Yavatmal district , əʋət̪maːɭformerly known as Yeotmal, is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...

of the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

n state of

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the second-most populous state in India and the second-most populous country subdi ...

. It is located in the region of

Vidarbha Vidarbha (Pronunciation: �id̪əɾbʱə is a geographical region in the east of the Indian state of Maharashtra and a proposed state of central India, comprising the state's Amravati and Nagpur divisions. Amravati Division's former name is Be ...

, in the east-central part of the state. It is Vidarbha's third-largest district by population, after Nagpur and Amravati.

Yavatmal Yavatmal ( is a city and municipal council in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Yavatmal District. Yavatmal is around 90 km away from divisional headquarters Amravati while it is away from the sta ...

city is the administrative headquarters of the district.

History

It is believed that Yavatmal, along with the rest of the former

Berar province Berar Province, also known as the Hyderabad Assigned Districts, was a province in British India, ruled by the Nizam of Hyderabad. After 1853, it was administered by the British, although the Nizam retained formal sovereignty over the provi ...

, was part of the legendary kingdom of

mentioned in the ''

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the '' Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the K ...

''. Berar also formed part of the

Mauryan Empire The Maurya Empire, or the Mauryan Empire, was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in the Indian subcontinent based in Magadha, having been founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 322 BCE, and existing in loose-knit fashion until ...

during the reign of

Ashoka Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, s ...

(272 to 231 BCE). Berar later came under the rule of the

Satavahana The Satavahanas (''Sādavāhana'' or ''Sātavāhana'', IAST: ), also referred to as the Andhras in the Puranas, were an ancient Indian dynasty based in the Deccan region. Most modern scholars believe that the Satavahana rule began in the l ...

dynasty ( to ), the

Vakataka The Vakataka dynasty () was an ancient Indian dynasty that originated from the Deccan in the mid-3rd century CE. Their state is believed to have extended from the southern edges of Malwa and Gujarat in the north to the Tungabhadra River in th ...

dynasty (3rd to 6th centuries), the

Chalukya The Chalukya dynasty () was a Classical Indian dynasty that ruled large parts of southern and central India between the 6th and the 12th centuries. During this period, they ruled as three related yet individual dynasties. The earliest dynast ...

dynasty (6th to 8th centuries), the

Rashtrakuta Rashtrakuta ( IAST: ') (r. 753-982 CE) was a royal Indian dynasty ruling large parts of the Indian subcontinent between the sixth and 10th centuries. The earliest known Rashtrakuta inscription is a 7th-century copper plate grant detailing the ...

dynasty (8th to 10th centuries), the

Western Chalukya The Western Chalukya Empire ruled most of the western Deccan, South India, between the 10th and 12th centuries. This Kannadiga dynasty is sometimes called the ''Kalyani Chalukya'' after its regal capital at Kalyani, today's Basavakalyan in th ...

(10th to 12th centuries), and finally the

Yadava dynasty The Seuna, Sevuna, or Yadavas of Devagiri ( IAST: Seuṇa, –1317) was a Medieval Indian dynasty, which at its peak ruled a kingdom stretching from the Narmada river in the north to the Tungabhadra river in the south, in the western part of ...

Devagiri Daulatabad Fort, also known as Devagiri Fort or Deogiri Fort, is a historic fortified citadel located in Daulatabad village near Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India. It was the capital of the Yadava dynasty (9th century–14th century CE), for a br ...

(late 12th to early 14th centuries). A period of

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

rule began when Ala ud din Khilji,

Sultan of Delhi The following list of Indian monarchs is one of several lists of incumbents. It includes those said to have ruled a portion of the Indian subcontinent, including Sri Lanka. The earliest Indian rulers are known from epigraphical sources fou ...

, conquered the region in the early 14th century. The region was part of the

Bahmani Sultanate The Bahmani Sultanate, or Deccan, was a Persianate Sunni Muslim Indian Kingdom located in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan region. It was the first independent Muslim kingdom of the Deccan,

, which broke away from the Delhi Sultanate in the mid-14th century. The Bahmani Sultanate broke into smaller sultanates at the end of the 15th century, and in 1572 Berar became part of the

Nizam Shahi The Ahmadnagar Sultanate was a late medieval Indian Muslim kingdom located in the northwestern Deccan, between the sultanates of Gujarat and Bijapur. Malik Ahmed, the Bahmani governor of Junnar after defeating the Bahmani army led by general J ...

sultanate, based at

Ahmednagar Ahmednagar (), is a city located in the Ahmednagar district in the state of Maharashtra, India, about 120 km northeast of Pune and 114 km from Aurangabad. Ahmednagar takes its name from Ahmad Nizam Shah I, who founded the town in 1 ...

