1.
Quran
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The Quran is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims believe to be a revelation from God. It is widely regarded as the finest work in classical Arabic literature, the Quran is divided into chapters, which are then divided into verses. The word Quran occurs some 70 times in the text of the Quran, although different names, according to the traditional narrative, several companions of Muhammad served as scribes and were responsible for writing down the revelations. Shortly after Muhammads death, the Quran was compiled by his companions who wrote down and these codices had differences that motivated the Caliph Uthman to establish a standard version now known as Uthmans codex, which is generally considered the archetype of the Quran known today. There are, however, variant readings, with minor differences in meaning. The Quran assumes familiarity with major narratives recounted in the Biblical scriptures and it summarizes some, dwells at length on others and, in some cases, presents alternative accounts and interpretations of events. The Quran describes itself as a book of guidance and it sometimes offers detailed accounts of specific historical events, and it often emphasizes the moral significance of an event over its narrative sequence. The Quran is used along with the hadith to interpret sharia law, during prayers, the Quran is recited only in Arabic. Someone who has memorized the entire Quran is called a hafiz, some Muslims read Quranic ayah with elocution, which is often called tajwid. During the month of Ramadan, Muslims typically complete the recitation of the whole Quran during tarawih prayers, in order to extrapolate the meaning of a particular Quranic verse, most Muslims rely on the tafsir. The word qurʼān appears about 70 times in the Quran itself and it is a verbal noun of the Arabic verb qaraʼa, meaning he read or he recited. The Syriac equivalent is qeryānā, which refers to reading or lesson. While some Western scholars consider the word to be derived from the Syriac, regardless, it had become an Arabic term by Muhammads lifetime. An important meaning of the word is the act of reciting, as reflected in an early Quranic passage, It is for Us to collect it, in other verses, the word refers to an individual passage recited. Its liturgical context is seen in a number of passages, for example, So when al-qurʼān is recited, listen to it, the word may also assume the meaning of a codified scripture when mentioned with other scriptures such as the Torah and Gospel. The term also has closely related synonyms that are employed throughout the Quran, each synonym possesses its own distinct meaning, but its use may converge with that of qurʼān in certain contexts. Such terms include kitāb, āyah, and sūrah, the latter two terms also denote units of revelation. In the large majority of contexts, usually with an article, the word is referred to as the revelation
2.
Ahmednagar
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Ahmednagar pronunciation is a city in Ahmednagar District in the state of Maharashtra, India, about 120 km northeast of Pune and 114 km from Aurangabad. Ahmednagar takes its name from Ahmad Nizam Shah I, who founded the town in 1494 on the site of a battlefield where he won a battle against superior Bahamani forces and it was close to the site of the village of Bhingar. With the breakup of the Bahmani Sultanate, Ahmad established a new sultanate in Ahmednagar, Ahmednagar has several dozen buildings and sites from the Nizam Shahi period. Ahmednagar Fort, once considered almost impregnable, was used by the British to house Jawaharlal Nehru, a few rooms there have been converted to a museum. During his confinement by the British at Ahmednagar Fort in 1944, Ahmednagar is home to 19 sugar factories and is also the birthplace of the cooperative movement. Due to scarce rainfall, Ahmednagar often suffers from drought, Marathi is the primary language for daily-life communication. Hindi is also understood and spoken, though of the Dakhani dialect, with a lot of grammar. Ahmednagar has recently published a plan of developing the city by year 2031, the town Ahmednagar was founded in 1490 by Ahmad Nizam Shah I on the site of a more ancient city, Bhingar. With the breakup of the Bahmani Sultanate, Ahmad established a new sultanate in Ahmednagar and it was one of the Deccan sultanates, which lasted until its conquest by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in 1636. Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar was born on 31 May 1725 in Chondi village of Jamkhed taluka in Ahmednagar district. In 1759, the Peshwa of the Marathas obtained possession of the place from Nizam of Hyderabad, Ahmednagar was invaded by a British force under General Wellesley and captured. It was afterwards restored to the Marathas, but again came into the possession of the British in 1817, the town houses the second-largest display of military tanks in the world and largest in Asia. Situated in the region of the Western Ghats, Ahmednagar experiences primarily hot. As of 2011 Indian census, Ahmednagar had a population of 347,549, males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Ahmednagar has an literacy rate of 84%, higher than the national urban average of 79. 9%. 10% of the population is under 6 years of age, Sant Dnyaneshwar, Marathi sant, wrote Dnyaneshwari, a discourse on the Bhagavad Gita. S. Meherabad, where the samadhi of the spiritual master Meher Baba is a place of pilgrimage, visited by each year, particularly on the anniversary of his death. His later residence was at Meherazad, approximately nine miles north of Ahmednagar, Ahmednagar Fort - Built by Ahmed Nizam Shah in 1490, this is one of the best-designed and most impregnable forts in India
3.
