Kolleru Lake - History

History

Two copper plates of the early Pallava dynasty have been found in the lake, traces its history to Langula Narasimha Deva(Langulya Gajapathi Raju) an Ganga Vanshi Orissa king, (Oddiya/Oriya raju) . According to legend, the Gajapathi fort was located at Kolleti Kota on one of the eastern islands of the lake. The enemy general "muhammadan" (probably a bahamany general encamped at "Chiguru kota" located on the shores. In some ways, the lake protected the Oriya forces. The enemy finally try to excavated a channel, the modern-day Upputeru, so that the water of the lake would empty into the sea and the level would fall so that they could attack the Gajapathi fort. The royal Oriya army general sacrificed his own daughter to propitiate Gods and ensure his success against Muhammadan and her name was "Perantala Kanama". Therefore the channel was called Perantala Kanama.Sri Peddinti Ammavari Temple is one of the oldest and famous temples found in kolleru.The Suryavanshi Gajapatis of Orissa, on the height of their power in the 15th century, ruled over a kingdom extending from the Ganges river in the north to the Kaveri in the south under Gajapati Kapilendra Deva. But by the early 16th century, the Gajapatis lost great portions of their southern dominion to Vijayanagar and Golconda.The Gajapatis were a medieval Hindu Suryavamsi dynasty of Kalinga- Utkal Orissa who ruled large parts of Andhra Pradesh,West Bengal, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. During the glorious reign of Kapilendra deva, the first Suryavamsi Gajapati emperor,the boundary of the Kalinga empire(Ancient Orissa) stretched from river Ganges in North to Kaveri in South and from Amarkantak in West to Bay of Bengal(Kalinga Sagara) in east.This lake has disastering story regarding a quotation many people use it when they lost everything "Na kompa kolleru aiyindi " it meant that back in 50's many of the people of Telaprolu village head family's belongs to KAPU and REDDY's has invested and buyed lands near kolleru lake due to expansion of lake they lost all their properties its disastering period Reddy's of village laid them and provided support to them.