Parbhani

Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

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Parbhani district map

Parbhani (परभणी) is a city and district in Maharashtra state of India.

Variants

• Parabhani परभणी, महा., (p.530)
• Prabhavatinagari (प्रभावतीनगरी)
• Prabhavatinagara (प्रभावतीनगर)
• Prabhavati (प्रभावती)

Location

Parbhani is around 200 kms away from regional headquarters of Aurangabad while it is 491 km away from the state capital Mumbai.

Origin

In ancient times, Parbhani was known as Prabhavatinagari (प्रभावतीनगरी) on account of the existence of a massive temple of Goddess Prabhavati. The name "Prabhavati" means goddess Lakshmi and Parvati. Present name Parbhani is a corrupt form of Prabhavati.

History

Note: Following content is incorporated from History And Legend In Hyderabad, pp. 107-108

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[p.107]: Parbhani links up with the Stone Age. In the valleys of the Godavari and its tributaries, the Deccan trap is overlaid by gravels and clay beds in which layers of fossilized bones of extinct mammalia have been discovered, clearly establishing that this area was of some importance in the Stone Age. From Stone Age down to the legendary Rishi Agastya and onwards until the Asokan Age, Parbhani remained obscure, but Asoka’s southern conquests brought it into the picture of greater India inasmuch as it fringed upon the main routes to his empire in the south.

Parbhani once formed part of the Yadava kingdom of Devagiri, the modern Daulatabad, and was later conquered by Alauddin Khilji in the beginning of 14th century A.D. After the death of Muhammad Tughlaq it fell successively in the hands of the Bahmani and the Nizam Shahi Kings of Ahmadnagar. Incorporated into India it remained in the Moghul empire until the Hyderabad State came into being.

The ruined fort at Parbhani is popularly believed to have been erected during the days of Yadava kings. There are many other small forts at different places in the district which commemorate the glory of the Yadavas. It was during the regime of those kings that the worship of the god Siva and his bullock Nandi was the order of the day and many a great temple all over the district still portrays the religious fervour of those days.

The shrine of Naganath at Aundha in Hingoli taluq is a structure of great archaeological importance, and contains one of the twelve Jyotirlingas of India. It had seven storeys up to the days of Aurangzeb. The present structure has a courtyard of 7,200 square feet and is 60 feet high. It is adorned with hundreds of exquisitely carved figures of men, horses, elephants, bulls and monkeys. It is believed that this temple was built by a Pandava raja at a most fabulous cost. A pucca road connects Aundha with Chondi railway station on Purna-Hingoli line and there is direct connection by bus from Parbhani.

The Jain temple of Parasnath near Jintur is carved inside a rock with a narrow dark

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[p.108]: passage leading to the domed building. There are serveral figures beautifully carved in stone and the central figure is 12 feet high carved in a greenish stone.

An unassuming temple near Bamni standing at the confluence of the Saraswati and the Purna recalls architectural styles of more than a thousand years ago. The shrine of Ramazan Shah, situated on the summit of a hill near Khari in the Hingoli taluq, is enclosed by a strong wall 30 feet high and 1,200 feet square. This saint is said to have been converted to Islam, and his shrine is visited by both Hindus and Muslims. Besides these, a large number of Hemadpanti temples are found throughout the district. The district was for a long time the battlefield between the kings of Ahmadnagar and the Imad Shahis of Berar.

Important dargahs in the district are those of Khani Alam at Basmat, of Hazrat Shamsuddin and Hazrat Shah Mastan at Jintur and of Hazrat Shah Ismail at Kunri.

Old forts are at Anthanli, Pathri, Badgaon and Amargarh.

Naganath temple at Aundha: Aundha is a village in the Hingoli taluq of Parbhani district and can be approached from Chondi — a station on the Purna-Hingoli railway, Aundha lying only eight miles from there.

