Nandyal has a population of 2,00,516 and a literacy rate of over 76 percent. Telugu is the major spoken language. The city comes under the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh, which as per the 2011 census has a total population of 4 million and a literacy rate of 60 percent. 50 percent of the population is part of the workforce, out of which 66 percent are engaged in agriculture, 3 percent in the household industry and 31 percent in services and industry. The region is a good agricultural belt since Nandyal is located to the west of the River Kundu and is surrounded by the dense forests of the Nallamala hills to the east. It is rich in resources like granite and marble, with the granite mines lying to the south. There are many rice and oil mills and milk, soft drinks, sugar and PVC pipe industries. Nandyal was originally named Nandalluru, derived from the name of Lord Shivas Vehicle Nandi. Aalaya means a house or a dwelling in Sanskrit and the city was surrounded by Nine Temples and Nandi Statues known as Nava Nandi. These nine temples are Garudanandi, Krishnanandi or Vishnunandi, Mahanandi, Naganandi, Prathamanandi, Shivanandi, Somanandi, Suryanandi and Vinayakanandi. The Sri Yaganti Uma Maheswara Temple near Nandyal houses the worlds largest Nandi idol. Nandyal has been a famous pilgrimage site since the time of Vijayanagar Kingdom.
