Machilipatnam is known for its Kalamkari textiles and paintings created using vegetable dyes. As a kalam (pen) is used in the technique of painting, it was named "Kalamkari Painting". During the 17th century, western traders were attracted by this art.
The city is also well-known for its sweet dish called Bandar Laddu.[4][5][6]
The Andhra Pradesh coast between Ongole and Machilipatnam is most vulnerable to high surges due to cyclones. Andhra Cyclone of 14-20 November, 1977 that crossed the coast near Nizampatnam took a toll of about 10,000 lives. As the storm approached the coast, gale winds reaching 200 km/h lashed Prakasam, Guntur, Krishna, East Godavari and West Godavari districts. Storm surge, 5 meters high, inundated Krishna estuary and the coast south of Machilipatnam. The 2004 Tsunami affected many fishing villages around Machilipatnam. The Government and the NGOs are involved in rebuilding and reconstruction of the devastated villages.
History
Machilipatnam was a flourishing seaport on the east coast during the time of the Satavahanas. Periplus mentioned that a great quantity of muslins are made in Masalia. The word 'muslin' originated from the name 'Masalia'. In the 17th century CE, the port was a centre of French, British and Dutch trade. It is one of the earliest known British settlements in the subcontinent of India, its importance being due to the fact that it was the major port of Golconda kingdom. It was the British East India Company's first trading post on the Coromandel coast. An agency was established there in 1611 CE. During the wars of the Carnatic, the English were temporarily expelled from the town, which was held by the French for some years. In 1759 CE the town and fort were captured by Colonel Forde, an achievement followed by the acquisition of the Northern Circars (q.v.). In 1864 a great storm-wave swept over the entire town and is said to have destroyed 30,000 lives. Machilipatnam is well known for its Kalamkari painting. The art flourished during the reign of Qutub Shahis. Weavers form a large portion of the inhabitants, though their trade has greatly declined since the beginning of the 19th century. Their operations, besides weaving, include printing, bleaching, washing and dressing. In former days the chintzes of Masulipatam had a great reputation abroad for the freshness and permanency of their dyes. The port is only a roadstead, where vessels anchor 5 m. out. A branch line from Vijayawada on the Southern Mahratta railway was opened in 1908. The port of Machilipatnam today is in desperate need for modernization. It has not seen any ships in the last decade. In its heyday, the port used to handle export of different items weighing more than 2.7 lakh tonnes and imports of 37,000 tonnes. Much needs to be done to bring the city back to its glory.[7] In January 2006, Government of Andhra Pradesh revealed plans for reviving the Machilipatnam port at a cost of Rs. 1200 crores. It has allocated 6000 acres (24 km²) of land for the project.[8]
'Masulipatnam and Cambay', a book by Sinnappah Arasaratnam and Aniruddha Ray, published by Munshiram Manoharlal, talks about the pre-colonial history of the two port towns, Masulipatnam and Cambay. It was published in India in 1994.
Geography
Machilipatnam is located at 
16.17° N 81.13° E[9] on the southeast coast of India and in the east corner of Andhra Pradesh. The city has an average elevation of 14 meters (45 feet).
[edit] Climate
Machilipatnam gets annual rainfall due to the southwest monsoon. The climate is tropical in nature with hot summers and moderate winters. The hottest months are between April and June. The average normal rainfall in the district is 102 cm.
Machilipatnam is frequently hit by cyclones due to low pressure created by the southwest monsoon. On 8 December 2004, a high capacity S-Band Doppler radar meant for cyclone warning was installed, commissioned and made operational at the city.[10] It was purchased from a German manufacturer, Gematronik.
With the installation of the radar, the state will be better equipped to track down cyclones by the onset of monsoon, according to an official from the State Met Office talking to the The Hindu newspaper. This facility will monitor 960 km long coastline of the state.[11]
The radar's information is posted real-time on the Indian Meteorological Department website. Similar radars were installed in other coastal cities forming a S-Band Cyclone Detection Radar Network.[12]
[edit] Layout
For administrative purposes, Machilipatnam falls into Bandar revenue division of the Krishna District. It is a special grade municipality with 34 panchayats and 28 villages. The city area covers an area of 27 kilometres (10 miles).
[edit] Administration
It is governed by the Collector and the District Magistrate of the Krishna district.
[edit] Economy
Machilipatnam has many small scale industries.
