Anantapur district

For the city information, see .

Anantapur is one of the 23 districts in,. The district headquarters is city.

Formation
The district was constituted in from the erstwhile district of.

Geography
It is the largest district of Andhra Pradesh spanning an area of 19,130. It is bounded on the north by, on the east by , on the southeast by , and on the southwest and west by state. It is part of region on the state. Its northern and central portions are a high, generally undulating, with large rocks or low hill ranges rising occasionally above its surface. In the southern portion of the district the surface is more hilly, the plateau there rising to 2 ft. above the sea. Six rivers flow within the district:, , , , , and. The district receives an average annual rainfall of 381 millimeters.

Demographics
The district had a population of 3,640,478 of which 25.26% is urban as of 2001. , and  are primarily spoken, with a literacy rate of 56.69%. Anantapur includes 866 villages.

Economy
The is principally  with very few. With very little, the district is one of the most backward provinces in the state. Prominent crops include groundnut,, , , , , and. , ing,  and   constitute the few industries that are there.

Cities and Historical places
Major cities within the district are Anantapur,, , , , ,, and. Other places of interest include, ,, , and Hemavati.

Dharmavaram
this small town in the heart of the district is famous for the production of silk sarees. Different varieties of silk sarees are made in the town. Also the dharmavaram tank is very famous for its water storing capacity. this tank was built by the great Sri Krishna Devaraya.

Lepakshi
The temple town of Lepakshi is one of the well known historical places that are there in Anantapur District. The famous, a wonderful example of the architectural style and art, is located here.

Puttaparthi
, now popularly known as Prasanthi Nilayam, the abode of Supreme Peace, is the home town of Bhagawan Sri Satya Sai Baba and it is about 40 km away from Dharmavaram, 80 km from Anantapur and 200 km from Bangalore. World renowned and worshipped by His devotees all over the globe as God Incarnate, Sri Sathya Sai Baba has shown humanity a new way of life and through His simple teachings transformed millions of His devotees' lives. It indeed needs a divine intervention for anyone to achieve the accomplishments of Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Prasanthi Nilayam, the abode of supreme peace, is a place every human being should visit in his lifetime to experience for oneself what selfless and pure love can achieve.

Tadpatri
There are s like Bugga Rama Lingeswara Swamy Temple, Chintala Venkata Ramana Swamy Temple and the Aluru Ranganatha Swamy temple. These temples were built by Timma Naidu sanctioned by and  (Bugga) Raya of Vijayanagar.

Kadiri
This is the place famous for many things
 * 1. (400 years old) temple is constructed by famous king sri krishnadevaraya.
 * 2. World's largest Banyan tree which is spread over 7 acres.
 * 3. Kondapuram (famous temple)
 * 4.The famous praja kavi Yogi Vemana samadhi located at Katarupalli near 10 k.ms from Kadiri.

Hemavati
This is the famous for ancient Siddeswara(Henjerappa) and Doddeswara Temples built by Nolamba kings in the 9th century. Here every year in Sivaratri big jatra will be conducted. Lakhs of devotees will attend this jatra evrey year.