Sangli district General information

Sangli District is a district of Maharashtra state in west-central India. Sangli city is the district headquarters. The district is 24.51% urban.Sangli and Miraj are the biggest cities in district.

The industrial town of Kirloskarwadi is also located in the Sangli District. Industrialist Laxmanrao Kirloskar started his first factory here. Kirloskarwadi is said to be one of the most beautiful industrial towns in India.

History

Kundal the region around Sangli (now small village near Sangli) was the capital of the Chalukyas.

Kundal is a pilgrimage centre for the Digambar Jains. Every year, thousands of Jains visit this place. The palace built by the Chalukyas. As per the inscriptions the Kundal was ancient village, it is 1600 years old. Kaundanpur (old name), It was a part of Karnataka[1] (present day Karad) province rule by the Chalukyas. There is a temple built in the memory of Maharaja Jaising. Pulakesi I chose Vatapi (Badami in Karnataka) as his Capital.

Kundal is surrounded by hills, including Zari Parshwanath(The water from trough cascades near the idol of Mahaveer), has two caves which house the idol of Mahaveer[2] and the images of Ram, Sita and Lakshman. Samav Sharan(large open space on top of another hill) is considered holy by the Jains, they believe that Mahaveer gave sermons to his followers here.

Bijapur prant including the district of Sangli came to be known as the Adil Sahi kingdom.

Patwardhans of Sangli.

As the Patvardhans have been closely associated with the history of the Marathas during the post-Panipat period and as they figured during the subsequent British rule as rulers or jagirdars of small principalities such as Sangli, Miraj and Tasganv in this district, it is convenient at this stage to follow the later history of the district along with the family history of the Patvardhans. The founder of this family was one Har or Hari Bhatt bin Ballam Bhatt, a native of the village of Kotavda in the Ratnagiri district.

This man, after distinguishing himself by a long series of devotional austerities, was appointed upadhya or family priest to Naro Mahadev, chief of Icalkaranji in the Kolhapur State. On the occasion of the marriage of this chief's son to the daughter of Bajaji Visvanath, the first Pesava, in 1713 [Life of Gopal Govind Patwardhan by R. A. Lagu, page 7.] Har Bhatt was brought to the notice of the Pesava, and his sons Govind and Ramcandra were ere long taken into the service of the latter. A third son Trimbak obtained service with the Raja of Akkalkot. After the death of Balaji Pant Pesava, Har Bhatt's family continued to enjoy the favour of his successors, and Govindrav with his son Gopalrav took an active part in the events of Balaji Bajirav's reign. In 1759 Gopalrav distinguished himself in certain opera-lions against the Nawab of Saonur, half of whose territory was surrendered to the Pesava who subsequently gave a part of it as jahagir to Rastes and Patvardhans.

Geography

Sangli District is located in the western part of Maharashtra. It is bounded by Satara and Solapur districts to the north, Bijapur District, Karnataka to the east, Kolhapur and Belgaum, Karnataka districts to the south, and Ratnagiri District to the west.

Sangli district is situated in the river basins of the Warna and Krishna rivers. The valley of the River Krishna and its tributaries is one of the greenest areas of the country. Other small rivers, such as the Warana and the Panchganga, flow into the River Krishna. Land in the region is best suitable for agriculture.

The physical settings of Sangli District shows a contrast of immense dimensions and reveals a variety of landscapes influenced by relief, climate and vegetation. The climate ranges from the rainiest in the Chandoli (Shirala) region, which has an average annual rainfall of over 4000 mm, to the driest in Atpadi and Jath tehsils where the average annual rainfall is about 500 mm. The vegetal cover too varies from the typical monsoon forest in the western parts to scrub and poor grass in the eastern parts.The Sangli district comes under Deccan plateau geaographic region.