Aurangabad, Maharashtra
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Aurangabad is a city in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra state in India. Aurangabad is named after the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, the city is a tourism hub, surrounded by many historical monuments, including the Ajanta Caves and Ellora Caves, which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, as well as Bibi Ka Maqbara and Panchakki. Aurangabad is the Tourism Capital of Maharashtra, Khadki was the original name of the village which was made a capital city by Malik Ambar, the Prime Minister of Murtaza Nizam, Shah of Ahmadnagar. Within a decade, Khadki grew into a populous and imposing city and he was succeeded by his son Fateh Khan, who changed the name of Khadki to Fatehnagar. With the capture of Daulatabad by the troops in 1633. In 1653 when Mughal prince Aurangzeb was appointed the viceroy of the Deccan for the time, he made Fatehnagar his capital. Aurangabad is sometimes referred to as Khujista Bunyad by the Chroniclers of Aurangzebs reign and his son and successor, Nizam Ali Khan Asaf Jah II transferred his capital from Aurangabad to Hyderabad in 1763. During the period of the British Raj, the city was known as Aurungábád, in 1956 it became a part of newly formed bilingual Bombay state and in 1960 it became a part of Maharashtra state. The co-ordinates for Aurangabad are N 19°5347 – E 75°2354, the city is surrounded by hills on all directions. Climate Classification, Aurangabad features a semiarid climate under the Köppen climate classification, temperature, Annual mean temperatures in Aurangabad range from 17 to 33 °C, with the most comfortable time to visit in the winter – October to February. The highest maximum temperature recorded was 46 °C on 25 May 1905. The lowest recorded temperature was 2 °C on 2 February 1911, rainfall, Most of the rainfall occurs in the monsoon season from June to September. Thunderstorms occur between November to April. Average annual rainfall is 710 mm. The city is often cloudy during the monsoon season, the daily maximum temperature in the city often drops to around 22 °C due to the cloud cover and heavy rains. The entire area is covered by the Deccan Traps lava flows of Upper Cretaceous to Lower Eocene age, the lava flows are overlain by thin alluvial deposits along the Kham and Sukhana river. The basaltic lava flows belonging to the Deccan Trap is the major geological formation occurring in Aurangabad. The lava flows are horizontal and each flow has two distinct units, the difference in the productivity of groundwater in various flows arises as a result of their inherent physical properties such as porosity and permeability. The groundwater occurs under water table conditions and is controlled by the extent of its secondary porosity i. e. thickness of weathered rocks and spacing of joints. The highly weathered vesicular trap and underlying weathered jointed and fractured massive trap constitutes the main water yielding zones, the soil is mostly formed from igneous rocks and are black, medium black, shallow and calcareous types having different depths and profiles
4.
