Ponnur
Ponnur in Guntur district, famous for the Bhavanarayana Swamy Temple, and the Sahasralingeswara Temple, as well as the large murthi of Hanuman here.
It was called as Swarnapuri in ancient times, and was one of the Pancha Bhavanarayana Kshetrams along with Bapatla, Pattiseema, Sarpavaram( Kakinada) and Bhavadevarapalle( Krishna dt). It's current name is a Tamil word that means City of Gold.
The most famous Temple in Ponnur is the Sakshi Bhavanarayana Swamy temple here, built by the zamindar of Amaravati, Vasireddy Venkatadri Naidu, who had also renovated the temples at Amaravati, Mangalagri, Chebrolu, Bapatla too. As per the Sthala Purana, Kesavayya a resident of Nanduru village nearby, prayed along with his nephew Govindu at the Bhavanarayana Temple in Kashi for children. However Govindu took a promise that if a daughter was born, she would be married to him.
Later Keshavayya had a daughter named Akkalakshmi, but he refused to honor the promise made to Govindu. When Govindu prayed to Bhavanarayana, he agreed to come all the way from Kashi as a witness. However on nearing Ponnur, Govindu turned back to see if Bhavanarayana was really following him, breaking the condition that he should never look back. The place where he disappeared is believed to be the site of the temple, hence called Sakshi Bhavanarayana.
It's believed during the 10th century, a local chieftain, Nandyala Naraparaju, suffering from a tumor, was on a pilgrimage hoping to get it cured, and rested at Ponnur for some time, where Bhavanarayana appeared to him in a dream. Bhavanarayana asked Naraparaju to retrieve his murthi from an ant hill nearby and worship it, following which his tumor would also be cured. He obeyed the orders building a small garba gruha for Vishnu here.
The Bhavanarayana Temple complex also has a temple dedicated to Kasi Visheswhara, who is believed to have also come with him here. While his consort Rajyalakshmi Devi is worshipped here, along with Vishalakashi.
The other famous temple in Ponnur is Sahasra Lingeshwara, whose foundation was laid in 1938 by Sadguru Jagannadha Swamy and consecreated in 1955. The temple gets it's name from the 1000 Shiva Lingas here.
The Sahasra Lingeshwara temple is quite a large complex with other temples dedicated to Hanuman, Garuda, Kalabhairava, Venkateswara and the Dasavataram making it worth a visit. Of special significance is the Veeranjaneya Temple, with it's massive murthi of Hanuman about 20 feet tall, 12 feet wide, which is visited by a large number of devotees, and is worth a visit.
There is also an equally large murthi of Garuda in the same complex, around 30 feet tall, 15 feet wide, as well as a statue of Vasireddy Venkatadri Naidu who renovated the temples in Ponnur.
Apart from the 2 main temples, there are also other temples in Ponnur, dedicated to Varasiddhi Vinayaka, Kanakadurga Ammavaru, Thotamma Thalli making it one of the well known temple towns.