Historical

Situated by the banks of River Phalgu, Bodhgaya is the holiest of all Buddhist pilgrim destination in entire world. It was here an entire new religion was born out of one man who went on to be known as Lord Buddha and the religion was called Buddhism. Prince Siddhartha who renounced all worldly connections and set out in search of truth, attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree here. The entire life of Bodhgaya revolves around this most revered tree in the world. A huge complex containing many international monasteries and temples have come up around the tree. Bodhgaya acquired importance during the period of Lord Buddha itself, but the temples started coming up only in the 7th century. During the 16th century, Buddhism here started declining. But once the excavations were started by British archaeologists and its true significance was established, Buddhist pilgrims from all over the world started visiting Bodhgaya. Thus making it the most important pilgrim site of international Buddhism.

The best time to visit Bodhgaya is between November and February when thousands of exiled Tibetans come here to attend the ceremonies and lectures under the Bodhi Tree. Buddhist monks from other Buddhist countries too come here during this period. And if one is looking for some solitary and peaceful holidays, then there is no place better than Bodhgaya for the purpose.

The city of Bhagalpur has a lot of mythological and historical significance. References of Bhagalpur can be seen in epics like Mahabharata, Ramayana as the kingdom of Anga, which was ruled by the charitable king Karna. The first railway line passed through Bhagalpur in 1861. Mount Mandar is situated around 52 Kms southwards of Bhagalpur. This hill is well known in Indian mythology. According to mythology, this hill was used by the Gods to churn the ocean, using the serpent "Vasuki" as a rope to get "Amrit". According to the puranas. Lord Vishnu, covered the demon Madhu with the hill after destroying him. This 800 foot granite hill is a popular picnic spot. The residents of Bhagalpur have been producing silk for hundreds of years. Fa Hein and Heun Tsang, the reknowned ancient Chinese travellers have made references to this city as one of the largest trade centers of eastern India. Bhagalpur also had a harbor on the river Ganga. This place is now Champanala, but it is referred to as Champanagar in history. Bhagalpur is the home of the first South Asian woman doctor, Kadambini.

Sibsagar, ex Rangpur, was once the capital of the Ahom rulers who dominated Assam for more than 600 years. They ruled Assam virtually uninterrupted for 6 centuries until their kingdom fell to the Burmese in 1819, and their ruling class was all but wiped out. The province was liberated by the British in 1825 but, owing to the state of anarchy which prevailed in the province, it was completely annexed in 1826.

Adilabad derives its name from the erstwhile ruler of Bijapur, Mohammed Adil Shah. During Rashtrakuta regime, this town/village was known as Edlawada which means "land of Oxen" It was created out of a sub-district named Sirpur-Tandur in 1905.

Historically, Adilabad has been home to a variety of cultures. Owing to its position at the border of central and southern India, it has been ruled by North Indian dynasties like the Mughals and the Mauryas and South Indian dynasties like the Satavahanas and the Chalukyas. The current culture of the district incorporates significant elements of the neighboring Marathi culture into the native Telugu culture. However a multicultural society exists here with Bengalis,Malayalees Gujratis living in harmony.

Anantapur offers some vivid glimpses of the prehistoric past. It is generally held that the place got its name from 'Anaatasagaram' , a big tank, which means "Endless Ocean". The villages of Anaantasagaram and Bukkarayasamudram were constructed by Chilkkavodeya, the minister of Bukka-I, a Vijayanagar ruler. Some authorities assert that Anaantasagaram was named after Bukka's queen, while some contend that it must have been known after Anantarasa Chikkavodeya himself, as Bukka had no queen by that name.
Anantapur is familiarly known as "Hande Anantapuram" . ' Hande ' means chief of the Vijayanagar period. Anantapur and a few other places were gifted by the Vijayanagar rulers to Hanumappa Naidu of the Hande family.

The place subsequently came under the Qutub Shahis, Mughals, and the Nawabs of Cuddapah, although the Hande chiefs continued to rule as their subordinates. It was occupied by the Palergar of Bellary during the time of Ramappa but was eventually won back by his son, Siddappa. Morari Rao Ghorpade attacked Anantapur in 1757. Though the army resisted for some time, Siddappa ultimately bought off the enemy for Rs.50,000.

It then came into the possession of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan. Tipu hanged all the male members of the Siddappa family except Siddappa who escaped from his confinement at Srirangapatnam. After Tipu's death, it was once again taken back by Siddappa. Siddappa submitted himself to Nizam because of the treaty of 1799, who took the total control of the area. He was later pensioned off when British occupied the territory.

The name Kurnool is said to be derived from Kandenavolu or Kandanavolu (a Telugu name by which it is referred to in the inscriptions and literature of the past). According to the legend, in the time of the Western Chalukyas of Badami in the 11th century AD, the Vadderas who carted stones for the construction of the temples at Alampur (also known as Dakshina Kasi in Mahaboobnagar District), used the site on which the city now stands as a resting place before crossing the Tungabhadra. Here, they greased their cart-wheels with oil, which was supplied by some of the local oil mongers. They called the place Kandenametta.

Villages have existed at this site for more than 2,000 years.

The Chinese traveller Xuanzang, on his way to Kanchi, came through Kurnool.

Aurangazeb, the last Mogul King to rule India, conquered the Deccan in 1687 and left his governors, the Nizams, to rule the Andhra centres of Hyderabad and Kurnool. Both the Nizam of Hyderabad and Nawab of Kurnool declared independence and became sole rulers of their territories. Nawab Alaf Khan Bahadur was the first ruler of Kurnool and his descendants ruled it for over 200 years. In the early 18th century, the Nawabs merged with the sultan of Mysore and fought the British Empire.

Mantralayam is famous for the ‘Samadhi' of the well-known Vaishnaviite saint, Sri Raghavendra Teertha.

Followers of the saint consider him to be an incarnation of Bhakta Prahallada, who was saved by Vishnu in the avatar of Narasimha. Shri Raghavendra Swamy is said to have performed many miracles during his lifetime and has a large following even today.

Warangal was the capital of a Hindu Shaivaite kingdom[citation needed] ruled by the Kakatiya dynasty from the 12th to the 14th centuries. The old name of this newly formed city is Orugallu. Oru means one and Kallu means stone. The entire city was carved in a single rock, hence the name Orukallu meaning 'one rock' (Ekasila nagaram in Sanskrit). The Kakatiyas left many monuments, including an impressive fortress, four massive stone gateways, the Swayambhu temple dedicated to Shiva, and the Ramappa temple situated near Ramappa Lake. The cultural and administrative distinction of the Kakatiyas was mentioned by the famous traveller Marco Polo. Famous or well-known rulers included Ganapathi Deva, Prathapa Rudra, and Rani (queen) Rudrama Devi. After the defeat of PratapaRudra, the Musunuri Nayaks united seventy two Nayak chieftains and captured Warangal from Delhi sultanate and ruled for fifty years. Jealousy and mutual rivalry between Nayaks ultimately led to the downfall of Hindus in 1370 A.D. and success of Bahmanis. Bahmani Sultanate later broke up into several smaller sultanates, of which the Golconda sultanate ruled Warangal. The Mughal emperor Aurangzeb conquered Golconda in 1687, and it remained part of the Mughal empire until the southern provinces of the empire split away to become the state of Hyderabad in 1724 which included the Telangana region and some parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka. Hyderabad was annexed to India in 1948, and became an Indian state. In 1956 Hyderabad was partitioned as part of the States Reorganization Act, and Telangana, the Telugu-speaking region of Hyderabad state which includes Warangal, became part of Andhra Pradesh.