Aurangabad

For other uses, see Aurangabad (disambiguation).

Aurangabad
Metropolis
Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar
Nickname: 
City of Gates
Map
Aurangabad in Maharashtra
Coordinates: 19°53′N 75°19′E / 19.88°N 75.32°E / 19.88; 75.32
Country India
State Maharashtra
DistrictAurangabad
Established1610; 414 years ago (1610)
Founded byMalik Ambar
Named for• Aurangzeb (formerly)
• Sambhaji (presently)
Government
 • TypeMunicipal Corporation
 • BodyAurangabad Municipal Corporation
 • Divisional Commissioner of AurangabadSunil Kendrekar (IAS)[1]
 • Police Commissioner of AurangabadNikhil Gupta (IPS)[2]
 • MPSandipanrao Bhumre (Shiv Sena)
 • MayorVacant (Administrator Rule)
 • MLAs
Area
 • Metropolis141 km2 (54 sq mi)
Elevation
568 m (1,864 ft)
Population
 (2011)[3]
 • Metropolis1,175,116
 • RankIndia: 32nd
Maharashtra: 6th
Marathwada: 1st
 • Density8,300/km2 (22,000/sq mi)
 • Metro
[4]
1,193,167
 • Metro rank
43rd
Demonym(s)Aurangabadkar, Aurangabadi, Sambhajinagarkar
Time zoneUTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN
431 001
Telephone code 02400240
Vehicle registrationMH 20
Nominal GDP$7 billion+ US dollar[5](2019-20)
Official languageMarathi[6]
Websiteaurangabadmahapalika.org

Aurangabad (pronunciationⓘ),[7][8] officially known as Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar,[9][10] is a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Aurangabad district, Maharashtra and is the largest city in the Marathwada region.[11] Located on a hilly upland terrain in the Deccan Traps, Aurangabad is the fifth-most populous urban area in Maharashtra after Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Nashik with a population of 1,175,116. The city is known as a major production center of cotton textile and artistic silk fabrics. Several prominent educational institutions, including Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, are located in the city. The city is also a popular tourism hub, with tourist destinations like the Ajanta and Ellora caves lying on its outskirts, both of which have been designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1983.[12] Other tourist attractions include the Aurangabad Caves, Devagiri Fort, Grishneshwar Temple, Jama Mosque, Bibi Ka Maqbara, Himayat Bagh, Panchakki and Salim Ali Lake. Historically, there were 52 Gates in Aurangabad, some of them extant, because of which Aurangabad is nicknamed as the "City of Gates". In 2019, the Aurangabad Industrial City (AURIC) became the first greenfield industrial smart city of India under the country's flagship Smart Cities Mission.[13][14]

Paithan, the imperial capital of the Satavahana dynasty (1st century BCE–2nd century CE), as well as Dēvagirī, the capital of the Yadava dynasty (9th century CE–14th century CE), are located within the limits of modern Aurangabad. In 1308, the region was annexed by the Delhi Sultanate during the rule of Sultan Alauddin Khalji. In 1327, the capital of the Delhi Sultanate was shifted from Delhi to Daulatabad (in present-day Aurangabad) during the rule of Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq, who ordered a mass migration of Delhi's population to Daulatabad. However, Muhammad bin Tughluq reversed his decision in 1334 and the capital was shifted back to Delhi. In 1499, Daulatabad became a part of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate. In 1610, a new city named Khaḍkī was established at the location of modern Aurangabad to serve as the capital of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate by the Ethiopian military leader Malik Ambar, who was brought to India as a slave but rose to become a popular Prime Minister of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate. Malik Ambar was succeeded by his son Fateh Khan, who changed the name of the city to Fatehnagar. In 1636, Aurangzeb, who was then the Mughal viceroy of the Deccan region, annexed the city into the Mughal Empire. In 1653, Aurangzeb renamed the city as "Aurangabad" and made it the capital of the Deccan region of the Mughal Empire. In 1724, the Mughal governor of the Deccan, Nizam Asaf Jah I, seceded from the Mughal Empire and founded his own Asaf Jahi dynasty. The dynasty established the State of Hyderabad with their capital initially at Aurangabad, until they transferred their capital to the city of Hyderabad in 1763. Hyderabad State became a princely state during the British Raj, and remained so for 150 years (1798–1948). Until 1956, Aurangabad remained part of Hyderabad State. In 1960, Aurangabad and the larger Marathi-speaking Marathwada region became a part of the state of Maharashtra.

  1. ^ "Collectors of Aurangabad District | District Aurangabad | India". Archived from the original on 3 March 2022. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  2. ^ "City Police". aurangabadcitypolice.gov.in. Archived from the original on 17 May 2022. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Census2011 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Paper 2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Records, Official. "District Domestic Product of Maharashtra 2011-12 to 2019-20" (PDF). Planning Department, Government of Maharashtra, India. Directorate of Economics and Statistics. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 November 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  6. ^ "52nd Report of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities in India" (PDF). nclm.nic.in. Ministry of Minority Affairs. p. 108. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2017. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  7. ^ "Eknath Shinde renames Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar again, says 'legal' this time". Hindustan Times. 16 July 2022. Archived from the original on 20 July 2022. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  8. ^ Dodhiya, K. A. Y (25 April 2023). "It's Aurangabad for now, says HC". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 17 May 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  9. ^ "Aurangabad and Osmanabad finally renamed as Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar and Dharashiv". The Indian Express. 24 February 2023. Archived from the original on 25 February 2023. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  10. ^ "Renaming of Aurangabad, Osmanabad | Bombay High Court validates Maharashtra government's notifications". The Hindu. 8 May 2024. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
  11. ^ Sohoni, Pushkar (2015). Aurangabad with Daulatabad, Khuldabad and Ahmadnagar. Mumbai: Jaico. ISBN 9788184957020.
  12. ^ Gopal, Madan (1990). K.S. Gautam (ed.). India through the ages. Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. p. 174.
  13. ^ "India's first industrial integrated smart city set for inauguration". The Times of India. 6 September 2019. Archived from the original on 1 October 2019. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  14. ^ "PM Modi opens first greenfield industrial smart city in Aurangabad". India Today. 7 September 2019. Archived from the original on 8 September 2019. Retrieved 7 September 2019.