For other uses, see Aurangabad (disambiguation).

Aurangabad

Metropolis

Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar

From top, then left to right: Bibi Ka Maqbara, Grishneshwar Temple, Carvings in caves of

Aurangabad, Prozone Mall

Nickname:

City of Gates
Aurangabad

Location in Maharashtra

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all

Coordinates: 19.88°N 75.32°E

Country India

State Maharashtra

Region Marathwada

Division Aurangabad

District Aurangabad

Established 1610; 414 years ago

Founded by Malik Ambar

Named for • Aurangzeb (formerly)

• Sambhaji (presently)

Government

• Type Municipal Corporation

• Body Aurangabad Municipal Corporation

 • Divisional Commissioner of Sunil Kendrekar (IAS)[1]

Aurangabad

• Police Commissioner of Aurangabad Nikhil Gupta (IPS)[2]

• MP Imtiyaz Jaleel (AIMIM)

• Mayor Vacant (Administrator Rule)

 Sanjay Shirsat (Aurangabad West)

• MLAs
 Atul Moreshwar Save (Aurangabad East)

 Pradeep Jaiswal (Aurangabad Central)

Area

• Metropolis 141 km2 (54 sq mi)

Elevation 568 m (1,864 ft)

Population

(2011)[3]

• Metropolis 1,175,116

• Rank India: 32nd

Maharashtra: 6th

Marathwada: 1st

• Density 8,300/km2 (22,000/sq mi)

• Metro 1,193,167

[4]

• Metro rank 43rd

Demonym(s) Aurangabadkar, Aurangabadi

Languages

• Official Marathi[5]

• Spoken Marathi, Urdu, Hindi

 Time zone UTC+5:30 (IST)

PIN 431 001

Telephone code 0240 0240

Vehicle registration MH 20

Nominal GDP $7 billion+ US dollar[6](2019-20)

Website aurangabadmahapalika.org

Aurangabad (pronunciation ⓘ),[7][8] officially known as Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar,[9] or Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar,[10] is a city in the Indian state
of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Aurangabad district 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.

History
Main article: History of Aurangabad

Zeb-un-Nisa's palace, Aurangabad 1880s.Painting of the profile of

Malik Ambar of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate, the founder of Khadki (later Aurangabad)
Khaḍkī was the original name of the village which was made a capital city by Malik Ambar, the Prime Minister of Murtaza Nizam Shah II, Sultan
of Ahmednagar. Within a decade, Khaḍkī grew into a populous and imposing city. Malik Ambar died in 1626.[15] He was succeeded by his son Fateh
Khan, who changed the name of Khaḍkī to Fatehnagar. With the capture of Devagiri Fort by the imperial troops in 1633, the Nizam Shahi dominions,
including Fatehnagar, came under the possession of the Mughals.[16]

In 1653, when Mughal prince Aurangzeb was appointed the Viceroy of the Deccan for the second time, he made Fatehnagar his capital and renamed it
Aurangabad. Aurangabad is sometimes referred to as Khujista Bunyad by the chroniclers of Aurangzeb's reign.[17]
In 1667 Muazzam, son of Aurangzeb became governor of this province. Before him Mirza Rajah Jai Singh was in-charge of this province for some
time.[18]

In 1681, after Aurangzeb's coronation as emperor, he shifted his court from the capital city of Delhi to Aurangabad in order to conduct his military
campaigns in the Deccan. The presence of Mughal elites in the city led to urban development, as numerous public and private buildings were
constructed. Though Aurangzeb chose not to reside in the city after 1684, the city retained importance as the primary military outpost of the Mughal
Deccan, attracting wealth and turning Aurangabad into a centre of trade; the manufacture of embroidered silks emerged during this period and is still
practised in Aurangabad today. Mughal Aurangabad was also a cultural hub, serving as an important centre of Persian and Urdu literature. During the
Mughal era, Aurangabad had an estimated population of 200,000 people, living in 54 suburbs.[19]

In 1724, Asaf Jah, a Mughal general and Nizam al-Mulk in the Deccan region, decided to secede from the crumbling Mughal Empire, with the intention
of founding his own dynasty in the Deccan. Aurangabad continued to be politically and culturally significant for the next 40 years as capital of Asaf
Jah's new dominion, until his son and successor Nizam Ali Khan Asaf Jah II transferred the capital to Hyderabad in 1763.[20][21] The loss of Aurangabad's
privileged position led to a period of economic decline; by the beginning of the 19th century, the city had become notably underpopulated, leading to
the crippling of its administration, and its buildings were in decay.[22] However, Aurangabad would continue to be important as the "second city" of the
Nizam's dominions for the remainder of the polity's lifetime.[23]

In 1816, the British established a cantonment outside Aurangabad (as they