Macherla

మాచెర్ల Macherla
—  city  —
మాచెర్ల Macherla Location of మాచెర్ల Macherla in Andhra Pradesh and India
Coordinates	16°29′N 79°26′E / 16.48°N 79.43°E / 16.48; 79.43Coordinates: 16°29′N 79°26′E / 16.48°N 79.43°E / 16.48; 79.43
Country	India
State	Andhra Pradesh
District(s)	Guntur
Population	49,113 (2001[update])
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Area • Elevation	• 136 metres (446 ft)
Codes • Pincode • 522426 • Telephone • +08642

Macherla (Telugu: మాచెర్ల) is a town and a municipality in Guntur District in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located on the bank of Chandra Vanka.

Geography

Macherla is located at 16°29′N 79°26′E / 16.48°N 79.43°E / 16.48; 79.43.^[1] It has an average elevation of 136 metres (446 feet).

Demographics

As of 2001^[update] India census,^[2] Macherla had a population of 49,113. Males constitute 50% of the population and females 50%. Macherla has an average literacy rate of 59%, lower than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 68%, and female literacy is 49%. In Macherla, 13% of the population is under 6 years of age.

History

The name Macherla originated from Mahadevi Cherla. This town is in the heart of Palnadu, and has a history of over a thousand years. The famous battle Palnati Yudhdham (War of Palnadu) took place between Macherla and Gurajala between 1176 AD - 1182 AD^[3].

The Palnadu Battle is also called the Andhra Mahabharatam because of several similarities.

The town is renowned for the Chennakesava Swamy temple built here during the reign of the Haihaya Kings. The annual festival, celebrated on a grand scale, attracts pilgrims and tourists from far and wide.

Temple

The main temple is the Sri Laxmi Chennakesava Swamy Temple. It was built around the 13th century A.D. The main gate has one tall Dwajastambam (Flag Staff) Swamy statue which is covered with wood and bronze. Close by are four stone figures viz., Sri Madbhagavathamu, Srimannarayana Avataram, Sriman Mahabharatam, and Srimad Ramayanam. Another temple dedicated to Veerabhadraswamy is located in the Old town. It was built in 18th century A.D. ^[4]

KCP Cements

Macherla is famous for the cement manufactured by 'The KCP Limited'. KCP Cement Division has a State-of-the-art Cement manufacturing plant at Macherla. The factory was erected on 3 July, 1941 by V. Ramakrishna group. India’s 1st dry process kiln of 400 TPD capacity was installed here in 1958 by HUMBOLDT, Germany even while it was still a prototype in Europe. The capacity was augmented by a 600 TPD line in 1962 when a second wet process kiln was installed in collaboration with FIVES LILLIE CAIL, France. Today, KCP’s 100% modernized cement plant with a World Bank funded outlay of Rs.367 million incorporates the latest technology such as the energy-efficient dry process, with a two support kiln and a five stage pre-heater with flash calciner with a capacity of 2000 CPD. KCP also incorporates a sophisticated centralized process control system with hardware and software from SIEMENS, Germany^[5].

The plant was conceived with the objective of supplying the Cement requirements for the multi-purpose Nagarjuna Sagar Dam Project 25 KM away, and after completing all the contracted supply requirements for the Dam, it continued to produce and supply Premium Quality Cement, chiefly to other projects such as Srisailam Project and retail outlets in South India under a comprehensive funding agreement with the World Bank and consortium of Indian Financial Institutions, a new and state-of-art, energy efficient kiln line of 1200 TPD capacity with recirculating feed Calciner and five stage Pre-heater and vertical roller mills for Raw Meal and Coal grinding, centrally controlled and monitored through a comprehensive scheme of Instrumentation and Computers, went on stream in December, 1989 at the same location and the capacity of plant re-evaluated to 5,00,000 TPA for the year 2001-2002, and the old lines were scrapped. The production level of the unit for the year 2004 - 2005 are 4,21,515 MTs of Clinker; 4,84,551T of Cement Produced and 4,86,844 T of Cement Packing, which denotes 97% in cement,

Tourism

1. Ethipothala Falls is a mountain stream cascading down the hills from a height of 21.3 meters into a lagoon. This waterfall is a combination of three streams namely Chandravanka Vagu, Nakkala Vagu and Tummala Vagu. The lagoon has a crocodile-breeding center. After flowing for 3 km, this stream joins with the river Krishna. Ranganadha and Dattatreya temples are located near the waterfalls.
2. Nagarjuna Sagar dam is 24 km away from Macherla. The reservoir is the third largest man-made lake in the world. It is also one of the most prominent Buddhist sites in Andhra Pradesh.
3. Anupu is located 18 km from Macherla towards Nagarjuna Sagar. It is said that the Buddhist phiolosopher Nagarjuna taught in Anupu.
4. Nilampati SriLakshmi Ammavaru Temple in Adigoppula is also famous.
5. Sathrasaala is located 25 km from Macherla towards Guntur. It is a place where VISWAMITHRA conducted Yagna along with Rama in Threthayugam. Here we can find Naga Shasanam similar to the Shasanam we find in Lord Chennakesava Temple Macherla.
6. Durgi is located 12 km from Macherla towards Narasaraopet. Before this area ruled by "Dhushana" so that DURGI name has came. In Durgi you can find lot SHILPA KALA here you can find lot of Shilpa kala colleges. From Durgi that statues are exporting to all over India.
7. Pedda Kaluva (it's the continuation of Nsagar water) flows through Macherla, the speciality here is a road passess under the canal.

Famous People

• Kanneganti Hanumanthu - Revolutionary and leader for the Pullari revolt.
• Palanati Brahmanaidu - Minister to Haihaya kings who tried to abolish the caste system in the 12th century
• Late Sri Gurram Mallayya - Freedom fighter, and Famous painter.
• Tirunagari Sri Ramanjeneyulu - Telangana Gorky.

Famous poet

Gadhavala Asthana kavi,kavi sihma,Maha kavi shekara Brahma Sri POKURI KASIPATHI AVADHANULU was born at Bodilaveedu,Macherla thaluka and his statue at Ambedkar centre,Macherla .his famous books are Siddi Yogi Charithra Malleswara shatakam

References

1. ^ Falling Rain Genomics, Inc - Macherla
2. ^ "Census of India 2001: Data from the 2001 Census, including cities, villages and towns (Provisional)". Census Commission of India. Archived from the original on 2004-06-16. http://web.archive.org/web/20040616075334/http://www.censusindia.net/results/town.php?stad=A&state5=999. Retrieved 2008-11-01. 
3. ^ Battle of Palnadu: http://gandikota.co.in/palnadu.htm
4. ^ "Macherla". Bezawada.com. http://www.bezawada.com/bez/tourism/guntur_district/Macherla.asp. Retrieved 2006-08-16. 
5. ^ KCP Limited. http://www.kcp.co.in/html/cement.html.