Nagarjuna Konda, Buddhist Site, Cultural Tourism |Pravase

History, Sacred and Natural Places, Travel Guide of Nagarjuna Konda, Andhra Pradesh, India

Nagarjunakonda is the historical ancient town and now island near Nagarjuna Sagar dam on Sacred River Krishna, an archaeological site in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh state, southern India. It is 14 km away from Nagarjunasagar Dam and the way to reach on top of hill is via the river. This site is believed to exist for almost 2000 years where excavations revealed that ancient artefacts of a Buddhist civilization has been found. It is popular site for its Buddhist monuments of 1st to the 3rd century CE and for its ancient university where well known Buddhist Monk and scholar – Nagarjuna had founded the Mahayana school of Buddhism. Nagarjunakonda is formed by two words Nagarjuna and Konda meaning Hills in Kannad previously known as Sri Parvat.

It was the capital of Ikshvaku Kingdom and famous as Vijayapuri also. It is an important Buddhist spiritual learning centre, flora and fauna rich location and an archaeological paradise as well. Devotee and tourist can observed stone age tools, Buddhist Stupa, Temples, Coins, Jewelry, Statues, Pillars, one of the largest man-made Lake Nagarjunasagar Lake, Monasteries, Waterfalls, Forest, Museum etc. This is how it becomes the combination of religious and natural place. A. R. Saraswati was the first Archaeologist to have discovered the ruins of Nagarjunakonda in the year 1926. Till date archaeologically, Nagarjunkonda is considered a very important site in the country where such a vast expanse of Buddhist ruins found. Tourist from Japan, Bhutan, Nepal, China and Sri Lanka visits here along with Indian.

Lots of tourist attractions like Ethipothala Waterfalls, formed by the cascading of the Chandravanka River a tributary of Krishna River from a height of around 70 feet. Nagarjunakonda Museum is one of the main tourist attractions in Nagarjunakonda which houses the entire Buddhist, Paleolithic and Neolithic artifacts, ruins and relics that were found in the archeological finding. Another attraction is Nagarjunakonda Caves, which discovered in 1950's these caves compress of lots of ancient Chaityas, Viharas, Monasteries and Stupas. Nagarjuna Sagar Dam is a masonry dam on the Krishna River at Nagarjuna Sagar which becomes the popular weekend gateway for tourist.

How to reach Nagarjuna Konda: As it is famous tourist and religious destination along with archaeological site. Tourist of many countries visit here around the year so it is very well connected by road, rail and air network. Macherla is the nearest railway station at 20 km from Nagarjunakonda and nearest airport is in Vijayawada situated at 65 km. By road, it is well connected to Hyderabad at 150 km, Guntur at 37 km and Vijayawada at 80 km.

Taluka / Tehsil: Macherla, District: Guntur, State: andhra-pradesh, Country: india.

Religious Importance: Hindu