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Aurangabad

Metropolis in Maharashtra, India

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Taj Mahal, built by Shah Jahan in the loving memory of his wife, is renowned all over the world, but very few know about the beautiful mausoleum built by his grandson, Azam Shah in the memory of his m
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The city is 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 attractions like the Ajanta and Ellora caves lying on its outskirts, both of which have been designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1983, 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 still extant, which have earned Aurangabad the nickname 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.

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), were located within the boundaries 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 the mass relocation 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. In 1724, the Mughal governor of the Deccan, Nizam Asaf Jah I, seceded from the Mughal Empire and founded his own dynasty. The dynasty established the State of Hyderabad, with their capital initially at Aurangabad, until they transferred it 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 part of the state of Maharashtra.

History

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, and 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, became a possession of the Mughals.

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.

In 1667 Muazzam, son of Aurangzeb, became governor of the province. Before him, Mirza Raja Jai Singh was in charge of this province for some time.

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, and numerous public and private buildings were constructed. Aurangabad had a city wall built encircling it around 1683 in response to Maratha raids, of which several gates still stand, such as the Delhi Gate. Though Aurangzeb chose not to reside in the city after 1684, the city retained its 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.

In 1724, Asaf Jah, a Mughal general and Nizam al-Mulk of 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 the 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. 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. However, Aurangabad would continue to be important as the "second city" of the Nizam's dominions for the remainder of the polity's lifetime.

In 1816, the British established a cantonment outside Aurangabad (as they did in other parts of the Nizam's dominions), but were discouraged from entering the city proper by the Nizam's officials. As a princely state under British suzerainty, the Nizam's Hyderabad State was quasi-autonomous, meaning that Aurangabad's culture was somewhat free of colonial influence.

Aurangabad began to industrialise in the late 19th century, with the city's first cotton mill being opened in 1889. The population of the city was 30,000 in 1881, growing to 36,000 over the next two decades. Aurangabad was particularly affected by Deccan famines in 1899-1900, 1918, and 1920, causing surges in crime.

In 1903, the British and the Nizam signed a treaty to train the Nizam's army, and it was decided to establish a proper cantonment. Today the cantonment is spread across 2,584 acres (10.46 km2), with a civilian population of 19,274 per the 2001 census.

Following Indian independence, Hyderabad State was annexed into the Indian Union in 1948, and consequently Aurangabad became a part of the Indian Union's Hyderabad State. In 1956, it passed into the newly formed bilingual Bombay State, and in 1960 it became a part of Maharashtra state.

Bal Thackeray in 1988 proposed the city be renamed as Sambhajinagar. The local governing body, Aurangabad Corporation passed a resolution on the name change in 1995. On 29 June 2022, the Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra cabinet approved the renaming of Aurangabad to Sambhaji Nagar, after Sambhaji Bhosale, second Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire. The decision was challenged in Bombay High Court, who put a restraining order on the use of the new name. On 23 February 2023 the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs approved the proposal to rename Aurangabad. On 7 May 2024, Bombay High Court ruled that the renaming of Aurangabad was legal. Aurangabad railway station was not officially renamed "Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar railway station" until 15 October 2025.

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