Nanded is a city in Maharashtra state,

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

. It is the tenth largest city in the state and the seventy-ninth most populous city in India. It is the second largest city in Marathwada region. It is the district headquarters of

Nanded district Nanded district (Marathi pronunciation: aːn̪d̪eɖ is a district of Maharashtra state in central India. The city of Nanded is the district headquarters. Officer Members of Parliament *Prataprao Govindrao Chikhalikar (BJP) *Sudhakar Tukara ...

. The last Sikh Guru,

Guru Gobind Singh Guru Gobind Singh (; 22 December 1666 – 7 October 1708), born Gobind Das or Gobind Rai the tenth Sikh Guru, a spiritual master, warrior, poet and philosopher. When his father, Guru Tegh Bahadur, was executed by Aurangzeb, Guru Gobind ...

spent his last days in Nanded and passed his guruship to the sacred text

Guru Granth Sahib The Guru Granth Sahib ( pa, ਗੁਰੂ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਸਾਹਿਬ, ) is the central holy religious scripture of Sikhism, regarded by Sikhs as the final, sovereign and eternal Guru following the lineage of the ten human gurus of the rel ...

before his death here in 1708.

Location

Nanded is located on the banks of river

Godavari The Godavari (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''Godāvarī'' Help:IPA/Sanskrit, �od̪aːʋəɾiː is India's second longest river after the Ganges river, Ganga river and drains into the third largest basin in Indi ...

in west-central India. Nanded district borders Latur district, Parbhani district and

Hingoli district Hingoli district (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, �iŋɡoliː is an administrative Districts of Maharashtra, district in the state of Maharashtra in India. The district is headquartered at Hingoli. The district occupies an area of ...

to the west and

Yavatmal district Yavatmal district , əʋət̪maːɭformerly known as Yeotmal, is a district of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is located in the region of Vidarbha, in the east-central part of the state. It is Vidarbha's third-largest district by popul ...

to the north. The district is bordered by the Nizamabad, Kamareddy, Nirmal and Adilabad districts of Telangana state to the east and

Bidar district Bidar district is the northernmost part of the Karnataka state in India. The administrative headquarters of district is Bidar city. Geographically, it resembles the "Crown of the State", occupying its northeastern end. It is bounded by Kamare ...

of Karnataka state to the south. Nanded has two parts: Old Nanded occupies the north bank of the

river; New Nanded, to the south of the river, encompasses Waghala and neighbourhoods.

Etymology

From a copper plate inscription found at Washim, a town approximately north of Nanded, archaeologists deduce the city was formerly known as ( mr, नंदितट). Another name was . Folklore suggests that the name "Nanded" developed from the

Vahana ''Vahana'' ( sa, वाहन, or animal vehicle, literally "that which carries, that which pulls") denotes the being, typically an animal or mythical, a particular Hindus, Hindu God is said to use as a vehicle. In this capacity, the vahana ...

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hin ...

. Shiva was said to have performed penance on the banks () of the Godavari river. This "" later became "Nanded".

History

Nanded is mentioned in Mahabharata as place of Bharat's maternal grandparents. In the 1st century CE, power in the area lay with the Andhrabhrtyas and Satvahanas. In the 5th and 4th centuries BCE, Nanded was ruled by the

Nanda dynasty The Nanda dynasty ruled in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent during the fourth century BCE, and possibly during the fifth century BCE. The Nandas overthrew the Shaishunaga dynasty in the Magadha region of eastern India, and expande ...

. In the 3rd century BCE (about 272 to 231 BCE), it was part of the Maurya Empire under

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, ...

. Local irrigation practices and Nanded itself are recorded in the treatise, '' Leela Charitra'' (late 1200s CE). Nanded was the birthplace of three Marathi poet-saints—Vishnupant Shesa, Raghunath Shesa, and Vaman Pandit Construction of Kandhar Fort, located in Kandhar, is attributed to the Rashtrakuta king Krishna III of Malkheda who ruled around 10th century CE. From 1636, Nanded was the centre of governance of Nizam State, which includes present-day

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the eleventh-largest state and the twelfth-most populated state in India with a geographical area of and ...

and

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Kar ...

, and was an imperial province of the

Mughal Mughal or Moghul may refer to: Related to the Mughal Empire * Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries * Mughal dynasty * Mughal emperors * Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia * Mughal architecture * Mug ...

Badshah (emperor)

Shah Jahan Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram (5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), better known by his regnal name Shah Jahan I (; ), was the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658. Under his emperorship, the Mugh ...

