The History Of Amravati

The ancient name of Amravati is "Udumbravati", prakrut form of this is "Umbravati" and "Amravati" is known for many centuries with this name. The mispronunciation form of this is Amravati and now the Amravati is known with the same. It is said that Amravati is named for its ancient Ambadevi temple. The ancient proof of existence of Amravati can get from stone carved inscription on the base of marble statue of God Adinath (Jain God) Rhishabhnath. This shows that, these statues were set up here in 1097. Govind Maha Prabhu visited Amravati in 13 th century, at the same time Warhad was under the rule of Deogiri's Hindu King (Yadav). In 14th century, there was famine (drought) in Amravati & people abandoned Amravati and left for Gujrat and Malva. The local people were returned back after several years at Amravati, the result of this was scanty population. In 16 th century, Mager Aurangpura (today's, 'Sabanpura') was presented for Jumma Majseed by Badashah Aurangjeb. This reveals that Muslims and Hindus lived together here. In 1722, Chhatrapati Shahoo Maharaj presented Amravati and Badnera to Shri Ranoji Bhosle, by the time Amravati was known as Bhosle ki Amravati. The city was reconstructed and prospered by Ranoji Bhosle after the treaty of Devgaon and Anjangaon Surji and victory over Gavilgad (Fort of Chikhaldara). The British general author Wellesly camped in Amravati, particular place is still recognized as camp, by Amravati people. The Amravati city came in to existence at the end of 18th century. Union state of Nijam and Bosale ruled the Amravati. They appointed the revenue officer, but defense system was worsted. Gavilgad fort was conquered by Britishers on 15th Dec' 1803. According to the Deogaon treaty, the Warhad was presented as the token of the friendship to Nijam.
The Warhad had Nijams monopoly, thereafter. Near about 1805, Pendharies attacked Amravati city.

The Sahukars and Marchants of Amravati saved Amravati by giving seven lakhs to the Chittu Pendhari at that time. The Nijam ruled for a half century. The people enjoyed British rule instead of cruel Mugals (Nijam). From 1859 to 1871, many government buildings were come into existence, which were built by the Britishers. Railway station was constructed in 1859; commissioner bungalow in 1860, Small cause court in 1886, (today’s S.D.O. OFFICE), the Tahsil office & the Main post office were built in 1871. During this time, the central jail, collector office, Rest house, cotton market were also built. During 1896, Shri Dadasaheb Khaparde, Shri Ranganath Pant Mudhodker, Sir Moropant Joshi, Shri Pralhad Pant Jog were the leaders in Amravati. The 13 th Congress Conference was held at Amravati on 27-29 Dec' 1897 due to the efforts of these leaders. Shri Lokmanya Tilak and Shri Mahatma Gandhi visited Amravati in 1928. The Munsipal A.V. High School was inaugurated at the hands of Shri Subhash Chandra Bose. At the time of 'Savinay Awagya Andolan ', Amravati held the head office of it. On 26 th of April 1930, the water was taken from 'Dahihanda' for the famous 'Namak Satyagrah', and Dr. Soman was brought the sea water from Mumbai for the occassion. Around ten thousand people were prepared the salt under the leadership of Shri Vir Vamanrao Joshi.

Udumbaravati was the encient name of today's Amravati. It was due to the presence of ample number of Audumber trees in the region. The name was further abbrevated as Umbravati, Umravati& Amravati. The city grown up rapidly at the end of 18 th century due to the growth in businesses. It was one of the richest town of the area.

In 1853, the present day territory of Amravati district as a part of Berar Province was assigned to the British East India Company, following a treaty with the Nizam of Hyderabad. After the Company took over the administration of the province, it was divided into two districts. The present day territory of the district became part of North Berar district, with headquarters at Buldana. Later, the province was reconstituted and the territory of the present district became part of East Berar district, with headquarters at Amraoti. In 1864, Yavatmal District (initially known as Southeast Berar district and later Wun district) was separated. In 1867, Ellichpur District was separated but in August, 1905, when the whole province was reorganized into six districts, it was again merged into the district. In 1903, it became part of the newly constituted province of Central Provinces and Berar. In 1956, Amravati district became part of Bombay State and after its bifurcation in 1960, it became part of Maharashtra state.

Geography Amravati city is situated 340 m above from the sea level. Pohara & Chirodi hills are in the east of the city. Maltekdi is one of the hills, which is inside the city. The hight of Maltekdi is around 60 m & the statue of great maratha kind, Shri Shivaji Maharaj is placed on the top of the hill. There are two lakes in the eastern part of the city, namely, Chhatri Talao & Wadali Talao. The city is located in the East Maharashtra on the altitude of 20o 56' north & 77o 47’ east. It is the main centre of west Vidarbha. It is on the Mumbai-Calcutta high way.