. The Nizam Shahis ceded Berar to the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

in 1595. As Mughal rule started to unravel at the start of the 18th century, Asaf Jah I,

Nizam The Nizams were the rulers of Hyderabad from the 18th through the 20th century. Nizam of Hyderabad (Niẓām ul-Mulk, also known as Asaf Jah) was the title of the monarch of the Hyderabad State ( divided between the state of Telangana, Mar ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern Indi ...

, seized the southern provinces of the empire (including Berar) in 1724, forming an independent state. A detailed account of

Berar Berar may refer to: *Vidarbha, the eastern region of Maharashtra Province, India, historically known as Berar *Berar Sultanate (1490–1596), one of the Deccan sultanates *Berar Subah (1596–1724), a Subah of the Mughal Empire *Berar Province (1724 ...

was added to the Ain-i-Akbari in 1596–97, immediately after the treaty of Ahmadnagar under which the province was ceded to the Mughal Empire; this account may be regarded as a description of the province as it was administered by the Nizam Sahi and Imad Sahi kings, and probably also by the Bahamanis. The account notes that Berar was divided into thirteen sarkars or revenue districts. The Yavatmal district comprised the greater part of Akbar's sarkars of Kalam and Mahur. But some few mahals of these sarkars lay beyond the present limits of the district. Yavatmal appears in the record as the headquarters of a pargana under the name of Yot-Lohara – ''Yot'' being the Urdu or Persian corruption of ''Yevata'', the original name of the town; and ''Lohara'' the name of a village about to the west of Yavatmal. The suffix ''mal'' is a corruption of ''mahal'' (pargana-town). A rough estimate makes the land revenue demand in Akbar's time for the area now occupied by the district more than ten lakhs (one million) rupees, while it is certain that collection must have fallen far short of the nominal demand. In 1853 the district, together with the rest of Berar, came under the administration of the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

. Berar was divided into East Berar and West Berar with Yavatmal district included in the former. In 1864 Yavatmal, along with some other ''

taluka A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

s'', was formed into the district initially called Southeast Berar and later renamed Wani. In 1903 Berar was leased by the

Nizam of Hyderabad The Nizams were the rulers of Hyderabad from the 18th through the 20th century. Nizam of Hyderabad (Niẓām ul-Mulk, also known as Asaf Jah) was the title of the monarch of the Hyderabad State ( divided between the state of Telangana, Mar ...

to the British Government of India.

Geography

Yavatmal District is situated in the south-western part of Wardha Penganga-Wainganga basin. The geographical location of the district falls in 19.26 and 20.42 north latitudes and 77.18 to 7.9.9 in the eastern line. Amravati and Wardha districts, from east to Chandrapur district, Telangana and Nanded district are from the north whereas Parbhani and Akola districts are surrounded by west. The district covers (4.41 percent of the state). The total length of the district is , and the maximum width from north to south is . The district occupies the southeastern part of Berar. Yavatmal district is in the southern mountain ranges of Berar, situated on a wide plain surrounded by hilly terrain and mountain ranges running east to west. The central part is a plateau above sea level. On its northern border is the Panighat, called the valley of Berar, which is wide; only a portion of the valley is within Yavatmal district. The two main rivers are the Penganga and

Wardha Wardha is a city and a municipal council in Wardha district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Wardha district. Wardha gets its name from the Wardha River which flows at the north, west and south bound ...

. The Wardha originates in Madhya Pradesh. The Penganga river is the main tributary of the Wardha, and marks the southern boundary of the district before joining the Wardha. The Wardha's other tributaries include the Bembala and Nirguda, which flow only during the monsoon season. Other rivers include the Bembala and Nirguda rivers on the Yavatmal Plateau.

