It is a town and a municipality in Chittoor district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located on the banks of river Swarnamukhi, a tributary to river Pennar. It is also informally referred as Kalahasti. It is one of ancient Hindu piligrimages and the site of a famous Shiva temple with magnificiant gopuras, and adjacent to Tirupati, another famous temple town. It is also the house of popular textile painting art called kalamkari.