First In Amravati - Who & What ?

• First Public (Sarvajanik) Ganesh Festival was celebrated in the leadership of Shri Dadasaheb Khaparde - year 1900 at Indrabhavan Theatre.
• First Commissioner of Amravati was T.H.Bullok.
• First March (Morcha) was arranged in the leadership of Shri Dada Jog.
• First Police Station was established in the year 1877, it was inside the walled city then and place was near the Laxmi - Narayan Temple.
• First person to get re-married was Shri Bhaskar Thatte, at auspicious hands of Shri Balasaheb Bedekar.
• First Circus to Amravati was came in the year was in 1905-06 and stayed at Neharu Ground.
• First person to go to jail for singing Vande Mataram was Shri. Jairam Patil in the year 1907.
• Shri Jainarayan Vyas at Ramvilas Garden started first Ice Factory in the year 1925.
• The Amravati - Narkhed Railway was sanctioned for the first time at Shimla on 12th May 1928 but it still to get complete.
• First political arrest to a woman was Mrs. Parvatibai Patwardhan in 1930.
• Shri Hambarde near Rail Station arranged first wrestling championship. Famous Gama Pahelwan had come to take part and large number of people had came to just have glance at him. But his opponent Ganga Singh Pahelwam did not appeared at the venue.
• First Electric Supply to Amravati was started by Amravati Electric Company. The Company was formed in 1928. This company first started the streetlights.
• First Varhad Untouchable's Convention was arranged on 13th and 14th 1927 at Saban Pura, Amravati. It's Chairperson was Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar.
• Amravati Zilla Parishad was constituted on 1st May 1962.
• In the year 1989, (62nd) Marathi Sahitya Sammelan was held at Amravati for the first time. It was on dates 21,22,23 January 1989. The Chairman was Shri. K.J.Purohit (Shantaram). Place was H.V.P. M. Amravati Campus. The sponsors were H.V.P.M.Amravati and City Library.
• First to represent Indian delegation to Britain were Shri Ranganath pant Mudholkar & Shri Moropant Joshi, Moropant Joshi was only 29 years at that time.
• The first trust was from the donation by Pralhadpant Jog, a famous Lawyer. The chairperson was Shri Dadasaheb Khaparde. The property of Jog trust was located at today’s Joshi Hall, New High School and city Library and was named as Jog Square after him.
• The First Theatre in Amravati was Indrabhavan Theatre. Which was earlier used to stage plays and folk art form and later for displaying talkies.
• Gandhi chouk was named so for the first time, on 9th October 1920 on the occasion of Gandhiji's Birthday.
• First Indian person to held the post of Minister in British Government was an Amravatian. He was Sir Moropant Joshi. He held the post of Home minister during 1920 to 1925.

Know Amravati

• Shri Hanuman Vyayam Prasarak Mandal is a world famous sports institute of Amravati.
• The starting of the Vidarbha Sahitya Sangha was from Amravati on 14th January 1923.
• Amravati city is the only city in Maharashtra of which History from11th Century is available (Last 900 years History)
• First Finance Minister of independent India Shri Chintamanrao Alias C.D.Deshmukh was an Amravatian.
• A member of Hanuman Vyayam Prasarak Mandal Shri Rajesh Muralidhar Mahatme (25 years) was the first person to get entry in "Limka book of records” for 24 hours continuous cycling.

About Amravati District

General Information

HISTORY
Amravati District  with the rest of the Berar was assigned to the East India Company by the Nizam following the treaty of 1853. After this province was assigned to the Company, it was divided into two districts, South Berar with its headquarters at Hingoli with neighbouring region restored to the Nizam and North Berar was reconstituted into East Berar with headquarters at Akola.
                 In 1864,the district of Yeotmal was separated from Amravati.In 1903, the Treaties of Assignment were superseded by an agreement under which the Nizam leased Berar to the Government of India in perpetuity. Berar was joined to the central provinces in 1903 to form the enlarged province of central provinces and Berar.
                 With the recognition of States in1956,Amravati district ,along with other districts of Vidarbha region was included in the then Bilingual Bombay State. Since  the bifurcation of Bombay state into Maharashtra and Gujrat in 1960, Amravati,along with other districts of Vidharbha formed one of the districts of Maharashtra.

LOCATION  AND ADMINISTRATIVE  DIVISIONS
                              The district is located between 21⁰46' North to 20⁰32' North and 78⁰27' East to 76⁰37', which essentially indicates that Amravati District is located in the Deccan plateau. Amravati district covers an area of 12626 sq.kms.The districts adjacent to Amravati are Nagpur, Akola, Wardha, Yeotmal, and the state of Madhya Pradesh.
The district is divided into 14 Talukas and six sub-divisions as per details given below.

