Cumbum is a town and a Mandal in Prakasam district in the state of Andhra Pradesh

Geography

Cumbum is located at 15.5667°N 79.1167°E. It has an average elevation of 184 meters (606 ft). This township is under Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh. It was a Taluk with a Tahsildar and a small regiment during 1850s in Madras Presidency. Due to the harsh climate, and specially due to the incidence of malaria, the British regiment was closed down and moved.

History of town and Cumbum Tank

Cumbum Lake, also known as Gundalakamma Lake, built on Gundalakamma rivulet uponNallamala hills, is one of the oldest man made lakes of Asia.It is second largest irrigated lake in Asia. It is said that the lake was built by sage Jamadagni at the opening between two hills of Nallamala range. But history records that the anicut (dam) was built by theGajapati, kings of Orissa in 15th Century AD while the area was under their control. It was subsequently renovated by the Vijayanagar Princess Varadharajamma wife of King Sri Krishnadevaraya.

The lake in its present form is about 7 km long and on average, about 3.5 km wide. The Imperial Gazette of India, at the turn of 20th century, puts the height of the dam at 57 feet (17 m) and the drainage area at 430 square miles (1,100 km²). The directly irrigated land was about 10,300 acres (42 km²) in all.^[3]

Cumbum lake is accessible both by the rail from Cumbum railway station and by road from Nandyal, Giddalur, Ongole and Kadapa. It is one of the most picturesque valleys in the Guntur-Nandyal-Guntakal section of South Central Railway. The Bogada and Chelama rail tunnel, one of the longest in broad gauge line, (1.6 km)are situated near this station. Cumbum tank, formed by damming the Gundlakamma river by earthen bund, which is the highest in the Presidency (80 ft), with 100 yards length. The tank spreads over an area of 9 square miles (23 km²), and irrigates 6,944 acres (28.10 km²) with over 3,500 acres (14 km²) being second cropped in a good year. A more successful work is the Cumbum tank, formed under native rule by damming a gorge of the Gundlakamma river. A water-colour painting  of Cumbum tank on the Gundlakamma River painted by an unknown artist in March 1794 is still preserved at the British Library.

Cumbum town is now rapidly developed having educational institutions and commercial banks. It would be better to take initiation to develop Cumbum Tank as a tourist place considering wide and ancient tank bund with beautiful scenario like green crops, beautiful long railway track and hills inside the tank which can be viewed standing from Tank Bund. If the tank is full of water, boat shire will be good entertinement to attract visitors. Renovation of Guest House on Tank Bund has to be taken up by government. Approach road on the foot of the hill need to be formed with Tar. Cumbum Tank is versatile to recognize as a historical and tourist place in the district since it was built nearly 400 years ago.

Transport (Roads and Railways)

State high ways Vinukonda-Nandyal and Kadapa roads, the Vijayawada-Guntakal pass through the town. Direct buses are available to Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai where booking can be done in APSRTC reservation website. Union government accepted to convert this state high way into 4 lane National High way till Renigunta via Bestavarapet, Kaningiri, Rapuru and Venkatagiri. Railway lane of Guntur division in South Central Railway passes through the town connecting to cities Bangalore, Hyderabad, Hubli, Vasco-Da-Gama, Guntur,Vijayawada, Machilipatnam, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, Palasa, Bhubaneswar and HowrahKolkata. Most popular trains commuting via Cumbum Railway station are Prashanthi Express, Amaravathi Express, Howrah Express, Kondaveedu Express, Guntur - Secunderabad fast passenger. The Railway Ministry had accepted for Cumbum - Proddatur railway lane in 2010 and 2013 Railway budgets and a survey was underway.

Train Departures from CBM/Cumbum railway station

 No.       Name                         Type    Zone   PF      Departure Days                                         Scheduled departure time

 17212  Yesvantpur - Machilipatnam      Exp     SCR     1       S       -       -       W       -       F       -       0:06

 18464  Prasanti Express                Exp     ECoR    1       S       M       T       W       T       F       S       1:00

 56504  Vijayawada Yesvantapur          Pass    SWR     ??      S       M       T       W       T       F       S       1:40

 57305  Kacheguda Guntur Fas...         Pass    SCR     ??      S       M       T       W       T       F       S       3:42

 57624  Guntur Kacheguda Pas...         Pass    SCR     ??      S       M       T       W       T       F       S       8:55

 57327  Dhone - Guntur Passe...         Pass    SCR     ??      S       M       T       W       T       F       S       10:20

 56502  Hubli Vijayawada Pas...         Pass    SWR     ??      S       M       T       W       T       F       S       12:18

 56501  Vijayawada Hubli Pas...         Pass    SWR     ??      S       M       T       W       T       F       S       12:27

 57328  Guntur Dhone Passeng...         Pass    SCR     ??      S       M       T       W       T       F       S       15:56

 57623  Kacheguda-Guntur Pas...         Pass    SCR     ??      S       M       T       W       T       F       S       17:30

 17211  Machilipatnam - Yesvant         Exp     SCR     ??      -       M       -       W       -       F       -       20:40

 57306  Guntur Secunderabad ...         Pass    SCR     ??      S       M       T       W       T       F       S       21:25

 17226  Amaravati Express               Exp     SCR     ??      -       M       -       W       -       -       S       21:45