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- Fashion Gold (also called rolled gold) ornaments are made here. Famous gold covering companies are National gold, Uma gold Raja gold and etc. are the pillar of fashion gold industries in Machilipatnam.
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- Agriculture is the most important occupation, paddy being the main food crop produced.
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- Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), a unit of the Union Defence Ministry, of Government of India, has a manufacturing unit here.[13] BEL is involved in design, development and manufacture of sophisticated, state-of-the art electronic equipments that are used by Indian Defence Services and para military organisations.
[edit] Arts and Crafts
The Kalamkari fabrics of Machilipatnam and Kalahasti with their intricate designs, are used in clothing and wall hangings. Kalamkari refers to dye-painted cloths and the technique used to create them. Their name derives from kalam, the Persian word for a pen-like tool used to draw outlines on the cloth, and kari (work). Fabrics are outlined with a cotton-tipped bamboo stick and dyed in vegetable or mineral colours. The process involves washing, rinsing, soaking and bleaching muslin, and applying mordants and dyes using natural substances like indigo for blue, madder for red, mango bark and dried myrobalan fruit for yellow, palm sugar and rusted iron for black. The dyeing process is very elaborate and can take several days to complete. While some pieces are hand-drawn, large canvas and sheets are block-printed. Kalahasti is noted for its wall hangings depicting mythological tales and characters, while Machilipatnam for the block-painted large prints used for sarees.
The work done in Machilipatnam, often using block printing in conjunction with hand painting, features more decorative floral and vegetal designs that appealed to local kingdoms and to an extraordinary export trade. This culminated in European demand for Machilipatnam chintz, which derives its name from the Hindi word chint (spotted).
Kalahasti, is known for the distinctive temple hangings, chariot decorations and canopies of typically feature Hindu stories, and the images are often identified with text in Telugu, the regional language.
[edit] Demographics
As of 2001 India census,[14] Machilipatnam had a population of 183,370.Present population(2007) rose to 305,043. Males constitute 50% of the population and females 50%. Machilipatnam has an average literacy rate of 69%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 73%, and female literacy is 65%. In Machilipatnam, 10% of the population is under 6 years of age.
[edit] Culture
People in Machilipatnam practice Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. Hindus and Christians speak Telugu and the Muslims tend to speak Urdu. Women of all cultures and faith communities in Machilipatnam typically wear the traditional Indian dress, the sari - sometimes Shalwar Qamis.
[edit] Kuchipudi
Kuchipudi, a popular Indian Classical Dance form originated at Kuchipudi, 25 kilometres from Machilipatnam. The dance form is in practice in Machilipatnam.
[edit] Tourism
Machilipatnam is a city with a rich history of foreign conquests, business and trade. The beaches in Machilipatnam are long, broad, pristine, with pale blonde sands.
- Manginapudi Beach, a beach side fishing hamlet, located at a distance of 11 km from Machilipatnam, is well known for its scenic beauty and also as a historic port city. During its heyday this port served as a gateway to India. The beach has a natural bay with shallow waters. The unique feature of this beach is that instead of sand it contains black soil.
- Thousands of pilgrims take a holy dip in the sea, at the beach, during an annual Hindu festival called Khartika poornima.
- A full fledged dance school at the beach, offers courses that train students in the Kuchipudi, popular dance form.
- Carting the visitors with the old lighthouse, Dattashram on the banks of sea coast is a pilgrimage site. Dattashram has an ancient Shiva temple and Datta temple that was recently built. Manginapudi is popularly known as "Datta Rameswaram" due to the consecration of 9 wells to bath, as in Rameswaram.[15]
- Panduranga Swamy temple at Chilakalapudi, near the city, close to the Manginapudi Beach, is a famous piligrimage site. It is a temple of Lord Vishnu, said to be similar to the temple at Pandaripur.
- Ghantasala, 21 km from Machilipatnam, it has the remains of an old Buddhist stupa.
- Agastheeswara Temple, 36 km from Machilipatnam, is a temple of Lord Shiva, a piligrimage site. Lord Shiva at this temple is called by the name, Ekaratri Mallikarjunaswamy. An annual festival is celebrated at this temple when the deities are taken out in procession.
- Gudivada, North west of Machilipatnam, visitors are attracted by the old ruins of the stupas.
