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About Vijayawada |
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We come to know about the early inhabitants of the region now including the modern city of Vijayawada through the remains that have been discovered along the banks of the river from Machilipatnam to Nagarjuna Sagar. The remains, which seem to be belonging to a pre-historic era dominated by the Stone Age men, indicate the possibility of a primitive civilization thriving in Vijayawada in distant past. According to a legend, Vijayawada came into existence when Arjuna decided to build a city around the Malleswara temple and Indrakiladri hills as a memorial of his darsan of Lord Shiva, and subsequently named it Vijayawada, meaning "the Place of Victory.
Later history of Vijayawada placed it at a position wherein it was regarded as a center of Andhra culture as well as the Buddhist and Hindu religious activities.
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Once dominated by the Chalukyas of Kalyan, the region became a flourishing ground for the spread of Buddhism, as was seen by the famous Chinese traveler Hsuan-tsang who visited the region in 639. The credit for the foundation of Vijayawada is also attributed to the King Choda Gangadeva of the Ganga dynasty, who established a town named "Vijaya Bahuda" after his successful campaign over a large part of the Andhra region up to the bank of the river Godavari. This town later came to be known as Vijayawada.
The British gave a face-lift to the city and took many steps to change its appearance in sync with the contemporary standards. The city continued to grow after independence, with a much more increased pace, and saw the completion of the Prakasam Barrage in 1959 and then a railway bridge on the Krishna River. Thus Vijayawada found the much-need infrastructural support for the expansion of its commercial and agricultural base. The region also abounds in fertile soil properly drained by the river.
Vijayawada is a transportation hub, with an excellent network of roads, a railway junction and a domestic airport located at a distance of 20 km from the center of the city. Two National Highways pass through the district making it a major transit point for the north-south transportation. Its railway junction is known nationwide for handling a very high magnitude of rail traffic. In fact, Vijayawada provides an important link to connect the three distinct parts of the state of Andhra Pradesh.
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