Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad,

Rural South Asia

Local Histories

Local Histories

Introduction
Aurangabad History Society (AHS) is a collective venture of scholars and historians working on the history and heritage of Aurangabad and its affiliated regions.
Aurangabad is one of the oldest cities of state of Maharashtra and Deccan, in its vicinity is located well-known historic political and cultural capitals of history of Deccan i.e.: ‘Pratishthan’, ‘Devgiri-Daulatabad’ and religious abode of Sufi saints ‘Khuldabad’. The region of Aurangabad also well known for Buddhist heritage of Ajanta, Pitalkhora, Bhokhardhan and many of the less explored sites. It was the connecting town since ancient times for trade routes from Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Konkan region. Traders passing through Khandesh, Burhanpur and Deccan used it as a major trade center. Regent Malik Ambar of Nizamshahi Dynasty founded the city as Fatehabad and the city started getting its initial fortifications. In 17th century Emperor Aurangzeb further ornamented the city of Aurangabad and constructed some of the eminent architectural monuments like Bibi-Ka-Maqbara and gave the city its own fort with name Qila-I-Ark. Through the ages Buddhist, Jain, Sufi, Hindu, Sikh and Mahanubhav saints gave some eminent abodes of worship and public welfare monuments to the city and later during the Nizam and British era many more public welfare buildings were constructed in the city which all are part of the heritage of the city and areas around and continue to be the legacy of today.

Therefore, with such a rich legacy of history and heritage which has been briefly highlighted over here; we endeavor to begin this AURANGABAD HISTORY SOCIETY-AHS, the ongoing under the WORKING GROUP COMMITTEE ACTIVITIES (WGCA) are as follows:

  • Documenting the places and events of Auranagbad districts history
  • Developing a database of the public and private historical archives of Aurangabad
  • Heritage plan study and conservation for monuments of Auranagbad district
  • Journal of Aurangabad History Society
  • Bi-annual workshops on “Aurangabad History and Heritage”
  • ‘Satkarni’: Annual Public Lecture Series
  • Monthly Meetings of AHS Members’ for sharing ideas’ and thoughts.

As part of developing a working group, AHS promotes people who are interested in history and culture of Aurangabad-Deccan to be members. There are criterions for Volunteer Professional Members (VPM) and Volunteer Student Members (VSM) the updated contact list of the VPM and VSM will be updated regularly in the AHS webpage. The active members of the AHS are thereafter made members WGCA mentioned above.

Advisors of AHS:
Veteran Historians:

  • Documenting the places and events of Auranagbad districts history
  • Developing a database of the public and private historical archives of Aurangabad
  • Heritage plan study and conservation for monuments of Auranagbad district
  • Journal of Aurangabad History Society
  • Bi-annual workshops on “Aurangabad History and Heritage”
  • ‘Satkarni’: Annual Public Lecture Series
  • Monthly Meetings of AHS Members’ for sharing ideas’ and thoughts.

Veteran Historians:
Dr. Dulari Qureshi, Dr. R.S. Morvanchikar, Sr. Abdul Hai, Sh. Nanak Singh Nishter

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