Puttaparthi

Puttaparthi (IAST: Puṭṭaparthy) is a municipality and district headquarters of Sri Sathya Sai district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located in Puttaparthi mandal of Puttaparthi revenue division. The original name of Puttaparthi was Gollapalli. The town is located on the banks of Chitravathi River which is a tributary of Penna River, and is surrounded by undulating hills. It is widely known for the birthplace and deathplace of the Indian spiritual leader and guru Sathya Sai Baba and his ashram, Prasanthi Nilayam.

Etymology
Puttaparthi means "village of anthills." A local legend says that a cobra snake cursed the village after being hit by a cowherder, which caused the proliferation of anthills in this area.

Demographics
Residing in the state of Andhra Pradesh, the official language in Puttaparthi is Telugu. Other common languages spoken in Puttaparthi are Tamil, Kannada, Hindi and English. Various national and international languages are understood and spoken due to the presence of national and international devotees.

According to the 2011 India census, Puttaparthi has a "total of 4368 residing families. The Puttaparthi village has population of 15088, of which 7370 are males, while 7718 are females... Puttaparthi village has higher literacy rate compared to Andhra Pradesh. In 2011, the literacy rate of Puttaparthi village was 70.43 % compared to 67.02 % of Andhra Pradesh. In Puttaparthi, male literacy stands at 78.12 % while female literacy rate was 63.20 %."

Climate
The climate is generally hot and dry throughout the year, summer temperatures ranging from 34 - 42 °C and winter 22 - 27 °C. The hotter months are from March until July and the milder months are from November until January.

The southwest monsoons play a major role in determining the climate. The northeast monsoons are responsible for about one-third of the total rainfall. Some rainfall may be expected during the months of July and August and again from October to December."

Puttaparthi is 475 meters (1558 feet) above sea level.

Road
The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) operates bus services from Puttaparthi bus station. People visit Puttaparthi from all over India, and most State transport services also supply buses to Puttaparthi.

Puttaparthi is well connected by road to Anantapur (84 km), Bangalore (154 km), Vijayawada (507 km), Tirupati (227 km), Chennai (529 km) and all parts of Anantapur district.

Rail
Puttaparthi has a railway station named as Sri Sathya Sai Prasanthi Nilayam. The Railway station was inaugurated and became functional on November 23, 2000; Sathya Sai Baba's 74th birthday. It is about 8.6 km to the west of the ashram and 4 kms south of the neighboring village of Kothacheruvu. This station falls under the Bangalore Division of the South Western Railway and lies on the Bangalore–Guntakal railway line. Travel time between the Rail station and Puttaparthi is approximately 15-25 minutes through various modes of transportion; cabs, autorickshaws and APSRTC buses. The town is connected directly by train to Bangalore, Secunderabad, Chennai, Vishakapatnam, Vijayawada, Coimbatore, Mumbai, New Delhi, Bhuvaneshwar and Kolkata. and Sri Sathya Sai Prasanthi Nilayam railway station is the 5th busiest station in Bangalore division of SWR.

Air
Puttaparthi Airport (IATA: PUT, ICAO: VOPN) is a domestic airport situated outside the village, 1 km from the Sathya Sai Baba Super Specialty Hospital. "It is a small airport with facilities for chartered flights rather than commercial aircraft. The airport was inaugurated on November 24, 1990 to serve the Super Speciality Hospital for emergency situations. The airstrip was constructed by L&T ECC. It was later extended to enable the operation of jet aircraft." It is owned by the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust and is spread over 450 acre of land, housing a runway that is 2,230 metres long.

The nearest International airport is the Kempegowda International Airport at Devanahalli, a suburb of Bangalore which is about 119 km from Puttaparthi.

Sports
Sri Sathya Sai International Centre for Sports and Sri Sathya Sai Hill View Stadium are two sporting facilities in Puttaparthi. Hill View Stadium was established in 1985 and is mainly used for cricket with a capacity of 50,000 people. The International Centre for Sports was established in 2006 with indoor facilities for Basketball, Volleyball, Tennis, Squash, Table Tennis, Badminton, Gymnastics and Yoga/Aerobics.