Nagarjuna Sagar

Nagarjuna Sagar Dam

Nagarjuna Sagar Dam is one of the largest dams built in Asia, located between the cities of Guntur and Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh (India). It is built on the Krishna River between Guntur and Nalgonda districts. It is one of the earliest hydro-electric projects of India.

Nagarjunasagar dam, which was completed in 1966, is 124 metres high and 1 km long, and has 26 crest gates. Located at a distance of 150 km from Hyderabad, Nagarjunasagar is an important irrigation dam on river Krishna. This is the tallest and biggest masonry dam in the world. It creates the third largest man-made lake in the world. Apart from this, remains of the Buddhist civilization dating back to the 3rd century A.D, are seen on an island called Nagarjunakonda located in the midst of the reservoir. These relics of Buddhist civlization found during excavations unveiled a great Mahachaitya, the most sacred of the stupas. An inscription in Brahmi characters states that the sacred relics of Lord Buddha lie within the Mahachaitya.

The Town

Nagarjuna Sagar was called Vijayapuri ("city of victory") in ancient times. Nagarjuna Sagar is named after the Buddhist saint Acharya Nagarjuna. Present day Nagarjuna sagar area has three settlements, Vijayapuri (commonly referred as V. P. South), Pylon and Hill colony. V. P. South is home to many well known educational institutions in the state like Andhra Pradesh Residential Junior College (APRJC) and Andhra Pradesh Residential Degree College (APRDC). The steam boat service to Nagarjuna Konda (Konda in Telugu means hill) is available from Launch station located in V.P.South.

References

External links

* [http://india.journeymart.com/Nagarjunakonda/default.asp Nagarjunakonda]
* [http://nalgonda.ap.nic.in/nagarjunasagar.htm Nagarjunasagar]