Aurangabad City Guide

Aurangabad Introduction :-

It's easy to see why many travellers regard Aurangabad as little more than a convenient, though largely uninteresting, place in which to kill time on the way to Ellora and Ajanta. First impression seem to confirm its reputation as an industrial metropolis ; wide streets, fast traffic, ugly building sites, and gaping patches of urban wasteland merge into a featureless ferroconcrete sprwal. Yet, given a little effort, northern Maharashtra's largest city can compensate for its architectural shortcomings. Scattered around its ragged fringes, the dilapidated remains of fortifcations, gateways, domes and minarets - including those of the most ambitious Moghul tomb garden in western India, the Bibi-Ka-Maqbara -bear witness to an illustrious imperial past, the small but fascinating crop of rock-cut Buddhist caves, huddled along the flanks of the flat-topped, sandy yellow hills to the north, are remnants of even more ancient occupation.

Aurangabad History :-

The city, originally called Khadke, or "Big Rock", was founded in the early 16th century by Mailk Amber, an ex-Abyssinian slave and prime minister of the independent Muslim kingdom of the Nizam Shahis, based at Ahmadnagar, 112km southwest. It was a perfect spot for a provincial capital : on the banks of the River Kham, in a a broad valley seperating the then-forested Sahyadri Range to the north from the Satharas to the south, and at a crossroads of the religion's key trade routes. Many of the mosques and palaces erected by Malik Amber still endure, albeit in ruins.
Buddhism was introduced to this region during the reign of the powerful Mauryan Emperors and its rapid acceptance is evident in the profusion of Buddhist cave temples found in and around modern aurangabad. The Hindu temples of Ellora built by the kings of the Satvahana and Rashtrakuta dynasties predate the influx of Buddhism. Strategically located in the centre of India, the region was considered the safest from the marauding armies of the Afghan and Central Asian raiders. The Tughlaq King Mohammed bin Tughlaq of the Delhi Sultanate moved his capital from Delhi, along with the citizens to this area in the 14th century but failed due to poor logistical planning.

Tourist Attraction In Aurangabad :-

Puwar Museum
This ia a small two-room museum which contains the fascinating personal collection of a retired doctor. Among the exhibits are a 500 years old chain mail suit, a copy of the Koran handwritten by Aurangzeb and an 800 years old Paithani sari.

Dargah
On the left bank of the Kham River, on Panchakki Road, the Dargah of Baba Shah Muzaffar is a religious compound built by Aurangzeb as a memorial to his spiritual mentor, a chisti mystic.


Panchakki
Built by Malik Amber in 1695, this watermill takes it's name from the mill which used to grind grain for the pilgrims, designed to generate energy by water, brought down from a spring on a mountain. The gardens and fish tanks here are memorial of Sufi-saint who was buried here in 1624.


Bibi ka Maqbara
A replica of the Taj Mahal, Bibi-Ka-Maqbara was built in 1678 by Aurangzeb's son as a tribute to his mother Begum Rabia Durani. It is the only specimen of the Mughal architecture of it's kind, in the Deccan plateau.



Aurangabad Caves
Carved out by a steep-sided spur of the Sahyadri Range, directly overlooking Bibi-Ka-Maqbara, Aurangabad's own caves bear no comparision to those in nearby Ellora and Ajanta, but their fine sculpture makes a wothwhile introduction to rock-cut architecture.
 

How to Reach There :-

Air : Aurangabad is connected by Indian Airlines flights with Bombay, Delhi, Jaipur and Udiapur.

Road : Aurangabad is directly connected by rail with Bombay, Manmad and Nasik Road.

Rail : Aurangabad is well connected by good motorable road with Ajanta.