Sub-Divisions	Talukas within the sub-division
Amravati	Amravati,Bhatukali and Nandgaon Khandeshwar
Daryapur	Daryapur and Anjangaon
Achalpur	Achalpur and Chandur Bazar
Morshi	Morshi and Warud
Dharni	Dharni and Chikhaldara
Chandur (Rly)	Chandur (Rly),Tiosa and Dhamangaon

CLIMATE AND RAINFALL
Amravati faces extreme variations in temperature with very hot summers and very cold winters. Amravati district receives rainfall from south westerly monsoons mainly in the months of June, July, August and September. July and August are the months during which the maximum rainfall as well as maximum continuous rainfall.

AGRICULTURE AND CROPS
                               The main agriculture crops in the district along with the market area are given in the table below.

Types	Names	Area    (Ha)	Market (District, State, Export)
Major Crops (Irrigated)	Wheat Gram	12980 9480	District   District/State
Major Crops (Non-Irrigated)	Cotton Jawar Toor Moong Groundnut Sesamun Soyabean Gram Sunflower	368230 129640 83680 35350 10470 4750 92180 26765 19120	State/Export   District/State   District/State   District/State   District/State   District/State   District/State   District/State   District/State
Major Cash Crops	Cotton Orange Groundnut Soyabean Chilli Banana	368230 57650 10430 92180 3113 224	State/Export   State/Export   District/State   District/State   District/State   District/State
Major Plantations	Orange Banana	57650 424	State/Export   District/State

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Education

Amravati district is well known for the its educational facilities. The district gets inspiration from its great sons Shri GadageBaba, Saint Tukadoji Maharaj, and Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh who brought about a revolution in the field of education.
                            Established on the 1st of May 1983, Amravati University has a lion's share in its contribution to the educational development of Vidarbha. Amravati University covers five major district in Vidarbha viz. Amravati, Akola, Yeotmal, Buldhana, and Washim. There are affiliated 180 colleges, 22 postgraduate departments and one College of Education run by the University.
                           The district is also reputed for the technical education. There are three Engineering colleges viz.
1) Government College of Engineering, Amravati.
2) V.Y.W.S. College of Engineering, Badnera (Rly), Amravati.
3) Sipana College of Engineering, Amravati  and four polytechnic colleges.
               In Amravati, there are four medical colleges of which two run Ayurvedic course, one for each Allopathy, Homeopathy, and one Dental College. viz.
1)Panjabrao Deshmukh Memorial Medical College, Amravati.
2)Vidarbha Ayurved Mahavidyalaya, Amravati.
3)V.Y.W.S. Dental College, Amravati.
4)Shri Vallabh Takhatmal College of Homeopathy, Amravati.
5)Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Institute of Homeopathic Medical Science, Amravati

The only law college in Amravati is Panjabrao Deshmukh Law College.
Amravati has gained a place of honour in the field of physical education because of Shri Hanuman Vyayam Prasarak Mandal. Situated in the heart of the city, it is enriched with the modern facilities that can be compared with the best in world of sports. H.V.P.M. also runs Degree College of  Physical Education.

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Tourism

The places of tourist attraction in Amravati are
*Chikhaldara:
It is featured in Mahabharata and thereby hangs a tale. this is a place where Bheema killed villainous Keechaka in a Herculean bout and threw him into a valley. It came to  be known as "Keechakadhara" - Chikhaldara is a corruption.
                          But there is more to Chikhaldara. It has added distinction of being the only coffee growing area  in Maharashtra. It abounds in wildlife - panthers, sloth Bears, Sambars, wild Boar, even the rarely seen wild Dogs.
                               Close by is the famous Melghat Tiger Project which has more than 100 tigers. the scenic beauty of Chikhaldara can be enjoyed from Hurricane point, Prospect point and Devi point. Other interesting excursions include Gavilgad and Narnala Fort, the Pundit Nehru Botanical Garden, the tribal museum and the Semadoh lake.
                              Situated at an altitude of 1118 meters,Chikhaldara receives an annual rainfall of 154 cm. The temperature varies from 39⁰C in summer and 5⁰C in winter. October to June is the best time to visit Chikhaldara.     

Getting there:  The nearest railhead is Amravati on Central Railway Branch  line, 100 km from Chikhaldara, and 763 km from Mumbai is connected to  most major cities by road. Regular S.T. bus services connect Chikhaldara to Amravati, Nagpur, Wardha, Akola and other cities. Accommodation: Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation(M.T.D.C.)  has resorts at Ckhikhaldara. For reservations contact.                           M.T.D.C.,                           C/o P.W.D. Rest House, Maltekadi Road, Amravati-444 601 Maharashtra.                           Tel-fax: (0721) 674 008     Also Nature Education and Interpretation Centre, Semadoh provides facilities of accommodation and Nature Education. Main features are   1. Huts, tents   2. Museum cum  Interpretation Centre   3. Nature trails   4. Wildlife viewing   5. Nature camp sites   6. Open air theatre for wildlife films   7. Nature trek facilities Reservation Authorities: 1. Field Director, Project Tiger Melghat, Amravati- 444 602      Phone(0721) 662792, 662680 2. Dy.Conservator of Forests,     Project Tiger Melghat, Division-1, Paratwada Dist.- Amravati     Phone:-(07223) 20214 * Other Historical and Religious Centers are:

