Ayinavalli: Eight miles north of Amalápuram, population 3,363. Its temple to the belly-god Siddhi Vináyaka is well known to the people of this and adjoining districts, and vows are frequently made therein, scarcely a day passing when pilgrims do not visit it to discharge their obligations by breaking cocoanuts before the god. The temple is supposed to have been built to propitiate the belly-god by Daksha, the father-in-law of Siva, before he performed the famous yágam at Drákshárámam referred to in the account of that place on p. 250 below. Ayinavalli is also well known to natives as the birth-place of two famous Sanskrit pandits, Bulusu Achayya and his son Pápayya Sástri, who died not long ago.
It has a hamlet called Muktésvaram ('the place of beatitude') or Kshana Muktésvaram ('the place of instantaneous beatitude') and the names are accounted for by a local legend. The wife of a sage, says this story, was seduced by some celestial being and cursed in consequence by her husband. She purified herself by a bath in the Gódávari and took to a life of contemplation. Ráma, when returning from Lanka, took compassion on her forlorn state and persuaded Siva to give her mukti or beatitude,
Bandárulanka: Four miles west by north of Amalápuram. Population 2,796. The village is known for the manufacture of excellent white cloths. Some 200 Dévánga houses are engaged in the industry, and use thread of the finer counts, up to 130s.
Bendamúrlanka: Twelve miles by road south-south-west of Amalápuram. It is a hamlet of Komaragiripatnam (population 5,757) and contains a police-station, a travellers' bungalow and a vernacular lower secondary school for girls. It is situated at the mouth of the Vainatéyam branch of the Gódávari, and was selected as the site of an English factory in 1751. This was seized without resistance by Bussy in 1757, but was recovered after the battle of Condore, It was once an important centre for the trade with Europe in cotton piece-goods. Bendamúrlanka is still technically a port; but has no harbour and has not been visited by any ships for a long time.
Gannavaram: Nine miles west by north of Amalápuram. Population 2,101. Contains a small market and a travellers' bungalow. It gives its name to the fine aqueduct which crosses the Vainatéyam Gódávari there and is described in Chapter IV. According to the local legend, it was at Gannavaram that the sage Vainatéya stole some of the water of the Vasishta Gódávari to make the river of his own which goes by his