. In 1657, Nanded merged into Bidah Subah.

Guru Nanak Gurū Nānak (15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539; Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ; pronunciation: , ), also referred to as ('father Nānak'), was the founder of Sikhism and is the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. His birth is celebrated ...

(1469 1539 CE) passed through Nanded on his way to

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

(1666 1708 CE) arrived in Nanded with the

Mughal emperor The Mughal emperors ( fa, , Pādishāhān) were the supreme heads of state of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Mughal rulers styled ...

Bahadur Shah I Bahadur Shah I (14 October 1643 – 27 February 1712), also known as Muhammad Mu'azzam and Shah Alam I. was the eighth Mughal Emperor who ruled from 1707 until his death in 1712. In his youth, he conspired to overthrow his father Aurangzeb, t ...

(1643 1712 CE) near the end of August in 1707 CE. When Bahadur Shah moved on to

Golconda Fort (Telugu: గోల్కొండ, romanized: ''Gōlkōnḍa'') is a historic fortress and ruined city located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It was originally called Mankal. The fort was originally built by Kakatiya ruler Pratāparu ...

, Guru Gobind Singh remained in Nanded. Guru Gobind Singh proclaimed he was the last (tenth) living guru and established the sacred text, the

as an eternal "living" leader. Guru Gobind Singh died without a

lineal descendant A lineal descendant, in legal usage, is a blood relative in the direct line of descent – the children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc. of a person. In a legal procedure sense, lineal descent refers to the acquisition of estate by i ...

due to the

martyrdom A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external ...

of his four sons. In 1725, Nanded became part of

Hyderabad State Hyderabad State () was a princely state located in the south-central Deccan region of India with its capital at the city of Hyderabad. It is now divided into the present-day state of Telangana, the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka, and ...

. In about 1835,

Maharaja Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great Monarch, king" or "high king". A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Em ...

Ranjit Singh Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839), popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or "Lion of Punjab", was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He ...

commissioned the construction of a

gurdwara A gurdwara (sometimes written as gurudwara) ( Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ''guradu'ārā'', meaning "Door to the Guru") is a place of assembly and worship for Sikhs. Sikhs also refer to gurdwaras as ''Gurdwara Sahib''. People from all fait ...

at Nanded with the financial aid of

Sikander Jah Nawab Mir Akbar Ali Khan Siddiqi Bahadur, Sikander Jah, Asaf Jah III (11 November 1768 – 21 May 1829), was the 3rd Nizam/Ruler of Hyderabad, India from 1803 to 1829. He was born in Chowmahalla Palace in the Khilwath, the second son of Asaf ...

(3rd

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 ...

of hyderabad) It was built on the site of Guru Gobind Singh's

cremation Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre ...

. The gurdwara is part of the Hazur Sahib. After India gained independence in 1947, the

Indian Armed Forces The Indian Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of India. It consists of three professional uniformed services: the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force.—— Additionally, the Indian Armed Forces are supported by ...

annexed Hyderabad and ended the rule of the Nizam in

Operation Polo Operation Polo was the code name of the Hyderabad " police action" in September 1948, by the then newly independent Dominion of India against Hyderabad State. It was a military operation in which the Indian Armed Forces invaded the Nizam-rule ...

, making Nanded part of the new Hyderabad State. Nanded remained part of the Hyderabad state until 1956 when it was included in the

Bombay Presidency The Bombay Presidency or Bombay Province, also called Bombay and Sind (1843–1936), was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India, with its capital in the city that came up over the seven islands of Bombay. The first mainl ...

. On 1 May 1960, Maharashtra state was created on a linguistic basis and the Marathi dominant Nanded district became part of Maharashtra. In December 2022, 25 Nanded district villages renewed their demand to merge with

Geography

Nanded urban area is . Nanded is built on the Deccan Traps lava flows of the upper cretaceous to lower eocene eras. The lava flows are overlain by thin alluvial deposits. The lava flows are horizontal and each flow has two distinct units. The highly weathered vesicular trap and underlying weathered jointed and fractured massive trap constitutes the main water-yielding zones. The soil is mostly formed from igneous rocks and are black, medium black, shallow and calcareous types having different depths and profiles.

Godavari river The Godavari ( IAST: ''Godāvarī'' �od̪aːʋəɾiː is India's second longest river after the Ganga river and drains into the third largest basin in India, covering about 10% of India's total geographical area. Its source is in Trimbakes ...

passes through the city.