Urdu
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Urdu is a persianized standard register of the Hindustani language. It is the language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also one of the 22 official languages recognized in the Constitution of India, hyderabad, Rampur, Bhopal and Lucknow are noted Urdu-speaking cities of India. Urdu is historically associated with the Muslims of the northern Indian subcontinent, apart from specialized vocabulary, Urdu is mutually intelligible with Standard Hindi, another recognized register of Hindustani. Urdu, like Hindi, is a form of Hindustani, Urdu developed under the influence of the Persian and Arabic languages, both of which have contributed a significant amount of vocabulary to formal speech. Around 99% of Urdu verbs have their roots in Sanskrit and Prakrit, Urdu words originating from Chagatai and Arabic were borrowed through Persian and hence are Persianized versions of the original words. For instance, the Arabic ta marbuta changes to he or te, nevertheless, contrary to popular belief, Urdu did not borrow from the Turkish language, but from Chagatai. Urdu and Turkish borrowed from Arabic and Persian, hence the similarity in pronunciation of many Urdu, Arabic influence in the region began with the late first-millennium Arab invasion of India in the 7th century. The Persian language was introduced into the subcontinent a few centuries later by various Persianized Central Asian Turkic and Afghan dynasties including that of the Delhi Sultanate. With the advent of the British Raj, Persian was no longer the language of administration but Hindustani, still written in the Persian script, the name Urdu was first used by the poet Ghulam Hamadani Mushafi around 1780. From the 13th century until the end of the 18th century Urdu was commonly known as Hindi, the language was also known by various other names such as Hindavi and Dehlavi. The communal nature of the language lasted until it replaced Persian as the language in 1837 and was made co-official. Urdu was promoted in British India by British policies to counter the previous emphasis on Persian and this triggered a Brahman backlash in northwestern India, which argued that the language should be written in the native Devanagari script. At independence, Pakistan established a highly Persianized literary form of Urdu as its national language, English has exerted a heavy influence on both as a co-official language. Owing to interaction with other languages, Urdu has become localized wherever it is spoken, similarly, the Urdu spoken in India can also be distinguished into many dialects like Dakhni of South India, and Khariboli of the Punjab region since recent times. Because of Urdus similarity to Hindi, speakers of the two languages can understand one another if both sides refrain from using specialized vocabulary. The syntax, morphology, and the vocabulary are essentially identical. Thus linguists usually count them as one language and contend that they are considered as two different languages for socio-political reasons
5.
Shia Islam
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Shia is a branch of Islam which holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor. Shia Islam primarily contrasts with Sunni Islam, whose adherents believe that Muhammad did not appoint a successor, instead they consider Abu Bakr to be the correct Caliph. Adherents of Shia Islam are called Shias of Ali, Shias or the Shia as a collective or Shii individually, Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam, in 2009, Shia Muslims constituted 10–13% of the worlds Muslim population. Twelver Shia is the largest branch of Shia Islam, in 2012 it was estimated that perhaps 85 percent of Shias were Twelvers. Shia Islam is based on the Quran and the message of Muhammad attested in hadith, Shia consider Ali to have been divinely appointed as the successor to Muhammad, and as the first Imam. The word Shia means follower and is the form of the historic phrase shīʻatu ʻAlī, meaning followers of Ali, faction of Ali. Shia and Shiism are forms used in English, while Shiite or Shiite, as well as Shia, the term for the first time was used at the time of Muhammad. At present, the word refers to the Muslims who believe that the leadership of the community after Muhammad belongs to Ali, nawbakhti states that the term Shia refers to a group of Muslims that at the time of Muhammad and after him regarded Ali as the Imam and Caliph. Al-Shahrastani expresses that the term Shia refers to those who believe that Ali is designated as the Heir, Imam and caliph by Muhammad, for the Shia, this conviction is implicit in the Quran and history of Islam. And Allah is Hearing and Knowing, Shia search for the true meaning of the revelation to get the purpose of the life blood and the human destiny. Shia Muslims believe that just as a prophet is appointed by God alone and they believe God chose Ali to be Muhammads successor, infallible, the first caliph of Islam. The Shias believe that Muhammad designated Ali as his successor by Gods command, Ali was Muhammads first cousin and closest living male relative as well as his son-in-law, having married Muhammads daughter Fatimah. Ali would eventually become the fourth Muslim caliph, after the Farewell Pilgrimage, Muhammad ordered the gathering of Muslims at the pond of Khumm and it was there that Shia Muslims believe Muhammad nominated Ali to be his successor. The hadith of the pond of Khumm was narrated on 18th of Dhu al-Hijjah of 10 AH in the Islamic calendar at a place called Ghadir Khumm, located near the city of al-Juhfah, Saudi Arabia. Muhammad there stated, Shia Muslims believe this to be Muhammads appointment of Ali as his successor, when Muhammad died in 632 CE, Ali and Muhammads closest relatives made the funeral arrangements. While they were preparing his body, Abu Bakr, Umar, Ali and his family accepted the appointment for the sake of unity in the early Muslim community. Alis rule over the early Muslim community was often contested, as a result, he had to struggle to maintain his power against the groups who betrayed him after giving allegiance to his succession, or those who wished to take his position. This dispute eventually led to the First Fitna, which was the first major civil war within the Islamic Caliphate, the Fitna began as a series of revolts fought against Ali ibn Abi Talib, caused by the assassination of his political predecessor, Uthman ibn Affan
6.
