Mangalagiri is a major Sub-urban of Vijayawada in Guntur district of Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The town is a part of Mangalagiri Tadepalli Municipal Corporation and part of Tenali revenue division. It and a part of Andhra Pradesh Capital Region. It is situated on National Highway 16 between Vijayawada and Guntur.
Ten villages namely Chinakakani, Kaza, Nutakki, Chinavadlapudi, Pedavadlapudi, Ramachandrapuram, Atamakuru, Nowluru, Yerrabalem, Nidamarru, Bethapudi are merged into Mangalagiri Tadepalli Municipal Corporation. The issue of the merger of the villages is now pending in the court.
Mangalagiri translates to The Auspicious Hill (Mangala = Auspicious, Giri = Hill) in the local language. It was derived from the name Totadri. During Vijayanagara Kingdom rule, it was also known as Mangala Nilayam.
Mangalagiri was under the control of Golkonda Nawabs for a long period. It was plundered in 1780 by Hyder Jung but could not be conquered. In 1816, a gang of Pindaris again looted the place. It slowly recovered from these two attacks during the time of Raja Vasireddy Venkatadri Nayudu who ruled the place from Amaravati. There is a big koneru (tank) in the center of the place which went dry in 1882. As many as 9,840 guns and 44 bullets which might have been related to Pindaris have been found here after the Pindaris looted this place. The picturesque hill was visited by the great Sri Krishna Deva Raya.
In the 1970s there was huge water scarcity in Mangalagiri. Goli Gopala Rao, the then Municipal Chairman of Mangalagiri, brought water to the town through water pipelines and he was called “Apara Baghiratha” due to his services to the public.