The temple is famous for containing one of the twelve Jyotirlingas. It is star- shaped in plan like all Chalukyan temples, the arrangement being — a large square mahamandapa in the middle, three porticoes on the north, south and west and the shrine in the east. The pillars supporting the roof of the mahamandapa are extremely graceful, lofty, octagonal in form and most exquisitely carved. The sculptural decoration of the doorways of the shrine and the porticoes is also of a superior order. The outer face of the edifice is also gorgeously decorated in true Chalukyan fashion by means of horizontal and vertical bands of sculptured friezes, interpersed and relieved at equal intervals by means of plainer bands. Dr Yazdani has rightly compared the workmanship and detail of the temple with those of Halebid — vide Annual Report of the Archaeological Department, Hyderabad, for the year 1917-18.

Hingoli Town:

Hingoli is a great cotton mart, and is famous as one of the first places in the Deccan at which operations for the suppression of thugi were commenced about 1833.

Many prehistoric sites in various places in the taluq have yielded neolithic and megalithic artifacts, flakes, cores, stone implements and stone objects.

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Parbhani was for over 650 years under Muslim rule, under the Deccan sultanates, the Mughals and later the Nizam of Hyderabad. The town remained a part of the Princely State of Hyderabad under the rulership of the Nizam until Operation Polo of the Indian Army in 1948. Thereafter it became part of the independent Republic of India. Until 1956 the town remained a part of Hyderabad State within India. Under the administrative reforms that year and the break-up of the State of Hyderabad, Parbhani and the adjacent towns were transferred to the multilingual Bombay State. Since 1960 it has been a part of State of Maharashtra.

परभणी

विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर ने लेख किया है ...परभणी, महा., (p.530): इस जिले से पाषाण कालीन अवशेष प्राप्त हुए हैं. गोदावरी तथा उसकी सहायक नदियों की घाटियों में कंकड़ तथा चिकनी मिट्टी की स्तरों में परिमृत जीवों की हड्डियां मिली हैं. यह भूभाग अशोक के समय उसके राज्य के [p.531]: दक्षिणी भाग को जाने वाले मार्ग पर स्थित था. परभणी एक समय देवगिरि के यादव नरेशों के अधिकार में था. नगर में स्थित किला इसी काल का बना हुआ है. यादव नरेशों के समय में भगवान शिव की पूजा बहुत प्रचलित थी. परभणी जिले में वह घटनास्थलिया हैं जहां बहमनी रियासतों में से अहमदनगर तथा बरार में परस्पर लड़ाइयां हुई थी.

परभणी परिचय

परभणी नगर महाराष्ट्र राज्य मनमाड़-हैदराबाद के रेलमार्ग पर, दुधना नदी से लगभग 16 किमी दक्षिणी में स्थित है। परभणी का संबंध प्रभावती मंदिर से है, जिसे मुग़लकाल में जबरन मस्जिद बना दिया गया।

प्रमुख स्थल: एक औद्योगिक क्षेत्र की स्थापना के साथ ही परभणी नगर आधुनिक उधोगों के लिए लगातार आकर्षक बनता जा रहा है। शिवाजी उद्यान, रोशन ख़ान का क़िला और हज़रत सैयद शाह तुराबत की मज़ार (शहर से तीन किमी दूर) यहाँ के प्रमुख स्थल हैं।

कृषि: परभणी के आसपास का क्षेत्र पूर्णा, दुधना और गोदावरी नदियों के कारण महत्त्वपूर्ण है। ज्वार यहाँ की मुख्य फ़सल है, जिसके बाद गेहूँ, बाजरा, कपास, दलहन, तिलहन का स्थान आता है। यहाँ गन्ने की खेती का प्रचलन भी बढ़ गया है। यल्दारी और सिद्धेश्वर में बांधों के निर्माण से कृषि उत्पादन में वृद्धि हुई है। औद्योगिक विकास निगम कपास ओटाई और गांठ बनाने को बढ़ावा दे रहा है तथा कई छोटे स्थानों पर कारख़ाने स्थापित हो रहे हैं।

संदर्भ: भारतकोश-परभणी

See also

Nagthana (नागथाना) - Nagthana (नागथाना) Gram Panchayat is a Rural Local Body in Sailu Panchayat Samiti part of Parbhani Zila Parishad. There are total 2 Villages under Nagthana Gram Panchayat jurisdiction. Gram Panchayat Sailu is further divided into 4 Wards. Gram Panchayat Sailu has total 2 schools.