Bahmani Sultanate
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The Bahmani Sultanate was a Muslim state of the Deccan in South India and one of the major medieval Indian kingdoms. Bahmanid Sultanate was the first independent Muslim kingdom in South India, the empire was established by Turkic general Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah after revolting against the Delhi Sultanate of Muhammad bin Tughlaq. Nazir Uddin Ismail Shah who had revolted against the Delhi Sultanate stepped down on day in favour of Bahman Shah. His revolt was successful, and he established an independent state on the Deccan within the Delhi Sultanates southern provinces, the Bahmani capital was Ahsanabad between 1347 and 1425 when it was moved to Muhammadabad. The Bahmani contested the control of the Deccan with the Vijayanagara Empire to the south, the sultanate reached the peak of its power during the vizierate of Mahmud Gawan. The south Indian Emperor Krishnadevaraya of the Vijayanagara Empire defeated the last remnant of Bahmani Sultanate power after which the Bahmani Sultanate collapsed. After 1518 the sultanate broke up into five states, Nizamshahi of Ahmednagar, Qutb Shahi of Golconda, Baridshahi of Bidar, Imadshahi of Berar and they are collectively known as the Deccan Sultanates. Later rulers of the dynasty believed that they descended from Bahman, the Bahamani Sultans were patrons of the Persian language, culture and literature, and some members of the dynasty became well-versed in that language and composed its literature in that language. The craftspersons of Bidar were so famed for their work on copper and silver that it came to be known as Bidri
7.
Mughal Empire
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The dynasty, though ethnically Turco-Mongol, was Persianate in terms of culture. The Mughal empire extended over parts of the Indian subcontinent. The beginning of the empire is conventionally dated to the victory by its founder Babur over Ibrahim Lodi, the Mughal emperors were Central Asian Turco-Mongols belonging to the Timurid dynasty, who claimed direct descent from both Genghis Khan and Timur. During the reign of Humayun, the successor of Babur, the empire was briefly interrupted by the Sur Empire, the classic period of the Mughal Empire started in 1556 with the ascension of Akbar the Great to the throne. Under the rule of Akbar and his son Jahangir, the region enjoyed economic progress as well as harmony. Akbar was a warrior who also forged alliances with several Hindu Rajput kingdoms. Some Rajput kingdoms continued to pose a significant threat to the Mughal dominance of northwestern India, the reign of Shah Jahan, the fifth emperor, between 1628 and 1658 was the golden age of Mughal architecture. He erected several monuments, the best known of which is the Taj Mahal at Agra, as well as the Moti Masjid, Agra, the Red Fort, the Jama Masjid, Delhi. By the mid-18th century, the Marathas had routed Mughal armies, during the following century Mughal power had become severely limited, and the last emperor, Bahadur Shah II, had authority over only the city of Shahjahanabad. He issued a firman supporting the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and following the defeat was therefore tried by the British East India Company for treason, imprisoned and exiled to Rangoon. Contemporaries referred to the empire founded by Babur as the Timurid empire, which reflected the heritage of his dynasty, another name was Hindustan, which was documented in the Ain-i-Akbari, and which has been described as the closest to an official name for the empire. In the west, the term Mughal was used for the emperor, and by extension, the use of Mughal derived from the Arabic and Persian corruption of Mongol, and it emphasised the Mongol origins of the Timurid dynasty. The term gained currency during the 19th century, but remains disputed by Indologists, similar terms had been used to refer to the empire, including Mogul and Moghul. Nevertheless, Baburs ancestors were sharply distinguished from the classical Mongols insofar as they were oriented towards Persian rather than Turco-Mongol culture, ousted from his ancestral domains in Central Asia, Babur turned to India to satisfy his ambitions. He established himself in Kabul and then pushed steadily southward into