Aarella is the family name of group of people living in the village of Bandarlapalle and places around it in the Chitoor district of Andhra Pradesh.They belong to the Hindu Kuruba Gowda Caste and claim their descent from the chieftains of the Vijayanagara Empire.

Aarella means six fingers in Telugu, ancestors of the Aarella family had supposedly had six fingers in their hands, which was considered as auspicious, powerful and lucky. Little is known about the past of the family or how they happened to settle down in a remote village.

One theory is that after the fall of Vijayanagara Empire the kingdom was split into smaller regions ruled by local kings and chieftains. Aarellas probably migrated down south to one such kingdom after the fall of Vijayanagar Empire. They gradually lost prominence as Nizam founded the kingdom of Hyderabad and controlled his kingdom by giving powers to collect taxes to people of other castes.

Today Aarellas are one of the prosperous families in the region involved in different professions ranging from Farmers to Teachers, Engineers, Politicians, Doctors and Poets.