Further up the coast of Machilipatnam there are five temples dedicated to Lord Shiva. These ancient temples are located at Amravati, Samalkot, Bhimavaram, Draksharama and Chebrolu.
- Shivaganga temple is one of the oldest temples located on the Avanigadda road attracts tourists and devotees all through the year. On Shivratri major celebrations are carried out by the temple trustees.
[edit] Transport
[edit] Road Transport
Another important city in Krishna district is Vijayawada which is 65 km. away but because of traffic congestion it takes 2 hours by road. Even after 50 years of independence Machilipatnam internal roads didn't see improvement. Main Roads are Broadened in to four lanes.
[edit] Rail Transport
Machilipatnam is connected to Vijayawada, south central railway important railway station and junction that connects all over india. There are eleven passenger trains to Vijayawada, one fast passenger to Visakhapatnam, and two express trains to Secunderabad and Tirupathi.
[edit] Sea Transport
[edit] Development
The main problem with the town's development is the lack of it! The main reason for the backwardness of this great city could be that the next city Vijayawada became a parallel administrative center for Krishna district.
Second major thrust area is shifting all the auto repair units to a centralised locality so that the main roads and other smaller roads are decongested. This because most (99%) of these units have no garage facility to repair the automobiles brought in by the clients. Thus more often than not, the roads are used as open air garages to park, repair and to clean the vehicles. This in turn causes tremendous inconvenience to the general public and school children. Although there was an effort by Late Shri Puppala Lakshmana Rao and others to develop an Autonagar in Machilipatnam area, this had run into bad weather due to the apathy of the people's representatives. Almost 100 acres of land had been bought and been given to APIIC (Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation). But until now, there is no development in this area.
[edit] Media
The city receives television and radio transmissions from Hyderabad and the rest of country.
All major print media are in circulation here. The major Telugu dailies include the Eenadu, Vaartha, Andhra Jyoti, Andhra Bhoomi and Andhra Prabha. The major English dailies are The Deccan Chronicle, Business Standard, The Hindu, The Times of India, The Indian Express and The Economic Times.
The town also receives numerous channels transmitted from Bombay, Hyderabad and elsewhere. However there is a pressing need for channels which can bring awareness to the population about the problems of the town.
[edit] Education
Machilipatnam has a high literacy rate. It has public (state-run) and private-run schools.
- AndhraJateeyaKalasala (National College) affiliated to Nagarjuna University. It offers from 5th Class to Degree and B.Ed and ITI. The college was established by Dr.PattabhiSitaRamaiah.
- St. Francis English Medium High School - Christian missionary run school provides education from kindergarten to the higher secondary level affiliated with ICSE, New Delhi.
- HYNY High School and Elementary School, an aided school and run by missionaries from Finland. Miss A.E. Hyny is the founder of this school.
- Sri Venkateswara Public School, an affiliated institute to the Hindu College, Machilipatnam, is the only CBSE school in the city until the Kendriya Vidyalaya came up. The School has set high standards for education by providing NCERT (central) syllabus.
- Sharon High School, provides education from kindergarten to the higher secondary level, Mrs Indira Deenabandu was the founder of this school.
- Nirmala High School, a Christian missionary run school provides education from kindergarten to the higher secondary level.
- Noble College, founded in 1843 is University Grants Commission (UGC) approved and offers graduation studies.[16]
- Andhra Jaateeya Kalasala founded in 1910 by local freedom fighters, is University Grants Commission (UGC) approved and offers graduation studies.[16]
- Hindu College was established in 1928. It is affiliated to Nagarjuna University and offers graduation studies. It is a University Grants Commission (UGC) approved college.[16]
- Sri Venkateswara Hindu College Of Engineering was established in 1980. It offers engineering degrees in civil, electrical and electronics, electronics and communication and mechanical engineering divisions and business studies.
- Viswabharati vidyalama is the oldest Telugu medium school.
- Jaihind Hind High school founded on 15 August 1947 is a famous school situated near Inugudurupet having two branches
- St. Mary's A.A.M.M High school (short for Adi Andhra Madana Mohana and also known as 'RATNA HIGH SCHOOL') is one of the oldest schools located in Machavaram area.
- Gandhi Vidyalaya is a famous school situated at Balaramunipet, It is a government aided public school.
- Anniebesant Sisu Vidya Mandiram is a famous telugu medium school situated at Edepally.
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