Aurangabad
Aurangabad city from Maharashtra is a city of great historic importance. The place is a tourist hub and is surrounded by a number of historic monuments. These include the famous Ajanta caves, Ellora caves, Bibi Ka Makbara and others.
In medieval history, Aurangabad was used as a base to visit the sites that were considered as World Heritage like Ellora and Ajanta caves. The city got its name from the last great Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb; this city acquired many monuments with rich culture as its pride during the middle ages. Because of this great emperors role in the history of medieval India, Aurangabad has become a popular place and one great tourist attraction. Due to his efforts and under his rule, Aurangabad became the seat of the powerful Mughal Empire. This place is also popular because of architectural structure called Bibi-ka-Maqbara, which resembles the Taj Mahal of Delhi.
Malik Amber founded it in 1610 AD on the site of a village called Kharki. He was the prime minister of Nizam Shah of Ahmednager and made it his capital. Since Ambar cherished a strong love and inclination towards architecture, Aurangabad was Ambars architectural achievement. Later on Fateh Khan succeeded Amber and changed the name to Fatehnagar.
Among the most important tourist attractions in Aurangabad, the most beautiful is the Bibi Ka Makbara. It is an excellent example of Persian art and architecture of those times. This place is the mausoleum of Rabia Durani, wife of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. It is the replica of the Taj Mahal of Agra.
Other places that are popular in Aurangabad are Aurangabad Caves like Ajanta and Ellora, Khuldabad, Daulatabad Fort, Panchakki, Grihneshwar Temple, Himroo Factory, Shirdi, Darwazas, Paithan, and History Museum of Marathwada University.
The Ajanta and Ellora caves are very famous as Aurangabad caves. They were excavated between the 3rd and 11th century. UNESCO lists these Aurangabad caves as Heritage structures.
You can go to Aurangabad by airways or roadways. Airport of Aurangabad is linked with Delhi, Jaipur and Mumbai. Two trains are also available from Mumbai to Aurangabad. Luxury and state buses are available from Mumbai to Aurangabad, which offers good service at affordable prices.
There is a panchakki or water mill that belongs to the 17th century. It is famous for its underground water channels which pass through more than 8km from their source in the mountains. These channels provide water fountain that powers the mill.
There are 52 gates to the city of Aurangabad and each one of them has a story to tell. Hence, Aurangabad is also called as "A city of Gates". Ghrishneshwar temple is a 18th century structure that has an outstanding structure and carvings. This temple is on of the five Jyotirlinga places in Maharashtra. There is a temple of Devi Ahilya Holkar nearby.
Khuldabad is a walled town which has a number of shrines. The most famous ones are the ones of the saints of Dakhan. Earlier this place was known as the garden of paradise-Rauza. At present, it is called as a valley of saints or the abode of eternity. This is because several sufi saints chose to reside here in the 14th century.
Quila-E-Ark was ordered to build this place in 1692. the space covered by it is the whole ground between the Mecca Gate and the Dehli gate. There is a nagarkhana for the musicians and has 5 gateways. The walls are battle-mented and loo-holed and have circular towers. Guns were once mounted on these towers.