Climate

Demographics

2011 census, Nanded had a population of 550,564. The municipality had a gender ratio of 924 females per 1,000 males. 12.4 percent of the population were under six years old. Effective

literacy 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, hum ...

was 87.40 percent. 81.74 percent of women were literate. Male literacy was 92.68 percent.

Transport

Road

Nanded lies on NH 61 (Kalyan–Ahmednagar–Parbhani–Nanded–Nirmal), NH 361 (Nagpur–Wardha-Yavatmal–Nanded-Latur–Solapur–Sangli–Kolhapur–Ratnagiri) and

NH 161 NH or Nh may refer to Businesses and organizations * All Nippon Airways (IATA code NH), formerly Nippon Helicopter, Japan's largest airline * National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, a South Korean cooperative federation also known by its Ko ...

(Akola–Washim–Hingoli–Nanded–Degloor–Sangareddy). MSRTC buses connect Nanded to many cities of the Maharashtra state. TSRTC buses connect Nanded to some cities of the Telangana state.

Rail

Hazur Sahib Nanded railway station is located on the Secunderabad–Manmad line of Nanded railway division of the

South Central Railway Zone The South Central Railway (abbreviated SCR) is one of the 19 zones of Indian Railways. The jurisdiction of the zone is spread over the states of Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh. It has three divisions under its administrat ...

(SCR). Nanded railway division is one of the three railway divisions under

South Central Railway zone The South Central Railway (abbreviated SCR) is one of the 19 zones of Indian Railways. The jurisdiction of the zone is spread over the states of Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh. It has three divisions under its administrat ...

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...

. Around 48 trains arrive and depart each day from this station. Maltekdi railway station is another railway station serving city of Nanded.

Air

The Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji Airport, Nanded is served by daily TruJet flights to

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 (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

and

Jalgaon Jalgaon () is a city in Maharashtra, India. The city is located in North Maharashtra, and serves as the administrative headquarters of its namesake district, the Jalgaon district. Jalgaon is colloquially known as the “''Banana City of India' ...

Air India Air India is the flag carrier airline of India, headquartered at New Delhi. It is owned by Talace Private Limited, a Special-Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of Tata Sons, after Air India Limited's former owner, the Government of India, completed ...

operates flights to

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Maj ...

Economy

Crops grown around Nanded include cotton, bananas, sugarcane, mangoes, soya beans, sweet limes, Grapes, Papaya, and

sorghum ''Sorghum'' () is a genus of about 25 species of flowering plants in the grass family ( Poaceae). Some of these species are grown as cereals for human consumption and some in pastures for animals. One species is grown for grain, while many ot ...

(jawar). Nanded has a Regional Cotton Research Center to support the Cotton-growing industry. There is an agricultural school operational under the aegis of Krishi Vidyapeeth of Parbhani. Tourism is supported by 10 million annual visitors who are mostly religious pilgrims.

Education

On 17 September 1994, the Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University (SRTMU) was established in Nanded after a restructuring of the Marathwada University in Aurangabad. The university supervises the educational activities in senior colleges in four districts of Marathwada division. Notable educational institutions in Nanded include the Dr. Shankarrao Chavan Government Medical College and Shri Guru Gobind Singhji Institute of Engineering and Technology.

Governance

The city of Nanded is managed by the Nanded-Waghala Municipal Corporation (NWCMC). The corporation consists of 81 democratically elected members. The Municipal Commissioner is the Chief Executive of the corporation. Sunil Lahane is the current Chief Executive of the corporation.

Tourism

Nanded fort

Nanded Fort, also known as Nandgiri Fort is a fort located on the banks of Godavari river. The Godavari river encloses the fort on three sides. The fort has been converted into a garden to attract tourists. There is a water tank constructed in the fort.

Mandir

The

Vedic rituals The historical Vedic religion (also known as Vedicism, Vedism or ancient Hinduism and subsequently Brahmanism (also spelled as Brahminism)), constituted the religious ideas and practices among some Indo-Aryan peoples of northwest Indian Subco ...

are regularly performed on the ghats of

Godavari River The Godavari ( IAST: ''Godāvarī'' �od̪aːʋəɾiː is India's second longest river after the Ganga river and drains into the third largest basin in India, covering about 10% of India's total geographical area. Its source is in Trimbakes ...

which include Urvashi Ghat, Ram Ghat, and Govardhan Ghat.Nanded guruwara
Maharashtra tourism, Government of India. * Kaleshwar Mandir, Vishnupuri * Shani Mandir, Mondha * Yagyavalkya Vedpathshala Saraswati Mandir, Shree Nagar * Shri Yadav Ahir Samaj Mahamai Mata Mandir, Devinagar * Ganpati Mandir, Trikut * Hanuman Mandir, Trikut * Datta Mandir, Trikut * Rajput Sangh Renuka Mata Mandir, Mahurgarh * Siddheshwar Mandir, Hottal built during the Chalukya era, an example of Hemadpanti temple architecture.
Government of India. * Shiva Mandir, Tadkhel, Degloor Taluka built with large stones displaying scripture by the Hindu king, Senapati. * Jagdamba Mata Mandir, Tadkhel * Shri Narsinh Mandir, Junna Kautha.

