagaram city.

Education

The primary and secondary school education is imparted by government, aided and private schools, under the School Education Department of the state.^[28][29] As per the school information report for the academic year 2015–16, there are a total of 3,875 schools. They include, 85 government, 2,060 mandal and zilla parishads, 1 residential, 618 private, 16 model, 33 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV), 112 municipal and 423 other types of schools.^[30] The total number of students enrolled in primary, upper primary and high schools of the district are 307,298.^[31]

Vizianagaram district has been comparatively backward in the field of education. The literacy rate is 51.82% as against the average of 61.55% for the entire Andhra Pradesh State.

There are 38 Branch Libraries in the district managed by Zilla Granthalaya Samstha. They are located 1–2 in each mandal. There are about 41 book depot centres in the district.

• University college of engineering, JNTU kakinada, vizianagaram. Vizianagaram.^[32]
• Andhra University Vizianagaram Campus
• Avanthi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Cherukupalli, Bhogapuram.^[33]
• Kodi Rama Murthy College of Physical Education, Bobbili.
• Maharajah’s Government College of Music and Dance.
• Maharajah’s Government Sanskrit College, Vizianagaram.^[34]
• Maharaj Vijayaram Gajapath Raj College of Engineering, Vizianagaram.^[35]
• St. Theressa Institute of Engineering and Technology, Garividi(Cheepurupalli).^[36]
• Thandra Paparaya Institute of Science and Technology, Bobbili.^[37]
• Maharajah’s College
• Sainik School Korukondda

Temples

There are eleven temples under the management of Endowments Department.^[38]

S.no	Temple	Mandal	Village
1	Sri Yellaramma Ammavari Temple	Jami	Jami
2	Sri Ganapathi etc. Temples	Pusapatirega	Kumili
3	Sri Parammathalli Ammavari Temple	Pachipenta	Pachipenta
4	Sri Pydithalli Ammavari Temple	Bhoghapuram	Polipalle
5	Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple	Salur	Salur
6	Sri Syamalamba Ammavari Temple	Salur	Salur
7	Sri Venu Gopala Swamy Temple	Salur	Salur
8	Sri Polamamba Ammavari Temple	Makkuva	Sambara
9	Sri Kotilingeswara Swamy Temple	Srungavarapukota	Srungavarapukota
10	Sri Mannar Rajagopala Swamy Temple	Vizianagaram	Vizianagaram
11	Sri Sanyaseswara Swamy Temple	Srungavarapukota	Dharmavaram