Kurnool

Kurnool (Telugu: Urdu: ) is a city in the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh state in southern India, about 212 kilometres (132 mi) south of state capital, Hyderabad.

It is the administrative seat of the district. Kurnool is the gateway to Rayalaseema and the largest city in the area, with a population around 329122. From 1 October 1953 to 31 October 1956, Kurnool was the capital of Andhra State. It has many educational institutions and is also a major hub for banking and insurance companies. According to A Manual of the Kurnool District in the Presidency of Madras, (Narahari Gopalakristnamah Chetty, 1886), the name Kurnool is derived from Kandenavolu or Kandanavolu (a Telugu name by which it is referred to in the inscriptions and literature of the past), pronounced as karnooluu. According to the legend, in the time of the Western Chalukyas of Badami in the 11th century AD, the Vadderas who carted stones for the construction of the temples at Alampur (also known as Dakshina Kasi in Mahaboobnagar District), used the site on which the city now stands as a resting place before crossing the Tungabhadra. Here, they greased their cart-wheels with oil, which was supplied by some of the local oil mongers. They called the place Kandenametta.