Gurdwara

* Hazur Sahib was built by

Maharaja Ranjit Singh Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839), popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or "Lion of Punjab", was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He ...

. It is one of the '' Panj Takht'', the five seats of higher authority for Sikhs. It is built at the site of cremation of Guru Gobind Singh. His remains and weapons are preserved at the site. * Gurdwara Nagina Ghat Sahib * Gurdwara Banda Ghat Sahib (Baba Banda Singh Bahadur) * Gurdwara Shikaar Ghat Sahib * Gurdwara Baoli Sahib * Gurdwara Heera Ghat * Gurdwara Mata Sahib * Gurdwara Maal Tekdi * Gurdwara Sangat Sahib * Gurdwara Nanakpuri Sahib (place of Guru Nanak) * Gurdwara Bhajangarh Sahib

Church

* St. Francis De Sales Catholic Church * Methodist Church * Bethel AG Church * The Pentecostal Mission (Church) * Bethesda Ministries Church

Notable people

Banda Singh Bahadur Banda Singh Bahadur (born Lachman Dev) (27 October 1670 – 9 June 1716), was a Sikh warrior and a commander of Khalsa army. At age 15, he left home to become an ascetic, and was given the name Madho Das Bairagi. He established a monastery a ...

, a Sikh military commander. * Datta Bhagat, an Ambedkarite author. * Ashok Chavan, former Chief Minister of Maharashtra state and former Member of Parliament of the Nanded Loksabha constituency. *

Shankarrao Chavan Shankarrao Bhavrao Chavan (14 July 1920 – 26 February 2004) was an Indian politician who served twice as Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 1975 until 1977 and from 13 March 1986 until 26 June 1988. He was Finance Minister of India from 198 ...

, the former Chief minister and former Home minister of Maharashtra state. * Prataprao Govindrao Chikhalikar, current Member of Parliament and former MLA *

Syed Sadatullah Husaini Syed Sadatullah Husaini (سید سعادت اللہ حسینی; born 7 June 1973) is the president (Amir) of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) and Vice President of All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB). He is also the former two time Nationa ...

, president (

Amir Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or ce ...

) of

Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Jamaat-e-Islami Hind ( ur, جماعتِ اسلامی ہند, abbreviated as JIH) is an Islamism, Islamic organisation in India, founded as an offshoot of the Jamaat-e-Islami, which split into separate independent organisations in India, Jamaat-e- ...

(JIH). * Kamalkishor Kadam, a former minister of education. *

Nagnath Lalujirao Kottapalle Nagnath Lalujirao Kottapalle (Devanagari: नागनाथ लालूजीराव कोत्तापल्ले; 29 March 1948 – 30 November 2022) was an Indian educationist and Marathi writer from Maharashtra. He was the vice chan ...

, former Vice-chancellor of BAMU, an educationalist and an author. * Narhar Ambadas Kurundkar, a scholar, critic and author. * Vaman Pandit, a Marathi scholar and a poet. *

, the last

Sikh Guru The Sikh gurus (Punjabi: ਸਿੱਖ ਗੁਰੂ) are the spiritual masters of Sikhism, who established this religion over the course of about two and a half centuries, beginning in 1469. The year 1469 marks the birth of Guru Nanak, the founde ...

who died in Nanded. * Chandreshekhar Sonwane, Indian American Rocket Scientist who is supporting

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...

Artemis Program The Artemis program is a robotic and human Moon exploration program led by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) along with three partner agencies: European Space Agency (ESA), Japan Aerospace Exploration Age ...

and

Lunar Gateway The Lunar Gateway, or simply Gateway, is the first planned extraterrestrial space station in lunar orbit intended to serve as a solar-powered communication hub, science laboratory, and short-term habitation module for government-agency ast ...

human habitat

References

{{Authority control Hyderabad State Cities and towns in Nanded district Nanded district Talukas in Maharashtra