Appalayagunta Location
Appalayagunta is a small village in Puttur taluk, Chittoor district. In this village, there is a divine pious & precious Lord Sri Venkateswara Temple. As per Hindu mythology, Lord Venkateswara married goddess Padmavathi in Narayanavanam and then climbed Tirumala.
On the way to Tirumala, he visited Lord Shiva’s temple at Kailasanatha Kona and blessed the saints there. He then left for Vemula Konda (The hill of Yogis). In Vemula Konda, to fulfill Siddheswara muni’s wish, Sri Venkateswara promised the saint that he would stay there and bless the devotees.
Siddheswara muni placed the Lord’s idol down the hill, built a temple, and named the Lord there as “Prasanna Venkateswara Swami”.
Doralu Dagina Konda” (King’s hiding cave)
There is a cave in Siddheswara hill. Long ago, the kings of Karveti Nagara took hiding in that cave during an invader attack since then that cave has been named “Doralu Dagina Konda” (King’s hiding cave).
As per the local people’s narration, the sword present in that cave cannot be pulled out of its hole, no matter how strong you try to pull it out. Until recent times, Utsavams have been held for this intriguing sword.
Based on the scripture evidence, we can say that the Prasanna Venkateswara temple was built by the Karveti Nagara Kings. A big pond in front of the temple was also built, along with the temple, which is still the biggest pond in this region.
Reason for the Name – Appalyagunta
While constructing it, daily hundreds of servants were called for work and the wages were paid to all of them at dusk, not going into debt with them. Some say that that is how this pond got its name “AppalayaGunta”.
According to the local records, it is named “Amruta Sarovaram”. In Tamil language “Amrunda” means “No Debts”. A few others say the pond got its name from “Appalayya”, a local officer who supervised its construction.
The village situated at the front side of the pond is also named “AppalayaGunta”.
As the financial situation of the administrators of Karveti Nagara became seriously ill even before the completion of this pond, its construction was left incomplete. This pond is also called “Padma Sarovaram”.
Along with the Pond’s construction, the Kings of Karveti Nagara started the temple construction too. However, due to the same financial constraints, the temple construction was also not completed.
But, since they were the trustees of the temple, they made “Annayya Gunta” or “Ayyanna Palli” village as the property of the temple. But over time, only the Annayyagunta village remained and all others were exhausted.
