Penukonda

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Penukonda (Telugu: Big Hill) is a small town in the Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is 70 km away from Anantapur town. This region was controled at different points in history by the Hoysalas, Chalukyas, Vijayanagar, Nawabs, Maratha chieftain Murari Rao, Tipu Sultan, Nizam and eventually came under British rule after it was ceded to the British by the Nizam of Hyderabad. It was a melting pot of different religions but the town and fort were established by early Hoysala kings, who were practitioners of Jainism.

After Krishna Deva Raya, the Emperor of Vijayanagar, took over he made Koneti Naidu, the son of Kasturi Naidu, grand son of Akkappa Naidu, great-grandson of Kanaka Naidu of Chandragiri the governor of Penukonda and conferred the title Maha-raja-raja-sri and celebrated Koneti Naidu's marriage to Swarna. Koneti Naidu hailed from the Vasarasi family of Balija caste. Koneti Naidu ruled Penukonda for about 14 years. For a brief period after the Battle of Tallikota in 1556, Penukonda became capital of Vijayanagara kingdom.

Because of its ancient Jain history and presence of many temples it is one of the most revered places for Jains. The famous Pache Parsvanath Swamy Temple, with idol of Parsvanath containing a single green coloured stone (Pacha) is located here. The famous Babaiah Dargah makes this place venerable to Muslims as well.

Hazrath Baba Fakruddin was a great Sufi Saint of 12th century. Purportedly before coming to Penukonda, he was a king of Sistan and Shahpur in Iran. Legend says that he was searching for a place to settle and his Guru gave him a dry twig and said to him: ..wherever this twig will bloom to a big plant stay there... He planted the twig and slept under a tree only to awake and saw it become a beautiful plant and he stayed there. He is called Babaiah by the local people and due to the love and respect he garnered, many men of various faiths have taken his name over centuries.