Ahmadnagar General information 

Ahmednagar   District is  the Largest District in the State of Maharashtra having 5.66% of  the area of the state.The district has historical heritage.The name of the District Ahmednagar has come from the name of the founder of the town Ahmednagar by Ahmed Shah Nizam Shah.  The District place Ahmednagar has many places of Historical importance including Ahmednagar fort where many national heroes of Indian Freedom Struggle  including Late Pandit Jawaharlal  Nehru were detained during Indian freedom movement. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru wrote his  famous book "Discovery Of India" in Ahmednagar Fort.

   In todays  context Ahmednagar is most advanced district having maximum number of sugar  factories, perhaps to spread the message "rural prosperity through cooperation". The first  cooperative sugar factory in Asia was established at Pravara Nagar. Role Model of water  conservation work can be seen at Ralegan-Siddhi  and Hivare Bazar which are  also called  ideal Villages.

History

The first Muhammedan invader of the Deccan was Ala-ud-din, the nephew and son-in-law of Jalal-ud-din Khilji, the emperor of Delhi. He undertook an expedition against Bhilsa, where he captured a rich booty, a part of which he sent on to Delhi. Jalal-ud-din was much pleased, and rewarded him with the viceroyalty of Oude in addition to the government of Karra. When Ala-ud-din was at Bhilsa, he heard of the wealth of Devagiri, and meditated an expedition against that city. He withheld the tribute that was due from his district, accumulated funds, and raised a force of about 8,000 men, which he represented was for an advance against Chanderi, a town in Gujarat. Ala-ud-din kept his real design a profound secret, and having learnt from his spies that Ramdev's army was occupied at some distance from the capital, he left Karra in 1294 and suddenly appeared before Ellichpur, which he captured and plundered. Ramdev was completely taken by surprise. He collected all his available troops and sent them against the invader, but they were defeated at Lasura near Devagiri, and Ala-ud-din entered the city of Devagiri and plundered it. Ramdev shut himself up in the fortress, which was hastily provisioned for a siege. Ala-ud-din appeared before it, and announced that he was only the advance guard of the army of the Sultan of Delhi. Ramdev sued for peace, and succeeded in persuading Ala-ud-din to come to terms under certain easy conditions, when Ramdev's son appeared on the scene with the absent army, and attacked the invaders. The battle would have gone hard with Ala-ud-din, had he not received the timely assistance of Malik Nusrat, who had been left with 1,000 men in charge of the city. Ala-ud-din succeeded in defeating his adversary. Ala-ud-din treated the vanquished with greater severity, and raised his demands; Ramdev submitted. A very heavy indemnity was exacted, Ellichpur and the surrounding country was made over to the victors, and the Raja also promised to send an annual tribute to Delhi.

In 1650, Shivaji preferred a claim on the part of his father or of himself to the deshmukh's dues in the Ahmadnagar district to which he alleged they had an hereditary right. As was probably foreseen Shivaji's agent at Agra did not succeed in obtaining a promise of the deshmukh's share, but he brought back a letter from Shah Jahan, promising that the claim should be taken into consideration if Shivaji came to court. In the year 1653 prince Aurangzeb was appointed viceroy of the Deccan for the second time. For several years he devoted his talents to perfecting the revenue settlement and protecting and encouraging travellers and merchants. He established his seat of government at Malik Ambar's town of Khadki, which, after his own name, he called Aurangabad.

In 1706, the grand Moghal army under Zulfikar Khan, on its way from Sinhgad ten miles south of Pune towards Ahmadnagar was attacked by the Marathas. Inspite of a gallant charge led by Khan Alam a great part of the Moghal army was defeated. On pitching his camp in Ahmadnagar, on the same spot which it had occupied in such splendour twenty-one years before, Aurangzeb said: " I have ended my campaigning, my last earthly journey is over." He died at Ahmadnagar on the 20th of February 1707 in the eighty-ninth year of his age.

