Khandesh is a geographic region in Maharashtra, India. It was made up of present Jalgaon district, Dhule district and Nandurbar districts.
The region have seen many geographical changes, in 1906 its eponymous district was bifurcated to form two new districts that is West Khandesh, East Khandesh district; Dhule and Jalgaon are their headquarters respectively. In 1990s West Khandesh further divided to form a new, district Nandurbar.
The use of the Khandeshi language is prevalent in this region, and the language itself derives its name from the name of the region. This language is sometimes considered as a dialect of Marathi language due to its mutual intelligibility with it, and hence has lower numbers in the census due to people opting their language as Marathi instead. This region is famous for banana agriculture and is a leading producer of it.
Geography
Khandesh lies in
Western India on the northwestern corner of the
Maharashtra, in the valley of the
Tapti River. It is bounded to the north by the
Satpura Range, to the east by the
Berar Division (Varhad) region, to the south by the Hills of Ajanta (belonging to the Marathwada region of Maharashtra), and to the west by the northernmost ranges of the
Western Ghats.
The principal natural feature is the Tapti River.
History
Ancient history
The Markandeya Purana and
Jain literature describe Khanadesh region as
Abhira kingdom. The rule of the
Abhira tribe over this region is not only evident from the epigraphs but from the oral traditions also. A tradition of
Nandurbar (Khandesh) presents before us an account of an
Ahir Raja Nanda, who fought the Turks. The abhira was in Mahabharata and then it was considered as a kanhadesh (Krishna)
Delhi dynasties
In 1295, Khandesh was under the
Chauhan dynasty ruler of
Asirgarh Fort when Ala-ud-din Khilji of Delhi wrested control.
Various Delhi dynasties controlled Khandesh over the next century,
until Khandesh gained independence as the Khandesh Sultanate in the late 14th century, established by Malik Raja as the Farooqui dynasty.
Mughal rule
The
Mughal Empire arrived in 1599, when Akbar's army overran Khandesh and captured
Asirgarh Fort.
For a period of time, Khandesh was renamed as Dandesh in recognition of Akbar's son
Daniyal Mirza.
,
Todar Mal's revenue settlement system was introduced in Khandesh by
Shah Jahan (this system was used until British rule in 1818).
The mid-17th century has been described as the time of Khandesh's "highest prosperity" owing to trade in cotton, rice, indigo, sugarcane, and cloth.
Mughal rule lasted until the
Maratha Empire captured Asirgarh in 1760.
During Mughal rule, Burhanpur was the capital of the Subah, an administrative provincial division of the Mughal Empire. Early in December 1670, Maratha forces under Prataprao made a raid into Khandesh. They advanced in rapid marches and plundered Bahadarpur, a village near Burhanpur 2 miles away from the city. But they didn't attack Burhanpur.
Maratha rule
Maratha raids into Khandesh began in 1670 and the following century was a period of unrest as Mughals and Marathas competed for control.
In 1760, the
Peshwa ousted the Mughal ruler and gained control of Khandesh, following which portions were granted to Holkar and
Scindia rulers.
Baji Rao II surrendered to the British in June 1818, but sporadic war continued in Khandesh which was among the last of the Peshwa's former territories to come under complete
British Raj.
British rule
Khandesh was a district in the Bombay Presidency.
In 1906, the district was divided into two districts: East Khandesh, headquartered at
Jalgaon, had an area of , while West Khandesh, headquartered at
Dhule, had an area of ; their respective populations were 957,728 and 469,654 in 1901.
Independent India
After India's independence in 1947, Bombay province became
Bombay State, and in 1960 was divided into the linguistic states of
Maharashtra and
Gujarat. East Khandesh became
Jalgaon district, and West Khandesh became
Dhule district, both in Maharashtra state.
The latter was further divided into
Dhule district and Nandurbar districts.
This region has a population of 8,686,921 people (including Burhanpur district of MP) as of 2011 Census.
See also
External links
