Visakhapatnam or the place of Visakha, is named after the deity of valor, the second son of Lord Shiva. The other story is the beauty of the place was compared to the beauty of Sakhi Visakha.
The legend is that Radha and Visakha were born on the same day and equally beautiful. The city people believe that an Andhra King impressed by the beauty built a temple to pay obeisance to his family deity, Visakha. The stories be numerous but the fact remains; the unparalleled natural splendor of Visakhapatnam.
The Epic City. The city has been mentioned in the Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. The forests of the Eastern Ghats; where the two brothers Rama and Laxman wandered in search of Sita, wife of Lord Rama. Rama formed his army of monkey men in the region with the help of Hanuman and Jambavan. The monkey army of Rama later defeated the demon King Ravana to claim back his wife Sita. An episode of Mahabharata when Bheema killed the demon Bakasura, was believed to have happened in the village Uppalam, just 25 miles from the city.
Buddhist Influence. The religious Hindu texts mention that the region of Visakhapatnam in the 5th century BC was part of the vast Kalinga territory which extended up to River Godavari. The relics found in the area also prove the existence of a Buddhist empire in the region. Kalinga later lost the territory to King Ashoka in the bloodiest battle of the time which prompted him to embrace Buddhism.
Business Center. The territory of Viskahapatnam then came under the Andhra Rulers of Vengi. Then Chankyas, Pallavas, the Reddy Kings ruled over the placid land. The Chola Kings built the temples in the city in 11-12 century AD as established by Archeological findings. The Mughals ruled this area under the Hyderabad Nizam in the late 15th and early 16th century. The merchants from Europe, the French, the Dutch and the East India Company used this natural port to export tobacco, ivory, muslin and other textile products.
Visakhapatnam as part of the coastal Andhra region came under French control in the late 18th century; the Dutch had established a colony in the early part of the 18th century. The English on establishing the Raj developed Waltair as a sister town of Visakhpatnam in the Madras Presidency. The city was the largest city at the time of Indian Independence and was divided into three manageable districts.
Industrial Revolution. The city gained prominence by the establishment of Eastern Naval Command of the Indian Navy just after the independence of India. The city got its first shipyard in 1949, the Hindustan Shipyards. The petroleum refinery was setup in the late fifties by Caltex, later taken over by Hindustan Petroleum. The saga of progress never stopped and the steel plant was established in the early eighties. The plans of 1200 acre SEZ and the first crude reserve of the country are already in the pipeline. This ancient city with the beauty of a Sakhi and the piety of the temples has indeed come a long way into becoming the industrial hub of the State of Andhra Pradesh.
