History Of Vizag
Visakhapatnam is named after the God of Valour, Visakha, the son of Shiva and Parvati and ruler of the planet Mars and the God of War. The region boasts a mention in both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. According to the Ramayana, it is the place where Lord Rama meets his devotee, Shabari, who directed him to the mountains where Hanuman lives. Rama also met Jambhavan, the half-bear half-man, who helped him in his battle against Ravana. It was also here, that Bheema was said to have defeated the demon Bakasura. The Pandava's huge stone club can be seen in the village of Uppada, about 40 km away from the main city.
500 BC to 2000 AD
Visakhapatnam is named after the God of Valour, Visakha, the son of Shiva and Parvati and ruler of the planet Mars and the God of War. The region boasts a mention in both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. According to the Ramayana, it is the place where Lord Rama meets his devotee, Shabari, who directed him to the mountains where Hanuman lives. Rama also met Jambhavan, the half-bear half-man, who helped him in his battle against Ravana. It was also here, that Bheema was said to have defeated the demon Bakasura. The Pandava's huge stone club can be seen in the village of Uppada, about 40 km away from the main city.
The City
From a tiny little fishing village in the previous century, Vizag has become an industrial hub seeing tremendous growth since India's economic liberalisation in the early 1990s. Fortunately, the city has not seen the urban sprawl that characterises many older Indian cities.
In the seventies and the eighties the city grew rapidly following major investments in the state owned Hindustan Shipyard Limited, Vizag Steel, and other large industries.