Nagarjunasagar, a massive irrigation project on the River Krishna, about 150 Km from Hyderabad , has a rich and interesting past. It was a valley in the Nallamala range of the Eastern Ghats with civilizations dating back to thousand of years. recorded history, however, assigns the first signs to the later Satavahanas and subsequently the Ilkshvakus in the third century.

The Sriparvata and Vijaypuri of yore were really temples where the famous savant and Bhuddist disciple Archarya Nagarjuna preached the message of the Buddha.

The historic location takes its name from the Buddhist saint and scholar Acharya Nagarjuna who is said to have set up a centre of learning here. Today, Nagarjuna Sagar is home to Nagarjuna Sagar Dam - the world's tallest masonry dam that irrigates over 10 lakh acres of land. 

It was during the building of the dam that the ruins of an ancient Buddhist civilisation were excavated here. Some of the relics unearthed have been carefully preserved on a picturesque island called Nagarjuna Konda, located in the centre of a man-made lake. The vestiges of a sacred Buddhist 
stupa, vihara, monastries, a university and a sacrificial altar have been carefully reconstructed at Anupu on the east bank of the reservoir