KHANDESH - 19th Century

Formed in the 14th century itself, Khandesh has been variously spelled throughout history on European maps. Candich, Candish, Candeish, Khandeish etc. Consisting of today's three districts of Maharashtra - Nandurbar, Dhule and Jalgaon, Khandesh is one of those regions of India whose name has been completely wiped out and hardly anyone knows its location. Khandesh wasn't just one district and similar to territories such as Malwa, Berar, Bundelkhand, Baghelkhand etc., was a historical region situated just between Malwa in the north, Gujarat in the west, Berar in the east and Nizam's Hyderabad in the south.

Although Khandesh has been mentioned on maps dating as old as 16th centuries, the actual demarcation of the district took place in 1869 and a bifurcation took place in 1906 as East Khandesh (later, Jalgaon) and West Khandesh (later, Dhule which further bifurcated into Dhule and Nandurbar).

Differentiating between empires and dynasties under that empire, one such clan established (and ruled) this region under the Mughals. The Farooqui Dynasty under Malik Ahmed in 1382 (originally a rebel against the Bahmani Sultanate) established himself at Thalner (in today's Dhule district) and referred to the region as 'country of Khans', hence the name. Later, in 1601 the territory was annexed by Mughal Emperor, Akbar. Two major towns emerged from the history of Khandesh - Burhanpur and Asirgarh - which played major roles in Maratha history in the coming century. Before the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, Burhanpur and Asirgarh were involved in the '27 Years War' between the Marathas and Mughals and stood as key fortified towns which the Marathas conquered eventually. Interestingly, after the fall of the Marathas in 1818, these two towns were annexed to newly formed Nimar district in 1861, separated out of Khandesh.

All the consecutive rulers of Khandesh - Nasir Khan, Miran Adil Khan I, Miran Mubarak Khan I, Daud Khan, Ghazni Khan etc. justified the etymology of Khandesh and it was one of those territories that was involved in conflict with several medieval Indian kingdoms - Bahmani, Mughals, Marathas, British and even the Nizams. Even after independence till 1960s, the names 'East Khandesh' and 'West Khandesh' were mentioned when later it changed to Dhule (or Dhulia) and Jalgaon.

Its unfortunate that a territory that surrounded some of the most powerful regions of India during British era - Central Provinces, Nizam's Hyderabad, Gujarat States and Central India Agency - was later diminished with wiping out its name altogether. In fact, the towns by which Khandesh's prominence was known were themselves detached from the territory leaving the region with few forts that were of less strategic importance as compared to others.

The map here shows Khandesh of the 19th century and one could see the location of Burhanpur and Asirgarh in the Nimar district, Central Provinces.