NAGPUR 1821

Like England, India has its own set of mini Stonehenge at Junapani, about 40 km from Nagpur city. This site dates back to the Iron Age, roughly 1200-800 BC. During the Magadhan Empire era, the world knew the territory of Vidarbha, but the most significant settlement was marked as Kundina (कुंडिना) or Kaundinyapur (कौंदिन्यपूर), located near today's Amaravati district. This was the closest settlement to today's Nagpur in the ancient era. As per Kautilya's Arthashastra, the Vidarbha region is instead mentioned as Sabharashtra, part of the larger country of Dakshinpatha Asmaka (दक्षिणपथ अस्माक़). He had also said that this region was known to trade diamonds commercially. 

As time passed, the modern-day Wardha, another neighbour to Nagpur, started becoming home to future kings and kingdoms. The ancient towns of Pravarapura (प्रवारपुरा), Bhojakata (भोजकट) and Nandivardhana (नंदीवर्धन) were the capitals of the Vakatakas in the 4th century AD. But one settlement known as Ramgiri became a prominent Hindu site of a pilgrim during the post-Mauryan period. It is to be speculated that the popularity of Ramgiri reached the Greeks, who mispronounced the settlement as Rhamnai, denoting the entire Nagpur region of today. 

Even during the Islamic age of the Ghurids and Khaljis, Nagpur wasn't a proper settlement yet, although the names Barar and Gondwana were now visible on the 15th-16th century maps. And while the Mughal vassals of Imad Shahis dominated the upper Deccan, the settlement of Chanda (modern-day Chandrapur) got its dominance among the various battlefronts, a township close to Nagpur. Under the Chanda province, territories such as Kalam, Panar etc., lie near today's Nagpur. Interestingly, the sub-division of Chanda was divided into the Mughal subah of Barar, controlling the western part, while the eastern belonged to the independent indigenous tribes. Barar province marked the southernmost boundary of the Mughal Empire when Akbar's death in 1605. 

With the decline of the Mughal power in the Deccan, Nagpur (mentioned for the first time as Fanindrapura in some sources) came to be known as a newer settlement. With the establishment of the Maratha power of the Bhonsle clan by Raghuji Bhonsle in 1743. Under the Marathas, the Nagpur province extended to the boundaries of the Narbadda Territories in the north, Bastar in the southeast, Garhjat in the east and Amravati in the west, thus covering what today are Vidarbha and Chhattisgarh. With the slow downfall of the Marathas and the emergence of the East India Company, Nagpur province was made part of the more significant Bengal Presidency in 1853. The British carved the following districts for administration purposes - Chanda, Deogur (above and below the Ghats), Weingunga and Chutteesgarh (Chhattisgarh). Bastar was carved out as part of the remaining contiguous Princely States, while the remaining became an integral part of the British territories. Soon the British province of Central Provinces was formed in 1861. With the integration of Berar into it (Central Provinces and Berar), the Nagpur province was submerged as part of the more significant province. 

Between 1857 to 1947, several territories were exchanged between CP to the neighbouring states/provinces, namely Hyderabad, Central India Agency and Eastern States Agency. Nagpur remained the capital of the Central Provinces even post-independence when it was renamed Madhya Pradesh, whose map differs from today. Nagpur played a critically important role during the independence movement and even post-1947 in the modern Indian politics chapter. In 1923, together with Jubbulpore (Jabalpur), Nagpur witnessed a strong wave of what was known as the Flag Satyagraha, defying the British law of not hoisting Indian nationalist or political flags in the country. In 1925, the Hindu right-wing political group RSS was established in Nagpur by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, an entity that still resonates with modern Indian politics. In 1956, BR Ambedkar spearheaded a more significant Buddhist conversion movement (also known as the Dalit Buddhist movement) to convert over half a million untouchables to Buddhism, discarding their former Hindu varna system. This conversion took place at Deekshabhumi, an essential site in today's Nagpur city. Nagpur was also the centre for three INC sessions - 1891, 1920 and 1959. The year 1920 also saw a Muslim League session in the town when the Muslim party supported INC's demand of obtaining Swaraj for the nation for the rarest of moments. 

At present, the Nagpur division, with its HQ at Nagpur city controls six districts of Maharashtra - Bhandara, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Wardha and lastly, Nagpur. Here's a recreated 1821 dated map of Nagpur and its environs, initially sketched by Aaron Arrowsmith.