India from Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass, Baburs forces occupied much of northern India after his victory at Panipat in 1526. The preoccupation with wars and military campaigns, however, did not allow the new emperor to consolidate the gains he had made in India, the instability of the empire became evident under his son, Humayun, who was driven out of India and into Persia by rebels. Humayuns exile in Persia established diplomatic ties between the Safavid and Mughal Courts, and led to increasing Persian cultural influence in the Mughal Empire, the restoration of Mughal rule began after Humayuns triumphant return from Persia in 1555, but he died from a fatal accident shortly afterwards. Humayuns son, Akbar, succeeded to the throne under a regent, Bairam Khan, through warfare and diplomacy, Akbar was able to extend the empire in all directions and controlled almost the entire Indian subcontinent north of the Godavari River
8.
India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
9.
Bijapur
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For namesakes, see Vijaypur Bijapur officially known as Vijayapura, is the district headquarters of Bijapur District of Karnataka state. It is also the headquarters for Bijapur Taluka, Bijapur city is well known for its historical monuments of architectural importance built during the rule of the Adil Shahi dynasty. Bijapur is located 530 km northwest of the State Capital Bengaluru and about 550 km from Mumbai, Bijapur urban population as per 2011 census is 326,000, perhaps the 9th biggest city in Karnataka. Vijayapura Mahanagara Palike is the newest Municipal Corporation formed under the KMC act along with Shivamogga, the other existing city corporations in Karnataka state in descending order of population are Bengaluru, Hubballi-Dharawada, Mysuru, Kalaburgi, Belagavi, Mangaluru, Davangere and Ballari. Administratively, Bijapur district comes under Belgaum division along with Bagalkote, Belgaum, Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri, Bijapur, the land of five rivers and the domain of different cultures, is an ancient city. The city established in the 10th and 11th centuries by the Chalukyas of Kalyani was known as Vijayapura, the city was established in the 10th-11th centuries by the Kalyani Chalukyas and was known as Vijayapura. The city was passed to Yadavas after Chalukyas demise, the city came under the influence of the Khilji Sultanate in Delhi by the late 13th century. In 1347, the area was conquered by the Bahmani Sultanate of Gulbarga, by this time, the city was being referred as Bijapur. In 1518, the Bahmani Sultanate split into five splinter states known as the Deccan sultanates, one of which was Bijapur, the city of Vijayapura owes much of its greatness to Yusuf Adil Shah, the founder of the independent state of Bijapur. The rule of this dynasty ended in 1686, when Bijapur was conquered during the reign of Mughal badshah Aurangzeb, in 1724 the Nizam of Hyderabad established his independence in the Deccan, and included Bijapur within his dominions. In 1760, the Nizam suffered a defeat by the Marathas, Bijapur district is historically, traditionally and legendarily, one of the richest districts in the state. The evidence found here reveals that it was a place since the Stone Age. Many places of this district have legendary history, the history of this district is divided into four periods, from the Chalukya acquisition of Badami till the Muslim invasion. Early Western Chalukya period lasting from about A. D.535 to about A. D.757. Rastrakuta period from A. D.757 to A. D.973 Kalachuri, Bijapur came under Muslim influence, first under Allaudin Khilji, the Sultan of Delhi, towards the end of the 13th century, and then under the Bahamani kings of Bidar in 1347. In 1347, when the Bahamani dynasty was established, it included southern and eastern parts of Bijapur district, the supremacy of the Bahamans may be said to have ceased by 1489. At that time five Shahi Dynasties were born and one of them was Bijapur‟, the Mughal emperor Aurangajeb conquered Bijapur in 1686 and it was under Mughal rule up to 1723. In 1724 the Nizam of Hyderabad established his independence in the Deccan, however, his acquisition on this portion was of brief duration, in 1760 it went into the hands of Marathas
10.
