Kurnool

Kurnool grew as a crossing place on the southern bank of the Tungabhadra River, at the gateway to Rayalaseema. Its older name, Kandanavolu, is traditionally connected with the grease used by bullock-cart caravans at the river crossing. The settlement passed from Chalukya to Kakatiya rule before entering the domains of Vijayanagara. In the sixteenth century Achyuta Raya built its fort.

In the seventeenth century the Abyssinian commander Abdul Wahab Khan defeated the local ruler Gopal Raja and governed Kurnool for sixteen years, until his death. Mughal influence followed under the emperor Aurangzeb in 1686, and local nawabs later ruled the town. Nearby, the ancient rock paintings at Ketavaram and Ashokan inscriptions at Erragudi preserve much older traces of the region's past.