Ahmednagar

Mehar Baba's Samadhi

Ahmednagar (Marathi: अहमदनगर, Urdu: احمد نگر) is a city of Ahmednagar District in the state of Maharashtra, India, on the west bank of the Sina river, about 120 km northeast of Pune and 120 km from Aurangabad. Ahmednagar is the largest district in the Maharashtra state. Sugar, milk and bank co-operatives thrive here. Ahmednagar is home to 19 sugar factories and is also the birthplace of the cooperative movement. Due to scarce rainfall, Ahmednagar often suffers from drought. Though citizens learn multilingual (e.g. English, Hindi, Marathi, Urdu) education in schools, Marathi is the primary language for daily-life communication. Hindi is also widely understood and spoken, though of the Dakhani (or Hyderabadi Urdu) dialect, with a lot of grammar and loan words from Marathi. Ahmednagar has recently published a plan of developing the city by year 2031.

he town was founded in 1494 by Ahmad Nizam Shah on the site of a more ancient city, Bhingar. With the breakup of the Bahmani Sultanate, Ahmad established a new sultanate in Ahmednagar, also known as Nizam Shahi dynasty. It was one of the Deccan sultanates, which lasted until its conquest by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in 1636. Aurangzeb, the last great Mughal emperor, who spent the latter years of his reign, 1681–1707, in the Deccan, died at Khuldabad near Aurangabad in 1707, and a small monument marks the site.

In 1759 the Peshwa of the Marathas obtained possession of the place and in 1790 it was ceded by the Peshwa to the Maratha chief Daulat Rao Sindhia. Ahmednagar was invaded by a British force under General Wellesley and captured. It was afterwards restored to the Marathas, but again came into the possession of the British in 1817, according to the terms of the Treaty of Poona.

Numerous Mughal-era buildings dot the environs. Ahmednagar Fort, once considered the second most unimpregnable fort in India, was used by the British to house Jawaharlal Nehru (the first prime minister of India) and other Indian Nationalists before Indian independence. A few rooms there have been converted to a museum. During his confinement by the British at Ahmednagar Fort, Nehru wrote the famous book The Discovery of India.

Ahmednagar is home to the Indian Armoured Corps Centre & School (ACC&S), the Mechanised Infantry Regimental Centre (MIRC), the Vehicle Research and Development Establishment (VRDE) and the Controllerate of Quality Assurance Vehicles (CQAV). Training and recruitment for the Indian Army Armoured Corps takes place at the ACC&S. Formerly, the city was the Indian base of the British Army's Royal Tank Corps / Indian Armoured Corps, amongst other units. Currently the town houses the second-largest display of military tanks in the world. The exhibit is open to the public.

 

During the Quit India Movement of 1942 many of the leaders of the national freedom struggle here kept under confinement, Out of them 12 prisoners listed below were in the Bhuikot fort of Ahmadnagar (which is more famous as a Jail ) for for 32 to 34 months from August,1942 to April,1945. I call them The Pillors Of Freedom.

01.        Acharya Narendra Deo

02.        Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

03.        Acharya Kripalani

04.        Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

05.        Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru

06.        Barrister Asaf Ali

07.        Shri P. C. Ghosh

08.        Dr. Hare Krishna Mehtab

09.        Shri Pandit Govind Vallabh Pant

10.        Dr. Pattabhi Sitaramayya

11.        Dr. Sayyad Mahmud

12.        Acharya Shankar Rav Deo