A shrine to Visakeswara, a headland called the Dolphin's Nose: how the north-east coastal district took shape

Background

Visakhapatnam District is one of the north eastern coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh. It is bounded on the north by Vizianagaram District, on the south and west by Anakapalli District, and on the east by the Bay of Bengal.

Inscriptions indicate that the district was originally a part of the Kalinga Kingdom, subsequently conquered by the Eastern Chalukyas in the 7th Century A.D., who ruled over it with their head quarters at Vengi. It was also under rulers such as the Reddy Rajahs of Kondaveedu, the Gajapathis of Orissa, the Nawabs of Golkonda and the Moghal Emperor Aurangazeb through a Subedar, passed to French occupation and finally came under British rule. On the formation of Orissa State several taluks were transferred to it, and the district was reconstituted with the remaining area and residuary portions of Ganjam District; the reconstituted district was found administratively unwieldy and was bifurcated into Srikakulam and Visakhapatnam districts in 1950, and the taluks of Vizianagaram, Gajapathi nagaram, Srungavarapukota and a portion of Bheemunipatnam taluk were transferred to the newly created Vizianagaram District in 1979.

On the etymology of the name, tradition has it that some centuries ago a king of the Andhra dynasty encamped on the site of the present headquarters town on his pilgrimage to Banaras and, being pleased with the place, built a shrine in honour of his family deity called Visakeswara to the south of Lawson's Bay, from which the district derived the name Visakheswarapuram, which subsequently changed to Visakhapatnam.

The district presents two distinct geographic divisions: the strip of land along the coast, and the interior called the plains division with the Eastern Ghats. Along the shore lies a series of salt and sandy swamps. The coast line is broken by a number of bald head lands, the important of them being the Dolphin's Nose, which had afforded the establishment of a Natural Harbor at Visakhapatnam, Rushikonda and the big Narasimha Hill at Bheemunipatnam. Administratively the district is divided into 2 Revenue Divisions and 10 Mandals.