Climate

The climate is dry and hot in summer with a moderately cold winter. The year is divided into four seasons: summer (March to May), southwest monsoon season (June to September), northern monsoon season (October to November), and winter (December to February). The district receives an average annual rainfall of . This generally increases from west to east, with in the western region of the district and in the east. Almost all of the rain falls during the southwest monsoon season. In recent years heavy rainfall has destroyed crops or left the land unsuitable for planting. The average daily temperature in May reaches . The average daily minimum temperature is in December. The district temperature may fall below due to the humidity of cool northern air.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Yavatmal district had a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction usi ...

of 2,772,348, roughly equal to the nation of

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispa ...

or the US state of

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

. Its population ranking was 141st in India (out of a total of 640), and 21st in the state (out of 35). The district had a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001–2011 was 12.9%. Yavatmal had a

sex ratio The sex ratio (or gender ratio) is usually defined as the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. Many species dev ...

of 947 females for every 1000 males, and a

literacy rate Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...

of 80.7%. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 11.85% and 18.54% of the population respectively.

Religion

Languages

At the time of the

2011 Census of India The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Informatio ...

, 67.57% of the population in the district spoke Marathi, 13.29% Lambadi, 5.41%

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

, 2.77% Kolami, 2.41% Gondi and 1.69%

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode ...

as their first language. Marathi is the major language. Other languages spoken are

, Banjari, Gondi, Kolami and Andh, an Indo-Aryan language spoken by 100,000 people. People here speak with the

Varhadi Varhadi is a dialect of Marathi spoken in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra and by Marathi people of adjoining parts of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana in India. Vocabulary and grammar Although all the dialects of Marathi are mutu ...

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is ...

Divisions

Yavatmal district forms the southeast corner of Amravati Division, which corresponds to the former

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

province of

city is the administrative headquarters of this district. Yavatmal district comprises sixteen ''

tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its adminis ...

s'': *

Arni Arni may refer to: Municipalities * Arni, Tiruvannamalai, a town in Tamil Nadu, India * Arni, Maharashtra, in Yavatmal district, Maharashtra State, India * Arni, Karditsa, a municipality in the Karditsa regional unit, Greece * Arni, Aargau, a munic ...

* Babhulgaon * Darwha *

Digras Digras is a city and a municipal council in the Yavatmal district located in the state of Maharashtra, India. Digras is 638 km from state capital Mumbai and 221 km from winter capital Nagpur. Places of Interest Mallikarjun Temple Ghanti B ...

* Ghatanji * Kalamb * Mahagaon * Maregaon * Ner, Yavatmal * Pandharkawada ( Kelapur) *

Pusad Pusad is a city in the Yavatmal district located in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra state of India. It is named after the Pus river. Its ancient name was 'Pushpawanti'. Pusad is second largest city of yavatmal district. For last 20 years Pusad i ...

Ralegaon Ralegaon is Tehsil place town in Yavatmal District of Maharashtra (India). It is located in Vidarbha region of Maharashra. Geographically it is located northwest from Yavatmal. It is located 42 km away from Yavatmal and 21 km away f ...

Umarkhed Umarkhed is a Municipal council in Yavatmal district of Indian State of Maharashtra. Geography Umarkhed is located at . It has an average elevation of 416 metres (1364 feet). Umarkhed is a municipal town near the Painganga river. ...

* Wani *

* Zari Jamani There are seven

Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha The Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha or the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the legislature of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is situated in the Nariman Point area of South Mumbai in the capital Mumbai. Presently, 288 mem ...

constituencies in this district: *

* Arni (ST) *

* Ralegaon (ST) * Umarkhed (SC) * Wani *

Transport

Yavatmal City and District has good connectivity of Transport to all major city in India and Maharastra i.e. Nagpur, Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Nanded, Aurangabad, Amravati, Adilabad, Hyderabad.

National Highway 7 The following highways are numbered 7. For roads numbered A7, see list of A7 roads. Route 7, or Highway 7, may refer to: International * Asian Highway 7 * European route E07 * European route E007 Afghanistan * Kunduz-Khomri Highway (A7) Al ...

(NH7) passes through the district. National Highway 361 passes through Yavatmal City and district. Proposed National Highway from Khandwa(MP) to Karanji is passing via Paratwada, Amravati, Yavatmal. Yavatmal to Amravati route needs to be buid newly via Pimpalgaon, Sawar, Dabha(pahur), Rajura, Bankhead as the existing are unnecessarily too long to travel. Jawaharlal Darda Yavatmal Airport, Bhari, Yavatmal. Yavatmal-Murtijapur Railway Line (Work in Progress) Wardha-Yavatmal-Nanded Railway Line (Work in Progress) India's first Broad Gauge Metro will run from Nagpur to Yavatmal In future Maharashtra's Nagpur or Chandrapur to Pune expressway if propose can be pass via Yavatmal, washim, Lonar, Paithan, Ahmednagar.

