Warangal district

This article is about the district. For its eponymous headquarters, see Warangal.

Warangal district వరంగల్ జిల్లా
District of Telangana
Warangal District Montage. Clockwise from Top Left: Painting of Goddess Bhadrakali in Warangal, Warangal Fort Gateway, Kotagullu in Ghanpur (Mulug), Dornakal Railway Station, Pakhal Lake.
Location in Telangana, India (Officially from 2 June 2014)
Country	India
State	Telangana
Region	Deccan
Languages
• Official	Telugu, Urdu
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
Telephone code	91-
Vehicle registration	TS–03
Climate	Aw (Köppen)

Warangal district is located in the northern region of the state of Telangana, India. The administrative seat is Warangal. The district is at a distance of approx. 80 km. from the state capital Hyderabad. Warangal District has an area of 12,846 km², and a population of 3,246,004 of which 19.20% was urban as of 2001. The district is bounded by Karimnagar District to the north, Khammam District to the east and southeast, Nalgonda District to the southwest, and Medak District to the west. Warangal is well known for its granite quarries (notably the black and brown varieties) and as a market for rice, chili peppers, cotton, and tobacco. The Warangal district headquarters is also Warangal. This includes Warangal, Hanamkonda and Kazipet areas the towns in the district includes Parkal, Mahabubabad, Janagaon, Narsampet, Thorrur, and Bhupalpally.

History

Warangal district consists of many Prehistoric habitation sites, which were explored by the Indian Archaeological authorities.
Paleolithic Rock art paintings are found at Pandavula gutta (Regonda) and Narsapur (Tadvai) in the district. The lower valley along River Godavari is a rich belt of Neolithic settlement extended to the neighbouring Khammam district also.

Jainism

Padmakshi Gutta consists of a Jain temple dedicated to Goddess Padmavathi(Padmakshi), located on a hilltop in the heart of the town of Hanamakonda, was originally constructed during Kakatiya reign. Till the Kakatiya Kings renovated and established the Goddess Padmakshi, previously it was a ‘Basadi’ a Jain temple. The temple also has rich sculpture of the Jain Tirthankara's and other Jain Gods and Goddesses. The Kadalalaya basadi or Padmakshi Temple is built on a large rocky out crop.
Angadi Veerannagudi a Jain temple located at Biranpally village in Maddur Mandal in the district.

Kakatiya Reign

Warangal was the capital of Kakatiya kingdom ruled by the Kakatiya dynasty from the 12th to the 14th centuries. Warangal also known as Orugallu, Ekasila Nagaram . The old name of this place is Orugallu. Oru means one and Gallu means stone. The Kakatiyas left many monuments, including an impressive fortress, four massive stone gateways, the Swayambhu temple dedicated to Shiva, and the Ramappa temple situated near Ramappa Lake. The cultural and administrative distinction of the Kakatiyas was mentioned by the famous traveller Marco Polo. Famous or well-known rulers included Ganapathi Deva, Prathapa Rudra, and Rani (queen) Rudrama Devi. After the defeat of PratapaRudra, the Musunuri Nayaks united seventy two Nayak chieftains and captured Warangal from Delhi sultanate and ruled for fifty years. Jealousy and mutual rivalry between Nayaks ultimately led to the downfall of Hindus in 1370 A.D. and success of Bahmanis.

Deccan Empires

Bahmani Sultanate later broke up into several smaller sultanates, of which the Golconda sultanate ruled Warangal. The Mughal emperor Aurangzeb conquered Golconda in 1687, and it remained part of the Mughal empire until the southern provinces of the empire split away to become the state of Hyderabad in 1724 which included the Telangana region and some parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka. Hyderabad became an Indian state in 1948. In 1956 Hyderabad was partitioned as part of the States Reorganisation Act, and Telangana, the Telugu-speaking region of Hyderabad state which includes Warangal, became part of Andhra Pradesh.

Warangal District is currently a part of the Red Corridor.

Geography

Districts of Telangana

Warangal district occupies an area of 12,846 square kilometres (4,960 sq mi), comparatively equivalent to the island of Jamaica or the US state of Hawaii.

Demographics

Household indicators

In 2007–2008 the International Institute for Population Sciences interviewed 956 households in 40 villages across the district. They found that 94.1% had access to electricity, 94.3% had drinking water, 40.6% toilet facilities, and 30.4% lived in a pucca (permanent) home. 17.5% of girls wed before the legal age of 18 and 87.2% of interviewees carried a BPL card.

Economy

In 2006 the Indian government named Warangal one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640). It is one of the thirteen districts in Andhra Pradesh currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).

Power sector

APGENCO has set up a 500 MW (and another unit of 1x600MW unit is under construction, thus the total capacity will become 1100MW) super thermal power plant in the Chelpur/ Bhupalpally area. Power Grid Corporation of India Limited is having a 630MVA, 400/220KV Substation in the Oglapur village in Atmakur mandal.,

Tourism

In February 2013, Warangal was accorded World Heritage town status by UNESCO.

• Thousand Pillar Temple

Thousand Pillar Temple pond

• Warangal fort

Warangal fort Ruins

• Ramappa Temple
• Pakhal Lake

Sunset at Bhadrakali Lake

• Medaram

Divisions

Mandals include:

• Parkal
• Cheriyal
• Maddur
• Narmetta
• Bachannapet
• Jangaon
• Lingalaghanpur
• Raghunathpalle
• Ghanpur (Station)
• Dharmasagar
• Hasanparthy
• Hanamkonda
• Wardhannapet
• Zaffergadh
• Palakurthi
• Devaruppula
• Raiparthy
• Thorrur
• Nellikudur
• Narsimhulapet
• Maripeda
• Dornakal
• Kuravi
• Mahabubabad
• Kesamudram
• Nekkonda
• Gudur
• kodakandla
• Kothaguda
• Khanapur
• Narsampet
• Chennaraopet
• Parvathagiri
• Sangam
• Nallabelly
• Duggondi
• Geesugonda
• Atmakur
• Shayampet
• Regonda
• Mogullapalle
• Chityal
• Bhupalpalle
• Ghanpur (Mulug)
• Mulug
• Venkatapur
• Govindaraopet
• Tadvai
• Eturnagaram
• Mangapet
• Chityal
• Warangal

Transport

Road

National Highway 163 (India) between Hyderabad - Bhopalpatnam (Chhattisgarh) connecting the district through Mahabubabad, Jangaon, Kazipet, Hanamkonda, Mulug, Eturnagaram. Warangal is surrounded with towns like Bhoopalpally, Parkal, Narsampet, Torrur and Jangaon each 30-90 kilometers.

Warangal is about 140 km by road from Hyderabad, the state capital of Telangana.

Rail

Kazipet railway station

Warangal has two railway stations called Warangal and Kazipet, which connect south and north India. The Kazipet Junction lies on both the Secunderabad-Balharshah line and Secunderabad-Vijayawada line.

Airport

Hyderabad International Airport is about 3 ½ hours by road from Warangal town. This district has a small airport in Mamnoor, which can accommodate small aircraft like the ATR 42. This airport is currently used by police.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Warangal district has a population of 3,522,644, roughly equal to the nation of Kuwait or the US state of Connecticut. This gives it a ranking of 82nd in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of 274 inhabitants per square kilometre (710/sq mi) . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 8.52%. Warangal has a sex ratio of 994 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 66.16%.

Education

Among the district's notable educational institutions are:

• National Institute of Technology, Warangal (formerly known as Regional Engineering college)
• Kakatiya Medical College.
• Kakatiya University
• Kakatiya Institute of Technology and Science (KITS)

External links

• Official website