Junnar
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Junnar is a city with thousands of years of history in the Pune district of the Indian state of Maharashtra. The nearby fort of Shivneri is the birthplace of Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha Empire, Junnar has been an important trading and political center for the last two millennia. The town is on the route that links the ports of western India or more specifically of Konkan with Deccan interiors. The first mention of Junnar comes the Greco -Roman travellers from the first millennium, In the 1400s and he describes vividly the life of the Bahamani governor ruling area around Junnar. The Nizam Shahi had Junnar as their first capital, later in early 1600s, Malik Ambar the Nizam Shahi general moved his capital there. The father of Shivaji, Shahaji Raje worked for Malik Ambar early in his career, Shivaji was born at the nearby Shivneri fort. Junnar has an elevation of 689 metres. State Transport buses run between Pune and Junnar from Shivajinagar ST stand, the Kukadi River flows to the north. The Junnar area has been famed for its teak forest. The Shaniwar Wada, the de facto seat of government of the Maratha Empire in Pune was completed in 1732 by Peshwa Bajirao I. Teak from Junnar was used extensively in its construction, as of 2001 India census, Junnar had a population of 24,740. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%, Junnar has an average literacy rate of 77%, higher than the national average of 59. 5%, male literacy is 81%, and female literacy is 72%. In Junnar, 12% of the population is under 6 years of age, state Transport buses run between Pune and Junnar from Shivajinagar ST stand from 0630 every hour. Also bus facility available from Mumbai for every 10–30 minutes from 05,20 AM till 12,30 AM, same is the case from Ahamadnagar and Nashik. Transportation from Ahamadnagar and Mumbai takes a route of NH222 while from Pune, Shivneri, the birthplace of Shivaji Maharaj. Surroundings of Junnar are very rich with ancient cave temples, in total there are more than 220 individual rock-cut caves located in four hills around Junnar. Junnar has the largest and longest cave excavations in India, the most famous among the caves is the Lenyadri complex. It represents a series of about 30 rock-cut mostly Buddhist caves, Cave 7 is a famous Hindu temple dedicated to the god Ganesha. It is one of the Ashtavinayak shrines, a set of the eight prominent Ganesha shrines in Maharashtra, twenty-six of the caves are individually numbered
11.
Aurangzeb
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Abul Muzaffar Muhi-ud-Din Muhammad, commonly known as Aurangzeb or by his regnal title Alamgir, was the sixth, and widely considered the last effective Mughal Emperor. He ruled over most of the Indian subcontinent during some parts of his reign, Aurangzeb was a notable expansionist and during his reign, the Mughal Empire temporarily reached its greatest extent. During his reign,4.6 million people were said have died due to war, Aurangzebs policies partly abandoned the legacy of pluralism, which remains a very controversial aspect of his reign and led to the downfall of the Mughal Empire. Rebellions and wars led to the exhaustion of the imperial Mughal treasury and he was a strong-handed authoritarian ruler, and following his death the expansionary period of the Mughal Empire came to an end. Nevertheless, the territory of the Mughal Empire still remained intact more or less until the reign of Muhammad Shah. Aurangzeb was born on 3 November 1618, in Dahod, Gujarat and he was the third son and sixth child of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal. In June 1626, after a rebellion by his father, Aurangzeb. His daily allowance was fixed at Rs.500 which he spent on religious education, on 28 May 1633, Aurangzeb escaped death when a powerful war elephant stampeded through the Mughal Imperial encampment. He rode against the elephant and struck its trunk with a lance, Aurangzebs valour was appreciated by his father who conferred him the title of Bahadur and had him weighed in gold and presented gifts worth Rs.200,000. This event was celebrated in Persian and Urdu verses and Aurangzeb said, If the fight had ended fatally for me, death drops the curtain even on Emperors, it is no dishonor. The shame lay in what my brothers did, by arrangement, Aurangzeb stayed in the rear, away from the