The historical town Rajahmundry known for great culture and legacy, lies along the left bank of Godavari just above the head of the delta. This place has the privilege of being the capital of Eastern Chalukya dynasty. According to the tradition, this town was constructed by Raja Raja Narendra, the Eastern Chalukya ruler, in 1022 A.D., and was therefore, called by various names like Raja Raja Narendrapuram, Rajamahendravaram, Rajamandiram and finally, Rajahmundry.
The town Rajahmundry was built as a walled fortress covering three hillocks, "Pushpagiri," "Kamalachalam" and "Vedadri". With the endemic upsurges of the largest South Indian River Godavari, the town was submerged time and again and was rebuilt. In this process many layers were buried into history. The walls of the fortress sank two hundred years ago. It is impossible to dig out history from under the crammed modern structures. The glory of the town reached its pinnacle during Raja Raja Narendra's time. He developed the town into a city and named it Rajamahendravaram. He had carved a niche for himself in the history of Telugu language and literature by patronizing the first Telugu poet Nannayya Bhattaraka who translated the Mahabharata into Telugu. Nannayya, aptly called "Adikavi" happened to be the father of Andhra Bhasha - a blend of Dravidian Telugu and Sanskrit.