 18048  Amaravati Express               Exp     SER     ??      S       -       T       -       T       F       -       21:45

 18047  Amaravati Express               Exp     SER     ??      S       -       T       W       -       F       -       22:50

 17225  Amaravati Express               Exp     SCR     ??      -       M       -       -       T       -       S       22:50

 18463  Prasanti Express                Exp     ECoR    ??      S       M       T       W       T       F       S       23:15

 56503  Yesvantapur-Vijayawada          Pass    SWR     ??      S       M       T       W       T       F       S       23:28

Please refer to Indian Railways website for accurate information. Indian Railways

Cumbum Mandal in Census 2011

Cumbum mandal showed a very good growth indicators in the Census 2011. According to census of India, Cumbum mandal has been recognized as the second highest in literacy in Praksam district literacy having 73.55% literates after Ongole Mandal. Also third highest sex ratio in Prakasam district having 1031 female population per 1000 males.

Entertinement

Cumbum tank bund, 3 km away from Cumbum town is a picnic spot for weekends. Visitors used to have group lunches on tank-bund. People enjoy beautiful scenery, green fields, hills, railway track, sunrise and sunset visible from tank-bund. Waves of water, inside hills are special attraction of Cumbum tank and can spend entire day on this tank. Cumbum lake is accessible both by the rail from Cumbum railway station and by road from Nandyal, Giddalur, Ongole and Kadapa. It is one of the most picturesque valleys in the Guntur-Nandyal-Guntakal section of South Central Railway.

Cumbum has 3 movie theaters named Victory theater, Star theater and Sri Venkateswara theater exibiting 4 shows in a day. There are many walking clubs in the town. People used to walk in small groups along the high way near Railway Station in the evening and early morning. Government junior college has a big playground. Students play cricket in this ground. Local cricket tournaments are most popular which are conducted periodically.

Commercial Banks in Cumbum                                                                                                              

·                    State Bank of IndiaFollowing banks are rendering customer services in Cumbum.

·                    Andhra Bank

·                    Syndicate Bank

·                    State Bank of Hyderabad

·                    The Cumbum Cooperative Town Bank

·                    Andhra Pragathi Grameena Bank

Educational Institutions in Cumbum

·                    Sri Ranga Raju Educational Institutions

·                    Government Degree College

·                    Government Junior College

·                    SVKP Polytechnic College

·                    Sri Harsha women's Degree College

·                    SVKP Degree College

·                    Vasavi MBA and MCA College

·                    Chegireddy Lingareddy Institute of Computer Applications

·                    St.John College of Education

·                    Goutham College of Education

·                    MG College of Education

·                    S.L.V. College of Education

Apart from college education, there are a number of primary schools. The following are high schools of which few are dedicated to girl students only.

·                    Government High School

·                    Z.P.High School (Girls)

·                    AP Social Welfare Residential School, Kandulapuram road

·                    Sri Ranga Raju High school

·                    S.S Aided High School, Nehrunagar

·                    S.K.R.High School, Kandulapuram

·                    Vignana Bharathi High School

·                    S.S.S. unaided High School

·                    Radha unaided Girls High School

·                    V V N E M School, Ravipadu Road

·                    P V N unaided High School

·                    Harsha Public School

·                    Brilliant English Medium High School

·                    Alfa High School

·                    Krupamrutha Public School

·                    Sri Bramaramba High School

·                    anjaneya swamy temple

Cumbum as an Assembly Constituency

The town is earstwhile an assembly constituency till 2009 in Andhra Pradesh. There were 145,224 registered voters in Cumbum constituency in 1999 elections.

List of Elected Members:

·                    1978 - Kandula Obula Reddy

·                    1985 - Vudumula Venkata Reddy

·                    1994 - Chappidi Vengaiah

·                    1983, 1989 and 1999 - Kandula Nagarjuna Reddy

·                    2004 - Vudumula Srinivasulu Reddy

·                    2009 - Anna Rambabu (Cumbum constituency was reorganized and merged in Giddalur constituency)

Starting 2009, Cumbum will cease to be an assembly constituency because of the re-alignment undertaken by the Election Commission.

Personalities

There were famous historical personalities from Cumbum and its surrounding villages

·                    Sri Syama Sastry: The music trinities of South India Sri Syama Sastri, Sri Muthuswami Dikshidhar and Sri Thyagaraja Swamikal were contemporaries. Syama Sastri was the eldest among the three. He belonged to Smartha vadama family who were settled in Cumbum in Prakasam district. They learned the scriptures and were doing veda adhyayanam and were leading a pious life. Later they came down to Tamil Nadu and settled at Kanchipuram.

·                    Sri Giriraja ( 17th century): Tyagaraja was the grandson of Giriraja Kavi, a Sanskrit poet in the Tanjore Court and son of Rama Brahman also attached to the Court. His mother was Santamma or Sitamma. When he sang his 'Sitamma mayamma - Sri Ramuduma tandri' (Lalitha), one could appreciate the dual relevance of the piece. Rama Brahman was a vocalist and veena player. Giriraja came from Kakarla village, Cumbum taluk in Prakasam district. Tyagaraja was born on May 4, 1767 according to one tradition (Sarvahit, Chitra, 27th Monday), and in 1759 according to another at Tiruvarur.