Jabalpur
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Jabalpur is a city in Madhya Pradesh state of India. It is located in Mahakoshal region in the geographic center of India.
Jabalpur is the administrative headquarters of Jabalpur District and Jabalpur Division. The city is considered to be a Sanskardhani, literally meaning a "cultural centerplace".
The numerous gorges in the neighboring rocks have been taken advantage of to surround the city with a series of lakes, which, shaded by fine trees and bordered by fantastic crags, add much beauty to the suburbs. However many of these lakes now have been encroached for the fishing purpose or for building works, although greenery still exists.
The city itself dates from the nineteenth century, and is laid out in wide and regular streets. It has a beautiful collection of marble rocks called bhera-ghat surrounding the holy Narmada River. Many visitors every year come to visit Jabalpur because of this major attraction. Jabalpur is an important junction for the Indian Railways.
Jabalpur also has a big Defence and Military Center - HQ of the MPBO Area, the headquarters of West Central Railway Zone, the Madhya Pradesh State Electricity Board, and the Madhya Pradesh High Courts. It is also known for giving to the world, philosophers like Maharishi Mahesh Yogi of Transcendental Meditation fame and Bhagwaan Rajneesh (Osho).
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History
Jabalpur is said to be the tapsya bhumi of the sage Jabali, from whom the name Jabalpur is derived. Asokan relics have been found. Later on it was the capital of the famous Tripuri kingdom (9th–10th centuries).
Inscriptions record the existence during the 11th and 12th centuries of a local line of princes of the Haihai people who are closely connected with the history of Gondwana. In the 16th century the Gond raja of Garha Mandla extended his power over fifty-two districts, including the present Jabalpur. During the minority of his grandson, Asaf Khan, the viceroy of Kara Manikpur, conquered the Garha principality and held it at first as an independent chief. Eventually he submitted to the Mughal emperor Akbar. The Mughal Empire, however, enjoyed little more than a nominal supremacy; and the princes of Garha Mandla maintained a practical independence until their subjugation by the Maratha governors of Sagar in 1781. In 1798 the Maratha Peshwa granted the Narmada valley to the Bhonsle princes of Nagpur, who continued to hold the district until the British occupied it in 1818.
Under the British Raj, Jabalpur became the capital of the Saugor and Nerbudda Territories, which was part of the British North-western Province. At that time it became infamous for the Thugee, but made more famous by the man who suppressed thugee - Col. Sleeman who was also appointed commissioner at Jabalpur. The North-western Province later became part of the Central Provinces which, in 1903, became the Central Provinces and Berar. By the early 20th Century Jabalpur was the headquarters of a brigade in the 5th division of the Southern Army.
An important landmark event was the holding of the Tripuri Congress session in 1939 that was presided by Subhash Chandra Bose.
After India's independence in 1947, the Central Provinces and Berar became the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
Education
The city is also considered to be a base for higher education. This was true particularly in the past. Political activism of 1970s and 1980s had briefly taken away much of that sheen. In the fifties and sixties, the colleges were widely known and famous in Madhya Pradesh and outside.
Though the situation has improved, yet the RDVV university could not gather even an A rank from the NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council). It could get only a B++ grade in the assessment held in 2002.
Every year around 300 engineers and doctors finish their graduation from the colleges here.
Apart from the regular university - Rani Durgavati Vishwavidyalaya (previously called Jabalpur University), there are also the Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, and also few other research institutes having the University status (eg. the Forest Research Institute). There are also specialised institutes under the auspicies of the Central Govt located here.
Jabalpur District
The area of the district is 10,160 sq. km. with of population 2,167,469 (2001 census). Jabalpur District lies on the divide between the watersheds of Narmada and the Son, but mostly within the valley of the Narmada, which here runs through the famous gorge known as the Marble rocks, and falls 30 ft. over a rocky ledge (the Dhuan dhar, or misty shoot ). It consists of a long narrow plain running north-east and south-west, and shut in on all sides by highlands. This plain, which forms an offshoot from the great valley of the Narmada, is covered in its western and southern portions by a rich alluvial deposit of black cotton-soil. At Jabalpur city the soil is black cotton soil, and water plentiful near the surface. The north and east belong to basin of the Son River, a tributary of the Ganges and Yamuna, the south and west to the Narmada basin. The district is traversed by the main railway from Bombay to Calcutta, and by branches of two other lines which meet at Katni junction.
Jabalpur Division
Jabalpur Division includes the districts of Balaghat, Chhindwara, Dindori, Jabalpur, Katni, Mandla, Narsinghpur, and Seoni.
The former British Jubbulpore Division of the Central Provinces comprised the districts of Damoh, Jubbulpore, Mandla, Saugor (Sagar), and Seoni.
The divisional administration is headed by the Divisional Commissioner and the District administration is headed by the District Collector.
Reference
External Links
- RDVV Website (http://www.rdunijbpin.org/)de:Jabalpur