fighting, and took the advice of his generals as the Mughal Army gathered and commenced the Siege of Orchha in 1635. The campaign was successful and Singh was removed from power, Aurangzeb was appointed viceroy of the Deccan in 1636. In 1637, Aurangzeb married the Safavid princess, Dilras Banu Begum and she was his first wife and chief consort. He also had an infatuation with a girl, Hira Bai. In his old age, he was under the charms of his concubine, the latter had formerly been a companion to Dara Shikoh. In the same year,1637, Aurangzeb was placed in charge of annexing the small Rajput kingdom of Baglana, in 1644, Aurangzebs sister, Jahanara, was burned when the chemicals in her perfume were ignited by a nearby lamp while in Agra. This event precipitated a crisis with political consequences. Aurangzeb suffered his fathers displeasure by not returning to Agra immediately, Shah Jahan had been nursing Jahanara back to health in that time and thousands of vassals had arrived in Agra to pay their respects
12.
Hindu
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Hindu refers to any person who regards themselves as culturally, ethnically, or religiously adhering to aspects of Hinduism. It has historically used as a geographical, cultural, or religious identifier for people indigenous to South Asia. The historical meaning of the term Hindu has evolved with time, by the 16th century, the term began to refer to residents of India who were not Turks or Muslims. The historical development of Hindu self-identity within the Indian population, in a religious or cultural sense, is unclear, competing theories state that Hindu identity developed in the British colonial era, or that it developed post-8th century CE after the Islamic invasion and medieval Hindu-Muslim wars. A sense of Hindu identity and the term Hindu appears in texts dated between the 13th and 18th century in Sanskrit and regional languages. The 14th- and 18th-century Indian poets such as Vidyapati, Kabir and Eknath used the phrase Hindu dharma, the Christian friar Sebastiao Manrique used the term Hindu in religious context in 1649. In the 18th century, the European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus, in contrast to Mohamedans for Mughals, scholars state that the custom of distinguishing between Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs is a modern phenomenon. Hindoo is a spelling variant, whose use today may be considered derogatory. At more than 1.03 billion, Hindus are the third largest group after Christians. The vast majority of Hindus, approximately 966 million, live in India, according to Indias 2011 census. After India, the next 9 countries with the largest Hindu populations are, in decreasing order, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, United States, Malaysia, United Kingdom and Myanmar. These together accounted for 99% of the worlds Hindu population, the word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan and Sanskrit word Sindhu, which means a large body of water, covering river, ocean. It was used as the name of the Indus river and also referred to its tributaries, the Punjab region, called Sapta Sindhava in the Vedas, is called Hapta Hindu in Zend Avesta. The 6th-century BCE inscription of Darius I mentions the province of Hidush, the people of India were referred to as Hinduvān and hindavī was used as the adjective for Indian in the 8th century text Chachnama. The term Hindu in these ancient records is an ethno-geographical term, the Arabic equivalent Al-Hind likewise referred to the country of India. Among the earliest known records of Hindu with connotations of religion may be in the 7th-century CE Chinese text Record of the Western Regions by the Buddhist scholar Xuanzang, Xuanzang uses the transliterated term In-tu whose connotation overflows in the religious according to Arvind Sharma. The Hindu community occurs as the amorphous Other of the Muslim community in the court chronicles, wilfred Cantwell Smith notes that Hindu retained its geographical reference initially, Indian, indigenous, local, virtually native. Slowly, the Indian groups themselves started using the term, differentiating themselves, the poet Vidyapatis poem Kirtilata contrasts the cultures of Hindus and Turks in a city and concludes The Hindus and the Turks live close together, Each makes fun of the others religion
India
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