Dharanikota is a village in

Palnadu district Palnadu district is a district in coastal Andhra Region in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. With Narasaraopet as its administrative headquarters, it was formed on 4 April 2022 to become one of the resultant twenty-six districts The distric ...

of the Indian state of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

. It is the site of ancient Dhanyakataka, which was the capital of the

Satavahana dynasty The Satavahanas (; ''Sādavāhana'' or ''Sātavāhana'', IAST: ), also referred to as the Andhras (also ''Andhra-bhṛtyas'' or ''Andhra-jatiyas'') in the Puranas, were an ancient Indian dynasty. Most modern scholars believe that the Satavaha ...

that ruled in the

Deccan The Deccan is a plateau extending over an area of and occupies the majority of the Indian peninsula. It stretches from the Satpura and Vindhya Ranges in the north to the northern fringes of Tamil Nadu in the south. It is bound by the mount ...

around the 1st to 3rd centuries CE. Dharanikota is located in Amaravathi mandal of

Sattenapalli revenue division Sattenapalli Revenue Division is an administrative division in the Palnadu district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is one of the three revenue divisions in the district and comprises 9 mandals. It was formed on 4 April 2022 along wi ...

. The village forms a part of

Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Andhra Pradesh Capital Region (ISO: Āndhra Pradēś Rājadhāni Prāntaṁ) is the metropolitan area of the capital city of Andhra Pradesh in India. The region is spread across the districts of Krishna, Guntur, Palnadu, NTR, Bapatla and Eluru ...

, under the jurisdiction of

APCRDA The Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) is an urban planning agency of the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region, in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, India. The APCRDA was established under the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region ...

History

Archaeological excavations at Dharanikota revealed viharas in Dharanikota and nearby areas. It is the site of ancient Dhanyakataka, which was the capital of the

that ruled in the

around the 1st to 3rd centuries CE. It was also the capital of the

Kota Vamsa Kota Vamsa was a medieval dynasty which ruled in parts of the modern-day Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The Kotas belonged to Dhananjaya gotra. Kota chiefs ruled Kammanadu with Dharanikota as capital. Kota Kings belonged to the Shudra ...

, which ruled during the medieval period until the mid-12th century. The

Krishna River The Krishna River in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau is the third-longest in India, after the Ganga, Ganga and Godavari. It is also the fourth-largest in terms of water inflows and river basin area in India, after the Ganga, Indus and Godav ...

Valley is an important rice-producing area. It was also an important centre of trade with other parts of India and foreign countries. The place is also famous for the great

Amaravati stupa Amarāvati Stupa is a ruined Buddhism, Buddhist Stupa, stūpa at the village of Amaravathi, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, India, probably built in phases between the third century BCE and about 250 CE. It was enlarged and new sculptures rep ...

; a very large

Kalachakra ''Kālacakra'' () is a Polysemy, polysemic term in Vajrayana, Vajrayana Buddhism and Hinduism that means "wheel of time" or "time cycles". "''Kālacakra''" is also the name of a series of Buddhist texts and a major practice lineage in History of ...

ceremony was conducted there by the

Dalai Lama The Dalai Lama (, ; ) is the head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The term is part of the full title "Holiness Knowing Everything Vajradhara Dalai Lama" (圣识一切瓦齐尔达喇达赖喇嘛) given by Altan Khan, the first Shu ...

in January, 2006.

Xuanzang Xuanzang (; ; 6 April 6025 February 664), born Chen Hui or Chen Yi (), also known by his Sanskrit Dharma name Mokṣadeva, was a 7th-century Chinese Bhikkhu, Buddhist monk, scholar, traveller, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making ...

reportedly visited Dharanikota and the Amaravati stupa and wrote an enthusiastic account of the place and the viharas that existed then.

Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion whose three main pillars are nonviolence (), asceticism (), and a rejection of all simplistic and one-sided views of truth and reality (). Jainism traces its s ...

flourished in Dharanikota during the reign of Sada kings.

Geography

Dharanikota is situated to the west of the mandal headquarters,

Amaravathi Amaravati ( , Telugu: ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located in Guntur district on the right bank of the Krishna River, southwest of Vijayawada. The city derives its name from the nearby historic site of ...

, at . It is spread over an area of .

Demographics

Census of India The decennial census of India has been conducted 15 times, as of 2011. While it has been undertaken every 10 years, beginning in 1872 under Viceroy Lord Mayo, the first complete census was taken in 1872. Post 1949, it has been conducted by the R ...

, Dharanikota had a population of 7,534. The total population constitute, 3,734 males and 3,800 females —a sex ratio of 1018 females per 1000 males. 725 children are in the age group of 0–6 years, of which 368 are boys and 357 are girls —a ratio of 970 per 1000. The average literacy rate stands at 66.06% with 4,498 literates, slightly lower than the state average of 67.41%.

Government and politics

Dharanikota Gram Panchayat is the

local self-government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

of the village. It is divided into wards and each ward is represented by a ward member. The village is administered by the ''Amaravathi Mandal Parishad'' at the intermediate level of panchayat raj institutions.

Education

As per the school information report for the academic year 2018–19, the village has a total of eight schools. These schools include five MPP and three private schools.

References

Citations

Sources

* {{citation , editor-last=Vyas , editor-first=Dr. R. T. , author-link=R.T. Vyas , url={{Google books, fETebHcHKogC, plainurl=yes , title=Studies in Jaina Art and Iconography and Allied Subjects , publisher=The Director, Oriental Institute, on behalf of the Registrar, M.S. University of Baroda, Vadodara , year=1995 , isbn=81-7017-316-7 Former capital cities in India Villages in Palnadu district Archaeological sites in Andhra Pradesh Buddhist sites in Andhra Pradesh Ancient Indian cities