Seelamvaripalli

Seelamvaripalli is a village in Prakasam district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located in Chandrasekharapuram mandal of Kandukur revenue division.^[1][2]

Geography

It is located around 18 km from Pamur, 38 km from Kanigiri,145 km from Nellore and 125 km from Ongole.

Village comes under Kovilampadu panchayat and Kanigiri constituency. As per the records, it has nearly 500 to 650 population. Most of the people living in village depend on primary activities like farming, animal husbandry, dairy farming and daily wage laborers. Some people from village are well settled in Hyderabad and Secunderabad areas. Uppuguda is the place in Hyderabad where 50 families from the village settled. Few of the well known persons from the village are Kadiri Babu Rao (MLA Kanigiri), Mudraboina Venkateswara Rao (EX-MLA-Gannavaram), Pidugu Babu Rao (Deputy collector), Munagala Venkata Narayana Reddy (Ex MPTC), Muram Kasi Reddy (ex-MPTC). Most of the people settled in Hyderabad are having jewellery shops or working in jewellery shops. Village people are very skilled in jewellery making with pearls.

Village history

Village was built by "Seelam Reddy's", that's why the name Seelamvaripalli. At present, only one family is living with Seelam surname, Seelam Malakonda Reddy and Seelam Madhav Reddy brothers. Village is surrounded by Kovilampadu, Munagalavaripalli, Nallamadugula and C.S.Puram. As per the records, village extends up to Yerrabalem forest near Rajupalem border.

Village has a very old Venkateswara swami temple, Sri Rama swami temple, Polleramma, Ankalamma, Gurappa swamy temples. Sri Rama swami temple was built in 1985 with the donations from village people. It is very big and one of the first village in mandal to celebrate Sri Rama Navami very grand in every year. Poleramma,Ankallamma village goddess temples was recently built in 2011.

Village has two schools—Elementary school and ZPHS school. Kovilampadu, Anikalapalli village students also come to Sellamvaripalli ZPHS school to study. Recently, Gurukula patasala was inaugurated by Central minister Sujana chowdary in 2015, it's under construction. BC hostel also there in the village for the poor. Village people go to C.S.Puram, Pamur, Kanigiri & Nellore for college education.

All caste people live in the village (Reddy, Balija, Yadhav, Chakali, Muslim, SC etc.) It comes under Kovilampadu Panchayat.

According to 2011 census, Kovilampadu panchayat has 2,738 population living in 725 households. In that, 1406 are males and 1332 are females. 1625 people are literate (59.34%).

Kovilampadu lake and Manneru river tributary Dokkalavagu are major water resources for agriculture. Agriculture mainly depends on Monsoon and there is no sufficient irrigation facilities available to the people. Veligonda project canal goes at the borders of the village, it's under construction.

Public transport is not available to the village. People mainly depend on autos or own vehicles to go to nearby places.

Nearby visiting places

Sri Narayana Swamy Temple in Mettapalem,Kovilampadu is the famous pilgrimage center in Kanigiri Taluka. It will attract huge crowds on Sunday. On Sivarathri festival, most people from nearby districts like Kadapa, Nellore also visit this temple, on this day pilgrim count touch 5 lakhs. On Sivarathri day, there is one special event called "Ganda Deepam", people used to carry deepam in their hands and they will walk on all the streets on the way to temple as huge mobs.They believe that if deepam won't turned off in between, then their beliefs will become true. Temple has one Garba gudi (Narayana swamy Jeeva Samadhi), Maha Lakshamamma temple (chief disciple of Swami), kalyana mandapam, auditorium and Nithya annadana sala.

Bairavakona is another pilgrimage center 30 km away from the village. It's in Ambavaram Kothapalli village, C.S.Puram Mandal of Prakasam district, some 120 km from Ongole. It borders Prakasam, Nellore and Kadapa districts. Hundreds of people from the three districts visit the place to witness the spectacle and also to take a bath in the waterfalls and worship Lord Siva and his consort on the auspicious day. Bhairavakona nestles in the Nallamala hills amidst picturesque settings. The water falls from a height of 200 metres and there are eight temples carved in the hill there. Many herbs are available here for use in Ayurveda.

According to a legend, Lord Siva and goddess Parvathi once visited the place and they were captivated by its beauty. They left a Siva lingam that resembles the one at Amarnath. The temples date back to 7-8 AD by archaeologists. History has it that Kala Bhairava once reigned over this region and thus the name given to this place: Bhairava Kona. Several forts were built all around to fortify this place. This is perhaps the only temple in India where Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswara are worshipped in one place. An interesting feature of this temple is 8 temples are carved out of one rock and Lord Shiva appears in 8 different forms. Bhairava Kona draws thousands of people from far and near for a bath on the occasion of & Karthika Pournami & on a Wednesday. An interesting feature that attracts devotees to Bhairavakona is that moonlight falls on the idol of goddess Durgadevi on the day of Karthika Pournami and Maha Shivaratri.

People believe that "Koti Lingas" are present all over the hill. And there is huge ground tunnel opposite to Trimukha Durga Devi Temple; it's always closed. There is a myth that it's a 40 km tunnel that has other side opening at "Anumanigiri Konda" at Anumalagonda village near Pamur.

Kanigiri town is 40 km away from the village; it is assembly constituency and Taluka.

Kanigiri is of historic importance as capital city of the kingdom ruled by Katama Raju in 12th century, with historical monuments in and around the hill near the town. These include the fort and a number of wells which can be reached only on foot. Once it was called Kanakapatnam. There is a temple for the king "Katama Raju" in Gollapalli Village 10 km away from Kanigiri. Every year they celebrate "Katam Raju Tirunala" on Ugadi day very grand manner. Kanigiri has more than 15 temples. A famous one is Venkateswara Temple on the top of the hill. There is no roadway to temple; people go to the temple on foot. At the center of the city, there is an old church called "Kanigiri Durgam Baptist Church", it was established in 1892. People in the town believe that Kanigiri hill is having gold, so the name Kanakagiri.

C.S.Puram is the mandal headquarters. It has one college and few private and government schools. It is developing rapidly. It is named after lord "Chandra Sekhara", there is a beautiful old lord Siva temple in the heart of the town. It is now well connected to all cities in AP through road transport.

References