Kurundwad is a town on the banks of the

Panchganga river The Panchganga River is one of the important rivers of India located in Maharashtra. In English, the name translates as "Five Rivers". It is a major tributary of Krishna River, which it flows into at Narsobawadi. Origin The Panchganga River of ...

, 55 km from Kolhapur ( Kolhapur district) in the Indian state of

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

Geography

It is in the southern part of the

India India, officially the Republic of India, 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 by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n state of

. It is 55 km from the district headquarters of

Kolhapur Kolhapur () is a city on the banks of the Panchganga River in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Kolhapur is one of the most significant cities in South Maharashtra and has been a hub of historical, religious, and cultural a ...

and lies 2 km from the Shri Dattatrey devotee town of Narsobachi Wadi. Kurundwad is situated near the banks of two rivers,

Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...

and Panchaganga. Near Krishna river lies Kurundwad Ghat, built by Raja Raghunathrao I Dadasaheb Patwardhan around 1795. A ''samadhi'' (memorial) of Santajiraje Ghorapade, who was Commander-in-Chief of Maratha forces that humbled

Aurangzeb Alamgir I (Muhi al-Din Muhammad; 3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known by the title Aurangzeb, also called Aurangzeb the Conqueror, was the sixth Mughal emperors, Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707, becomi ...

during the reign of Chhatrapati Rajaram (1689–1700).

Transport

The nearest railway station is in

Jaysingpur Jaysingpur is a city and municipal council in the Kolhapur district of the Indian state of Maharashtra. The city derives its name from Raja Jaysing, the father of Shrimant Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj of Kolhapur, who planned and developed the a ...

, approximately 15 km to the north.

Culture

Popular regional sports include

Kabbadi Kabaddi (, ) is a contact team sport played between two teams of seven players. It is one of the traditional games of South Asia. In this game, a raider enters the opposing half of the court to touch defenders and attempt to return within 30 ...

, weight lifting and Kho Kho.

History

During the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

, the area of Kurundwad was a

native state In biochemistry, the native state of a protein or nucleic acid is its properly Protein folding, folded and/or assembled form, which is operative and functional. The native state of a biomolecule may possess all four levels of biomolecular structu ...

, falling under the

Deccan States Agency The Deccan States Agency, also known as the Deccan States Agency and Kolhapur Residency, was a political agency of India, managing the relations of the Government of India with a collection of princely states and jagirs (feudal 'vassal' estat ...

of the Bombay Presidency. It formed part of the southern Mahratta ''jagirs''. Created in 1772 by a grant from the

Peshwa The Peshwa was the second highest office in the Maratha Empire, next in rank and prestige only to that of the Chhatrapati. Initially serving as the appointed prime minister in the Maratha Kingdom, the office became hereditary when Shahu gave t ...

, the state was later divided into two parts, including "Shedbal", which lapsed to the British government in 1857. In 1855, the remaining state area of Kurundwad was further divided into a senior branch, Kurundvad Senior, with an area of 185 miles², and a junior branch, Kurundvad Junior, with an area of 114 miles². The territory of both was widely scattered among other native states and British districts. According to the 1901

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, the senior branch had a population of 42,474, while the junior branch had a population of 34,003. The chiefs of the branches were

Brahman In Hinduism, ''Brahman'' (; IAST: ''Brahman'') connotes the highest universal principle, the ultimate reality of the universe.P. T. Raju (2006), ''Idealistic Thought of India'', Routledge, , page 426 and Conclusion chapter part XII In the ...

s by caste, belonging to the

Patwardhan Patwardhan may refer to the surname used by members of the Marathi Chitpavan Brahmin community belonging to the Kaundinya gotra. The Karhade Patwardhans belong to the Kashyapa and Naidhruva Gotra and their history in the Rajapur region of the K ...

family. The last ruler (junior line) was Raja Shrimant Raghunathrao Ganpatrao (Dadasaheb) Patwardhan. He was ADC to the 1st President of India, recipient of the Independence Medal, recipient of King George V Silver Jubilee Medal and the King George VI Coronation Medal ereditary Distinction

Legacy

Raja Shrimant Bhalchandrarao II Chintamanrao Patwardhan, Raja of Kurundwad-Snr, ranks as a ''sardar'' in the southern Maratha country.

Demographics

The "Kurundwad Municipal Council" has population of 22,372 of which 11,325 are males while 11,047 are females as per report released by "Census India 2011". Population of Children with age of 0-6 is 2267 which is 10.13% of total population of Kurundwad (M Cl). In Kurundwad Municipal Council, Female Sex Ratio is of 975 against state average of 929. Moreover, Child Sex Ratio in Kurundwad is around 802 compared to Maharashtra state average of 894. Literacy rate of Kurundwad city is 86.90% higher than state average of 82.34%. In Kurundwad, Male literacy is around 92.81% while female literacy rate is 80.97%.

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

is the official and most widely spoken language there.

Schools

* Sitabai Patwardhan High School, Kurundwad. * Dr. Allama Iqbal High School and Junior College, Kurundwad. * Sane Guruji Vidyalaya, Kurundwad. * Sou. Vimaladevi Khanderao Mane Kanya Madhyamik Vidyalaya, Kurundwad. * Prathamik Vidya Mandir, Kurundwad. * Sanjeevani English Medium School, Kurundwad. *Sainiki Pattern Niwasi Shala, Kurundwad. *Abhinav Prathamik Shala, Kurundwad. *Kumar Vidya Mandir No.1, Kurundwad. *Kumar Vidya Mandir No.2, Kurundwad. *Kumar Vidya Mandir No.3, Kurundwad. *Kanya Vidya Mandir No.1, Kurundwad. *Kanya Vidya Mandir No.2, Kurundwad.

Notable people

Vishnu Digambar Paluskar Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar (18 August 1872 – 21 August 1931) was a Hindustani musician. He sang the original version of the bhajan Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram, and founded the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya on 5 May 1901. He is also credited wit ...

- Hindustani classical vocalist
Ringmaster Vishnupant Chhatre
''-'' Circus inventor of India

References

{{Reflist

External links

Website on Kurundwad
1772 establishments in India Cities and towns in Kolhapur district Princely states of India States and territories established in 1772