Samalkota

సామర్లకోట Samalkota
—  town  —
సామర్లకోట Samalkota Location of సామర్లకోట Samalkota in Andhra Pradesh and India
Coordinates	17°03′00″N 82°11′00″E
Country	India
State	Andhra Pradesh
District(s)	East Godavari
Population	73,602 (2001)
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Area • Elevation	• 9 metres (30 ft)
Codes • Pincode • 533 440 • Telephone • +91 884

Samalkota (Telugu: సామర్లకోట; also known as Samarlakota) is a town, a municipality and mandal in southeast India, under Kakinada (rural) in East Godavari district in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Samalkot is a town and industrial place, north-east of Rajahmundry, also in the East Godavari district, about 150 kilometres (93 mi) south-west of Vishakhapatnam and is on the Chennai-Howrah main rail line. The nearest city (10 km or 6 mi) is Kakinada, the nearest airport, at 64 km (40 mi), is in Rajahmundhry, and the nearest international airport, 161 km (100 mi), is Visakhapatnam (Vizag).

Samalkot is a town and mandal headquarters of Kakinada rural. The Mandal of Samalkot had a population of 101,752 in 2005, Samalkot has around 41,000 voters.

Geography

Samalkota is located at 17.0500°N 82.1833°E / 17.0500; 82.1833. It has an average elevation of 9 meters (32 feet). It is just 1 km (0.6 mi) from Peddapuram.

Demographics

As of 2001 India census, Samalkota had a population of 73,602. Males constitute 50% of the population and females 50%. Samalkota has a overall literacy rate of 70%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 75%, and female literacy is 66%. In Samalkota, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Transport

Samalkota is an important railway junction on the Chennai-Howrah Railway line. The railway line to Kakinada branches at this railway junction. It is just 12 km (7.5 mi) from Kakinada, which is the District Headquarter, and 50 km (31 mi) from Rajahmundry, the historical city. It serves as a major station to the people of Kakinada, as this junction connects Kakinada to the rest of the country. Samalkot junction, located on the Chennai-Howrah line, connects Kakinada to [[Annavaram], Anakapalle, Vishakapatnam, Srikakulam and Orissa and Howrah.

Temple

The Sri Chalukya Kumararama Sri Bhimeswaraswamy vari temple (Kumararama, one of the Pancharama Kshetras) is located about 1 km (0.6 mi) from the railway station. The presiding deity at this temple is Lord Shiva, known as Kumara Bhimeswara. Maha Sivarathri is the most important festival which is celebrated in this temple.

The temple is historically prominent, as it was built by Chalukyas who reigned over this location. Construction of the temple started in 892 and completed around 922. It is similar to the temple in Draksharamam, but is also unique, such as the linga being white. The temple still stands strong, and it was made a National Heritage Site. It resembles a twin of Draksharam, with two staired Mandapa, and notable that it is in excellent condition, without any cracks. Though the temple is not in a populated place, people do visit there.

The linga is a limestone, 14 feet (4.3 m) high. The temple was built in Dravidian style, by the King Chalukya Bhima. Hence, the god name is Bhimeswara (between 892-922). The Kakatiya rulers (in the period 1340-1466) have added and renovated the temple pillars with very fine sharp finishes. The work of Chalukyas and Kakatiya's is very easily distinguished, by the well-decorated and polished pillars in the temple to the rest of the temple, both new and old. The construction of this temple is so solid that it has not changed much through all the years, when compared to the Draksharaam temple. Kala Bhairava is also of importance, and Balatripura sundari is the Goddess. Shaasanas between 1147-1494 were scripted into pillars of the temple, which also have lists of gifts given, through the ages, for the temple. In Puranas it has been written that it is a Yogakshetram, which means, the person who has the "yogam" ("fated to have" or "opportunity given by god" or "boon") to visit, will visit the temple.

The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC), Kakinada Depot runs circular tours covering all the 5 pancharamas (Amaravathi, Bhimavaram, Palakollu, Draksharama, and Samalkota) in a span of 24 hours. The journey starts at 8:00 pm evey Sunday and ends at 8:00 pm next day covering 700 km (430 mi) approximately. Currently charges are Rs.350/- and are inclusive of darhan charges at the respective places.

Nearby this temple, there is one more temple, "Mandavya narayana swamy temple". This temple is situated on one bank of the canal. Once upon a time, a great saint named Madavya did Tapassu for Lord Narayana swamy at this place, and he got the dharshan of Lord Narayana swamy at this place. So this temple is named as Mandavya Narayana Swamy temple. It is said that Indra Deva came to this place to have the saint Mandavya dharshan, with his Pushpaka Vimanam. This temple was built with very good architecture. In Samalkot, there is one more old temple which has more age than above-mentioned temples, i.e. "Trimukha lingam temple". As the Sivalingam has three faces, this temple is named like that, and the three faces are believed as the Trimurtulu (Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu, Lord Maheswara). This temple was totally buried, and only the upper portion is visible, of the linga, which is of 14 ft (4.3 m) long.

Sri Ganapathi Sri Lakshmidevi Sri Veeravenkatasatyanarayana Swamy Temple at Ganapathinagaram, Peddapuram Road was originally built by Manyam Venkatapathi over 150 years ago and was renovated in March 2006 by The Manyam Family. The deities of all the Shaktipeethams and Jyothirlinghams are displayed in Prakaram.

Industries

The local industries include:

• R.A.K Ceramics India Private limited.
• Orient Ceramics India Limited.
• Gautami Power Ltd, GVK group.
• 220-MW Power Project owned by Reliance Energy Limited.

Reliance Infrastructure Limited (RInfra) announced securing the EPC contract of a 2,400 megawatts (3,200,000 hp) gas-based Combined Cycle Power Project (CCPP) at Samalkot. This project is strategically located in a gas-rich belt at Samalkot, East Godavari District, and is the largest gas-based power plant to be set up in the country. The Samalkot CCPP EPC contract is the third significant power project bagged by RInfra EPC from Reliance Power. The other EPC contracts were for the Sasan UMPP in Madhya Pradesh and Butibouri in Maharashtra. The contact value for the project is Rs 7,200 crore and shall execute the contract on lumpsum, turnkey EPC Contract basis. Samalkot CCPP deploys efficient, green and robust technology, and the project was scheduled to commence power generation by the end of 2011. Gas and steam turbine orders have already been placed with General Electric, USA. Other major contracts have been awarded to reputed domestic and international companies.

• Deccan Sugars owned by Navabharath Ventures Ltd.
• Palm Tech India Limited.
• vijaya industries.Mfrs of SS Furniture for Hospitals & Handicapped cycles.
• sai balaji industries.(Steel Furniture mfrs)
• Sri Venkatarama Oil Industries Ltd manufacturers of Refined Rice Bran Oil.
• Sudha Agro Oil and Chemical Industries - Bran oil manufacturers
• The oldest Telugu sexology magazine 'Abhisarika' (estd. 1949) is published from here.
• White circle Oxides
• Lakshman Industries pvt ltd
• RAK Ceramic Pvt Ltd (B)
• Vijaya Sai industries
• Sai Ganesh Industries.

Panchayats

There are 18 village panchayats in Samalkota mandal:

Atchampeta Boyanapudi Chandrampalem G.Kothuru G.Medapadu Gonchala

Hussainpuram Kapavaram Madhavapatnam Navara P.Vemavaram Panasapadu

Pandravada Pavara Pedabrahmadevam Unduru Venkatakrishnarayapuram Vetlapalem

External links

• Get more information about the Samalkota temple
• Kumara Bheemeswara swamy temple