Economy

As Yavatmal is Cotton City

Jowar ''Sorghum bicolor'', commonly called sorghum () and also known as great millet, broomcorn, guinea corn, durra, imphee, jowar, or milo, is a grass species cultivated for its grain, which is used for food for humans, animal feed, and ethanol produ ...

and

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

are the main produce of the district, cotton and teakwood the chief exports. Other items exported include lime, wooden furniture and oranges.

soybean The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses. Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu ...

crop is an important crop as major soybean plants have come up in the area. In 2006 the

Ministry of Panchayati Raj The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is a branch of the Government of India. Ministry of Panchayati Raj looks into all matters relating to the Panchayati Raj and Panchayati Raj Institutions. It was created in May 2004. The ministry is headed by a ...

named Yavatmal one of the country's 250 most-backward districts (out of a total of 640). It is one of the twelve districts in Maharashtra currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).

Mining

The geology of the district is transitional with Deccan trap rocks (lava bed) predominating, displaying characteristic step-like hills and ridges. These have been eroded through in places, exposing older Puranic and Aryan sediments.

Forestry

Forsts are located at Bitargaon, Tipeshwar, Tiwsala and Umbarda. Trees include teak, tendu, hirda, apta and moha, as well as bamboo. Wild-bear, deer, nilgai, sambar, hyena and peacock are among the animals found in the forests. There are wildlife sanctuaries at Tipeshwar and Painganga.Tipeshwar is in way to become Tiger Reserve in India.

Tourism

Arni and Digras tehsils are pilgrimage locations, important for the journeys of Baba Kambalposh R.A. Shrine and Shri Ghantibaba Temple. They also have the Shri Chintamani temple of Kalamb, Ghatanji Maroti Maharaj Yatra and the Shree Datta Jayanti festival at Jambhora Mahur. Ner tehsil have temple called Shri Fakirji Maharaj Sansthan, Dhanaj Manikwada which is Grade 'B' pilgrimage by Gramvikas Department of Maharashtra State Government. Shree Chintamani Ganesh Temple is at Kalamb on the bank of the Chakravati. The district has various entrenched cultures and tribal communities, including the Gond Raja, Gond Pardhan, Kolam, Aandh and Banjara. Various religious fairs take place in the district including: * Fakirji Maharaj Fair, Dhanaj Manikwada, is a pilgrimage place for both Hindu as well as Muslim people. He was a saint lived 250–300 years back. Temple culture reflects the varkari sampraday. Trust is associated with different social activities. Devotees visit this place on Kartik and Ashadi Yatra. Kanya-bhakar mahaprasad in yatra and Saath Festival is famous in Maharashtra. * Shree Chintamani Fair, Kalamb * The Jambhora and Mahashiv Ratri in Wani, Pusad and Mahagaon * Shri Rangnaath Swamy, Wani * Amba Devi, Kelapur * Baba Kambalposh R.A. Urs/Fair, Arni * Maroti and Gajanan Maharaj Fair, Ghatanji * Ghanti Baba chi Yatra, Digras *

Painganga Wildlife Sanctuary Painganga Wildlife Sanctuary is the name given to the protected forests on both sides of the Painganga River which divides Yavatmal district and Nanded district, Maharashtra, India. The Painganga Wildlife Sanctuary was established on January 1, 1 ...

* Ambona lake * Sahasrakund Waterfall * Shri Kshetra Panchmukhi Mahadev Mandir, Hardada * Balaji Mandir, Dhanora(Sa) There are also forest locations for tourists and hot springs at Kapeshwar on the banks of Penganga.

Notable people

Vasantrao Naik Vasantrao Phulsing Naik (1 July 1913 – 18 August 1979) was an Indian politician who served as Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 1963 until 1975. To this date, he remains as the longest-serving Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Also, he had a c ...

- Longest ruling CM of Maharashtra. * Aajibai Banarase, community leader and president of Maharashtra Mandal London

References

External links

Yavatmal district's official website
{{Coord, 20.1, 78.2, type:adm2nd_region:IN, display=title Districts of Maharashtra 1864 establishments in India Amravati division Vidarbha