Aurangabad

Aurangabad, or Aurungabad, a city of India, in the dominions of the nizam of Hyderabad, north-west division, situated 138 m. from Poona, 207 from Bombay via Poona, and 270 from Hyderabad on the river Kaum. It gives its name to a district. It was founded in 1610, under the name of Fatchnagar, by Malik Ambar, an Abyssinian, who had risen from the condition of a slave to great influence. Subsequently it became the capital of the Mogul conquests in the south of India. Aurangzeb, who erected here a mausoleum to his wife which has been compared to the Taj at Agra, made the city the seat of his government during his viceroyalty of the Deccan, and gave it the name of Aurangabad. It thus grew into the principal city of an extensive province of the same name, stretching westward to the sea, and comprehending nearly the whole of the territory now comprised within the northern division of the presidency of Bombay. Aurangabad long continued to be the capital of the succession of potentates bearing the modern title of nizam, after those chiefs became independent of Delhi. They abandoned it subsequently, and transferred their capital to Hyderabad, when the town at once began to decline. Aurangabad is a railway station on the Hyderabad-Godavari line, 435 m. from Bombay. In 1901 the population, with military cantonments, was 36,837, showing an increase of 8% in the decade. It has a cotton mill.

The district of Aurangabad has an area of 6172 sq. m. The population in 1901 was 721,407. It contains the famous caves of Ajanta, and also the battlefield of Assaye.

* * *