Tanuku

Tanuku, West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, India. It was known as Tarakapura in ancient times. The name comes from Tarakasena, who ruled over Tanuku and the adjoining regions. Dr. Karumuri Venkata Nageswara Rao is the current MLA.

It is little known that this town is one of the few centres in the country to produce and supply UDMH-MMH According to some accounts Tanuku was the capital of Tarakapuri, the kingdom of Tarakasura, king of Asuras (demons). Tarkasena is often referred to as Tarakasura ("Taraka" + "Asura"). Asuras are demons, and Tarakasena was likely made a demon after his defeat in a great war between him and Lord Kumaraswamy (Subramania swamy), the son of Lord Shiva and Parvathi. He happened to be the son-in-law of Indra who was invaded by Tarakasura over an insult meted out to him. Many villages derive their name from this war. The place where Lord Kumaraswamy landed on earth is now called Komaravaram. Illindra Parru is the place where Indra stayed, and the place where all the angels stayed is now known as Velpuru (Place of Angels). The place where Uraga Raju resided is known as Undrajavaram. The place where the goddess Vijayalakshmi resided is known as Mahalakshmi Cheruvu, and the place where the holy priests resided is today called Vipparru. Thus Tanukus history goes way back to ancient Vedic times.