Kurnool (Telugu: Urdu: ) is a city in the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh state in southern India, about 212 kilometres (132mi) south of state capital, Hyderabad. It is the administrative seat of the district. Kurnool is the gateway to Rayalaseema and the second largest city in the area after Tirupati, with a population around 350000. From 1 October 1953 to 31 October 1956, Kurnool was the capital of Andhra State. It has many educational institutions and is also a major hub for banking and insurance companies. There are many theories about the origin of the name Kurnool. According to A Manual of the Kurnool District in the Presidency of Madras, (Narahari Gopalakristnamah Chetty, 1886), the name Kurnool is derived from Kandenavolu or Kandanavolu (a Telugu name by which it is referred to in the inscriptions and literature of the past), pronounced as karnooluu. According to the legend, in the time of the Western Chalukyas of Badami in the 11th century AD, the Vadderas...