Name of the Historical and Religious Centers	Periods of Festival,Occasions,Months	Nearest Urban or Major rural Centre	Estimated Tourist or visiting population
Amravati: Ambadevi and Ekvira Navratra Mahotsav	Nine days from Ashwin Shukla 1'st to 9'th(Sept-Oct)	Amravati	10 Lakh during entire period
Kondeshwar & Tapowaneshwar	Each Monday in the month of Shrawan (July-Sept) & Mahashivratri (Jan-April) on Magh Krushna 13	Amravati	22 Thousand
Salbardi: Shambhu Mahadev Pilramage	Magh Krushna 13, Five days fair during Mahashivratri.	Amravati, Morshi	70 Thousand
Nerpinglai	Navratra Mahotsav during 1'st to 9'th of Ashwin Shukla (Sept-Oct)	Amravati, Morshi	50 Thousand
Riddhapur: Shree Govind Prabhu fair of Mahanubhav Culture	Ashad Shukla 15 ( Full Moon Day)	Chandur Bazar, Amravati	50 Thousand
Kaundannyapur: Shree Kaundannyapur fair	From Kartik Shukla 15 (Full Moon Day) for one week	Tiosa, Amravati	50 Thousand
Mozari : Rashtra Sant Tukdiji Maharaj Yatra	Ashwin Waddya 5 for three days	Tiosa, Amravati	75 thousand during entire period
Jahagirpur (Marda) : Hanuman fair	Chaitra Paurnima Hanuman Jayanti	Tiosa, Amravati	50 thousand
Bhiltek Nagoba Yatra	Each Sunday in the month of Pausha	Chandur Rly.	30 thousand
Ghuikhed : Mendoli baba Yatra	Rathasaptami Magh Shukla 7. Each Sunday in the month of Pausha	Chandur Rly.	40 thousand
Amla Vishveshwar sant Eknath Maharaj Yatra	Marga. Shukla 15 Paurnima	Chandur Rly.	50 thousand
Rianmochan Mahadev Yatra	Each Sunday in the month of Pausha and Rathasaptami	Bhatkuli, Amravati	40 thousand
Bahiram: Bahiram Khandoba & Bahiram Bowaji	Kartik Paurnima Shirsha, Shukla 6 and the month of Pausha	Bahiram	50 thousand
Sawanga Vithoba	On Gudhipadawa day	Chandur Rly.	10 thousand
Gavilgad Fort at Chikhaldara in Satpura ranges- A Historical Place	Over the entire year	Chikhaldara	7 thousand a year
Talegaon Dashasahastra: An ancient Historical town where there are old temples, bricks that float on water, deep Celler, God Mahadeva's great temple, old wells with steps	Over the entire year	Chandur Rly.	5 thousand a year

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Irrigation Projects

The main rivers in Amravati district are

• Tapi
• Purna
• Chandrabhaga
• Pedhi
• Wardha
• Shahanoor
  
  The Dams  in Amravati District are:
  Upper Wardha Project
  Lower Wardha Project
  Chandrabhaga Project
  Bembala Project
  Sapan Project
  Purna Project

Location of the Project(s)	Upper Wardha	Purna	Chandrabhaga
Catchment Area sq.km.	4302	390.79	104.64
Target Command Area sq.km.	830	62.75	70.13

Amravati Irrigation Division, Amravati Completed M.I. Tanks - 42.
Zilla Parishad Minor Irrigation Division, Amravati
i) Completed Irrigation Tanks - 58
          ii) Completed Percon. Tanks - 50
         iii) Irrigation Projects in Progress : a) Irrigation Tanks - 3
............. b) Percon. Tanks   - 4
         iv) a) Completed Village Tanks - 8    (From Regular Provision)
              .b) Completed Village Tanks - 57 (Under E.G.S.)
              .c) Completed Village Tanks - 29 ( Under Jawahar Wells Scheme)
        v) .a) Village Tanks in Progress - 10 (Under E.G.S.)
             .b) Village Tanks in Progress- 22 (Under Jawahar Wells Scheme)
Superintending Engineer Minor Irrigation (Local Sector) Circle, Amravati.

Category	Completed	In progress	Total
M.I. Tanks	54	16	70
Percolation Tanks	65	10	75
Village Tanks	13	29	42
K.T.Weirs	41	51	92
Total	173	106	279