Durgi is a village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 and mandal

Subdivisions of India

The Administrative divisions of India are Indian subnational administrative units; they compose a nested hierarchy of country subdivisions. Indian states and territories frequently use different local titles for the same level of subdivision The Administrative divisions of India are Indian...

 in the Palnadu

Palnadu

Palnadu is the northern region of Guntur District in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Also known as Pallava Nadu, it occupies an important place in Telugu history. After the decline of the Satavahana dynasty, the Pallavas became independent in Krishna river valley. The region is known as...

 region of Guntur district

Guntur district

Guntur district is located in Andhra Pradesh along the east coast of Bay of Bengal. The district has a coastline of around 100 kilometers. Guntur City is the largest city in the district and administrative center of Guntur District. The district is a major center for learning.-Etymology:There are...

 in Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...

 state of southern India.

Attraction

Durgi stone craft originated here in the 15th century.
At that time sculptors preferred soft limestone to the more expensive granite

Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

 to carve idols

Cult image

In the practice of religion, a cult image is a human-made object that is venerated for the deity, spirit or daemon that it embodies or represents...

.

Today commercial demand for the stone carvings has resulted in the sculptors creating more simple, utilitarian designs than in times past. Craftsmen sell items such as paperweights and lampshades to individuals and dealers.