On hearing of the death of his father Aurangzeb's second surviving son Azam hastily returned to Ahmadnagar and performed the funeral rites. He then moved northwards, taking Shahu, the son of Sambhaji, with him. Since his father Sambhaji's execution on 11th March 1689, when he was a boy of seven years, Shahu had been brought up by Aurangzeb with care and kindness. In the hope that his influence might make the Marathas less hostile, Aurangzeb before his death intending to set Shahu free, had presented him with Shivaji's sword Bhavani and also the sword of the Bijapur general Afzal Khan and given him the district of Nevasa as a marriage gift. Accordingly Shahu, on being released by Aurangzeb's son Prince Azam, marched south from the Narmada. At the Godavari he halted to dispel any suspicion that he was an impostor. While he was away from Ahmadnagar he had an accidental skirmish with the villagers of Parad who fired on Shahu's troops. As several of his men were killed Shahu assaulted the place and made a severe example of the offenders. During the attack a woman, bearing a boy in her arms, rushed towards Shahu, and threw down the child, calling out that she devoted him to the Raja's service. Shahu took charge of the child, and in commemoration of his first success, called him Fattehsing. He afterwards added his own surname of Bhosle and always treated the child like his own son. This Fattehsing was the founder of the Akalkot family. Shahu did not leave Ahmadnagar until circumstances forced him and would even have preferred to rule from that town itself if it were possible. He had to give up this thought as Ahmadnagar which had figured for centuries as a Muslim possession and more recently as the seat of Aurangzeb's government was not suited to the requirements of a Maratha king. He therefore moved from Ahmadnagar southwards towards Pune and halted at Khed where in the battle fought on October 12, 1707 with Tarabai's forces, Shahu emerged victorious. From there he marched to Satara where he was crowned king on January 12, 1708. He appointed Balaji Vishwanath to the post of Sena Karte (organiser of forces) and later due to his acumen in winning over friends and destroying the enemies of the kingdom he appointed him to the Peshwaship of the Maratha State.

Husain Ali now came to the conclusion that his only chance of success lay in securing the goodwill and co-operation of the Marathas, particularly of Shahu. A compromise was therefore arrived at between Shahu and the Sayyad brothers representing the Moghal emperor, through the mediation of Shankaraji Malhar. Under the terms of the agreement the Marathas obtained the grants of the chauth and sardeshmukhi of the Deccan including Ahmadnagar. These terms were formally ratified by the emperor Muhammad Shah who succeeded Farrukhsiyar who was deposed by the Sayyad brothers. Shortly after, Balaji Vishwanath died and was succeeded by his son Bajirao as Peshwa. When these events were taking place in the Maratha State Delhi witnessed the fall of the Sayyad brothers. In the Deccan, Nizam-ul-Mulk also revolted declaring his independence but formally recognising allegiance to the Moghal emperor at Delhi. Thus the eclipse of Moghal power in the Deccan was complete. The district of Ahmadnagar was one of the parts of the Deccan which became subject to the Nizam. It was very difficult for the Nizam to accept the Maratha claims for chauth and sardeshmukhi for the six subhas of the Deccan and the following years saw the Marathas and the Nizam confronting each other for supremacy in the Deccan. In most of the wars fought between the Marathas and the Nizam, the district of Ahmadnagar was traversed by the opposing armies and suffered like all the other districts of Maharashtra from the ravages of war. The district remained with the Nizam, Nizam-ul-Mulk, Asaf Jah till his death in 1748. On 11th February, 1760 the whole of the present district of Ahmadnagar was gained by the Marathas. In 1761 after the great Marathas' disaster at Panipat, Nizam Ali who still suffered from the ignominy of the defeat at Udgir marched directly upon Pune at the head of the powerful army of 60,000 men. He carried fire and desolation throughout his march and destroyed Toka and Pravara-Sangam, the two great centres of Hindu religious sanctity.

In, 1760 the peace of Ahmadnagar was broken by a Koli rising. One of the Koli chiefs, Hiraji Bomle, whose family had held estates and rank from the time of the Bahamani kings, died. Though Hiraji's son Javji held a post in the Peshwa's service, the Peshwa's manager at Junnar refused to give Javji his father's estates and rank. Javji, who is described as of slight figure, middle-sized and fair, bold, restless and of irregular habits, gave up the Peshwa's service, withdrew to the hills, and organized a series of gang robberies. Javji surrendered all his forts to Tukojirao Holkar, and through Holkar's influence was pardoned and placed in military and police charge of a district or subha of sixty villages in Rajur with powers of life and death over Koli robbers and outlaws. Jayji continued in a position of honour till in 1789 he died from a wound inflicted by one of his own followers. [Mackintosh notices that of Javji's twelve wives one was a Shimpin and the other a Telin. Trans. Bom. Geog. Soc. I, 254.] He was succeeded by his son Hiraji Naik. During the latter years of his life Javji had taken part in quelling a serious rising among the Kolis which was headed by two Koli leaders, Kokata and Shilkunda.

