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Guntur is a major city in central Andhra Pradesh, India, set on the coastal plains about 23 kilometres southwest of the capital Amaravati, and famous for its fiery red chillies and the Narasimha temples of nearby Mangalagiri. It is home to one of Asia's largest chilli markets and is a busy centre of trade and education.
The region has a long history. Nearby Amaravati on the Krishna River was a great Buddhist centre, whose carvings fill its archaeological museum, the stupa at Bhattiprolu yielded some of the earliest Brahmi writing in South India, and the giant Dhyana Buddha recalls that heritage. In the city, the domed Jinnah Tower stands on Mahatma Gandhi Road and the Mirchi Yard bustles with chilli traders.
Pilgrims climb Kotappakonda for its Shiva temple and visit the old temples of Chebrolu and Bapatla, while birdwatchers come to Uppalapadu for its painted storks and pelicans. Suryalanka Beach lies on the Bay of Bengal, and longer trips reach the great Nagarjuna Sagar Dam. October to February is the best time to visit.
Mangalagiri Lakshmi Narasimha Temple stands at the foot of the Auspicious Hill at Mangalagiri near Guntur, below the Panakala Narasimha Temple on the hill. Its eleven-storey gopuram, 47 m tall and among the highest in South India, was built in 1807 to 1809 by Raja Vasireddy Venkatadri Nayudu.
Kotappakonda is a sacred hill about 60 kilometres from Guntur, crowned by the Sri Trikoteswara Swamy Temple dedicated to Shiva as lord of the three peaks. Its Maha Shivaratri fair is one of the largest religious gatherings in Andhra Pradesh, when towering decorated prabhas are brought to the hill.
Chebrolu is a historic temple village in Guntur district, once a Buddhist site and later a territorial capital of the Kakatiya dynasty. Its best-known shrine is a rare four-faced Brahma temple standing in the middle of a water tank, and several of its old temples are state-protected monuments.
Bhavanarayana Temple in the coastal town of Bapatla, south of Guntur, is an ancient Vishnu temple that gave the town its name. It was built by the Eastern Chalukya king Kubja Vishnuvardhana, who earned the title Paramabhagavata for it, and it is a protected monument of national importance.
Amaravati Archaeological Museum stands in Amaravati village in Palnadu district, beside the ruins of the great Buddhist stupa of Amaravati. Run by the Archaeological Survey of India, it holds one of the largest collections of the stupa's carved limestone sculptures, and it is closed on Fridays.
The Dhyana Buddha statue at Amaravati village in Palnadu district is a 38-metre-tall seated Buddha completed in 2015 on the banks of the Krishna River. Its base is decorated with modern copies of Amaravati School sculptures, recalling the Buddhist art that flourished here 2,000 years ago.
Bhattiprolu Stupa is the ruin of a great Buddhist stupa in Bhattiprolu village near Repalle, built in about the 3rd to 2nd century BCE and a protected monument of national importance. An urn of relics found here carried one of the earliest Brahmi inscriptions in South India, the Bhattiprolu script.
Jinnah Tower is a landmark monument on Mahatma Gandhi Road in Guntur, named after Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, and built in the early 20th century. Standing on six pillars that open to a dome, it is one of the rare monuments in India connected with him.
Uppalapadu Bird Sanctuary is a set of village water tanks about 10 km from Guntur, where painted storks and spot-billed pelicans nest in large numbers. About 7,000 birds roost here through the year, and the forest department has added artificial wire-mesh trees that the pelicans now use for nesting.
Suryalanka Beach, also called Bapatla Beach, lies on the Bay of Bengal about 60 km from Guntur and 9 km from the Bhavanarayana Temple in Bapatla. Linked to the town by its Beach Road, it has many resorts close to the shore and hosts the Bhavapuri Beach Festival every year.
Nagarjuna Sagar Dam is a huge masonry dam across the Krishna River, about 150 km from Guntur on the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana border. Built between 1955 and 1967, it was the tallest masonry dam in the world when completed, and boats run from here to Nagarjunakonda island and its museum.
Guntur Mirchi Yard is the city's market yard for chillies and the largest chilli market yard in Asia, at the centre of a region that grows much of the chilli crop of India, the world's biggest chilli exporter. In 2023 its sales passed 10,000 crore rupees in a single trading season.
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