Karvetinagar - Sri Venugopalaswamy Alayam

The origin of the Karvetinagar estate bears a striking resemblance to that of Vijayanagara empire founded by Hakka and Bukka, the treasurers serving Pratapa Rudra of Kakatiya empire. This region was ruled by the kings of polar dynasty with capital at Narayanavanam. It so happened in the dim past that the then king found the strange phenomenon of rabbits chasing the dogs dining his hunting expedition. Deeming it to be the heroic nature of soil, he decided to build a big town and transfer his capital from Narayanavanam. Clearing the primal thick forest, he founded the present town; and named it Karvetinagar as there was a temple for grama devata called Karveti. Another version affirms that the name has a flavour at Tamil culture, since the founder built the town after clearing the forest 'Kadu' the Tamil word for forest, and Vetti means to cut, and nagar stands for town. When combined Kadu + vetti + nagar, it became Kadu vetti nagar and later it became Karvetinagar. Though fantastic, it is found credible.

The kings were great patrons of arts and architecture and their court poets wrote many classics and dedicated them to the kings. The kings were devout theists and built many temples and caused big tanks to be dug for public weal. It is said that the Tiruttani temple tank was dug by King Venkataperuman, and he died before the completion of Tiruttani temple.

Among the temples built by the kings, the Venugopalaswamy Alayam is worthy of mention. It is fairly a big temple with all the essential parts. It contains many mini-shrines for parivaradevathas and niches for the adorable gods. The sculptors of great eminence were engaged and hence the superb craftsmanship peeping at the visitors from every finely chiseled pieces. The principal icon Venugopalaswamy in standing posture with flute in hands mesmerizes the viewers with its exquisite artistry. Regular worship is offered and the periodical festivals are celebrated on a grand scale.

It lies 12 km off Puttur on the Chittoor-Puttur bus route of Andhra Pradesh, accessible by four wheelers.

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