Like the names of many villages of India, the name Dornakal has some geographic significance. The word Dornakal means "a group of stones" and this meaning is applicable to the immediate locality. The word "stone," or its equivalent, is used in more than a dozen forms in the naming of the villages of the Deccan plateau. Dornakal is located on the slopes of a rock region thru which a small river flows. The stream has its source about 40 milesnorth of the village. It is the overflow of a big "natural tank" or lake, which has an area of twenty four square miles. Dornakal proper was founded some hundreds of years ago, but the new Dornakal and its extension came into prominence in the late 1800s with the advent of the railway and the mission. Dornakal was located in a forested region where tigers were quite common. The main factors in the expansion of the town is due to its position on thc main railway route to important towns; the timber of the forests; the resources of coal fields near the village; and the activities of a Christian mission, with its school for vocational training. Dornakal is in the tropical zone about 400 miles south of the Tropic of Cancer. Its altitude is less than 1,000 feet above sea level, and it is about 150 miles from the sea. Dornakal has a typical tropical , with the maximum temperatures in summer ranging between 43C to 46C and the maximum winter temperatures ranging between 31C to 32C and the coldest nights in December have temperatures between 10C-15C.
Dornakal is the Headquarters for the Diocese of Dornakal of the Church of South India and is one of the 24 dioceses of the Church of South India. It is one of the three dioceses of the Church in the state of Telangana, the other five being Karimnagar Diocese, Medak Diocese. Epiphany Cathedral is the second biggest church in the two Telugu states after the Church in Medak.
Transport
The state-run TSRTC runs buses to connect to all parts of the state. The Indian Railways is planning a high-speed link passing through Hyderabad–Dornakal–Vijayawada–Chennai. Dornakal Junction is one of the biggest railway stations in South Central Railway with continuous arrivals and departures of passenger, express and superfast trains through day and night.