In 1801, Yashwantrao Holkar descended upon Ahmadnagar now a possession of Shinde, with the greatest fury. He plundered the city and the fort and proceeding further dug up and burnt Shinde's palaces at Shrigonda and Jambgaon. The glorious edifices erected by Mahadji Shinde and his chiefs were razed to the ground. Bajirao now tried to conciliate Holkar but was prevented from this action by Shinde whose forces were fast approaching in pursuit of Holkar. In the meanwhile Peshwas forces under Purandare were defeated by Holkar at Baramati. Bajirao sent frantic messages to Shinde for sending succour. Shinde sent his general Bakhshi Sadashiv Bhaskar with whatever forces he could command. He reached Paithan at the end of August and Ahmadnagar on 8th September 1802. He arrived at the capital on 22nd October. Yeshwantrao, on receipt of this news, sent a warning to the Peshwa stating that he had no desire to harm the Peshwa and urged for immediate negotiation between him, the Peshwa and Shinde. But his appeal fell on deaf ears. The fateful day arrived. On 25th October the armies of Shinde and Holkar locked themselves in a grim battle at Hadapsar which lasted for the whole day resulting in the complete rout of the former. Bajirao fled from Pune to Bassein and there remained practically under British protection. On 31st December 1802 he concluded the celebrated treaty of Bassein with the British under the terms of which in return for cessions of territory the British government bound itself to defend the Peshwa from all attacks. In the meanwhile, Holkar declared for Amritrao, the brother of Bajirao, for Peshwaship and tried his best to organise a Maratha confederacy for an eventual war with the British.

In June 1817, the English imposed another treaty on Bajirao with stricter terms, thus depriving him of all power and authority. Under the terms of the treaty known as the treaty of Pune the Peshwa ceded the fort of Ahmadnagar to the English. [Grant Duff's Marathas, 635.] This treaty also declared Trimbakji to be the murderer of Shastri, finally extinguished the Peshwa's overlord-ship over the Indian Chiefs, ceded to the English all the Peshwa's territory outside Maharashtra, compelled him to withdraw all his wakils from foreign courts and prevented him from any longer keeping correspondence or communication with them. Thus the Great Maratha confederacy came to be finally and publicly dissolved. The whole of the dominions of the Peshwa and those of the Holkar in the Deccan were taken possession of by the British government. Shinde had held half of Shevgaon and the Shrigonda pargana. The greater part of the Korti pargana including the present sub-divisions of Karjat and part of Shrigonda was under Rao Rambha Nimbalkar till 1821 when it was given to the English. Ahmadnagar with the country between the Chandor hills and the Bhima was placed under Captain Pottinger.

During the 1857 risings Ahmadnagar was the scene of considerable disturbance. The rebels were about 7,000 Bhils of south Nasik and north Ahmadnagar. Detachments of troops were stationed to guard the frontier against raids from the Nizam's dominions, and to save the large towns from the chance of Bhil-attacks. The work of scattering the Bhil gatherings and hunting the rebels was left almost entirely to the police who were strengthened by the raising of a special Koli corps and by detachments of infantry and cavalry. The first gathering of Bhils was under the leadership of one Bhagoji Naik.

Although Ahmadnagar district was created as early as in 1818, modern history of Ahmadnagar may be said to have commenced from 1869, the year in which parts of Nasik and Sholapur which till then had comprised Nagar were separated and the present Nagar district was formed.

Ahmednagar District was created after the defeat of the Maratha Confederacy in the Third Anglo-Maratha War in 1818, when most of the Peshwa's domains were annexed to British India. The district remained part of the Central division of Bombay Presidency until India's independence in 1947, when it became part of Bombay State, and in 1960 the new state of Maharashtra.

Origin of Name

The name of the district is derived from the headquarters of the district, Ahmednagar. The city of Ahmednagar was named after the founder of the city, Malik Ahmed Shah Bahri, the first ruler of the Nizam Shahi dynasty (1490 ? 1509 CE) who laid the city's foundation in 1494 CE.

Population

Population (2001 census): 4,040,642. The district is 19.89% urban as of 2001.

Division

Ahmednagar district consists of fourteen talukas (tahsils). These talukas are Akole, Jamkhed, Karjat, Kopargaon, Nevasa, Nagar, Parner, Pathardi, Rahata, Rahuri, Sangamner, Shrirampur, Shevgaon and Shrigonda.

The district has thirteen Vidhan Sabha constituencies. These are Karjat (SC), Shrigonda, Ahmednagar North, Ahmednagar South, Pathardi, Sheogaon, Shrirampur, Shirdi, Kopargaon, Rahuri, Parner, Sangamner and Nagar Akola (ST). The 2 Lok Sabha constituencies from the district are Ahmednagar and Kopargaon. Nagar Akola (ST) constituency is a part of Nashik Lok Sabha constituency.

Ralegaon Siddhi is a village in the district that is considered a model of environmental conservation.