Hanamkonda
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Hanamkonda
Head-quarters of the Warangal Division and Dis- trict, Hyderabad State, situated in 18° 1' N. and 79" 34' E., near the stations of KazTpet and Warangal on the Nizam's State Railway. Popu- lation (1901), 10,487. According to local tradition, it was the capital of the surrounding country before the foundation of ^Varangal. The Pratap Charitra, a Telugu work, says that a Chalukya king reigned at Nandagiri (Nander), on whose death the kingdom was divided between his two sons, one ruling at Hanamkonda and the other at Kandahar. Ballahundu, king of Cuttack, having killed Somadeo, the king of Kan- dahar, Siriyal Devi, wife of the latter, fled to Hanamkonda, and gave birth to a posthumous son, Madhava Varma, who succeeded to the throne as the first king of the Kakatiya line.
This event is placed about A. L). 314, but the Kakatiyas are not referred to in authentic records before the middle of the twelfth century {see Warangal Dis- trict). Hanamkonda contains some very interesting buildings, of which the ' thousand-pillared ' temple is specially noteworthy. It was built in 1 162 in the Chalukyan style by the last Hindu dynasty, and consists of three spacious detached halls with a portico supported by nearly 300 pillars. Opposite the portico is a star-shaped matidapa supported on 200 j)illars, three of which bear old Telugu and Sanskrit inscriptions. Near the temple is a fine well. Around Hanamkonda several Jain figures are cut in the rocks, close to the ruined town of Hanmantgiri. There are two large tanks on each side of the town. The modern town of Hanamkonda extends from near KazTpet on the west to Mathwada on the east. It contains the offices of the Subahdar, the Divisional and District civil courts, the District and Irrigation Engineer's offices, the survey office, several schools, a Central jail, the Talukdar's offices, a large dispensary and two Yunani dispensaries, an American Mission school and hospital, and a District post office.
