मी औरंगाबादकर
मी औरंगाबादकर
http://www.asiaurangabad.in/
The Aurangabad Circle of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) was initially known as Western Circle in the year 1885 covering the monuments in Bombay Presidency, Pakistan, Gujarat, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh during the British rule.However, after independence in 1953, the Western Circle was bifurcated and renamed as South-Western Circle with its Headquarters at Poona. In the year 1964, the headquarters was shifted from Pune to Aurangabad as most of the important monuments were located near the Aurangabad City. In the year 1961, when the Union Territory of Goa attained the status of State, the monuments of Goa were placed under a mini-circle and included in Aurangabad Circle for administrative purposes. Again in the year 1975, the boundaries of the Circles were demarcated state-wise and as a result, a handful of monuments of south-western circle came under the Karnataka State. Simultaneously, a number of monuments from Madhya Pradesh and Hyderabad were included under the control of this circle.
In the year 1985, the renaming of Circles from geographical nomenclature into name of city or State Capital in which the Circle took place and the South-Western Circle was renamed as Aurangabad Circle. The Goa mini circle attained status of distinct Circle in 2001. The Aurangabad Circle was further bifurcated into Mumbai and Aurangabad Circles in 2004, wherein Mumbai Circle controlled entire Konkan and monuments in Pune, Sangli, Satara, Kolhapur and Solapur districts. Rest of the Maharashtra including North-Western Maharashtra, Marathwada, Khandesh and Vidarbha remained under Aurangabad Circle. Under the jurisdiction of this Circle, there are 168 centrally protected monuments of different periods. These monuments are administrated through eight sub-circles, namely Ajanta, Ellora, Bibi-ka-Maqbara in district Aurangabad; Ahmednagar in district Ahmednagar; Nasik in district Nasik; Chandrapur in district Chandrapur; Lonar in district Buldhana and Nagpur in district Nagpur.
The Aurangabad Circle maintains two World Heritage Monuments, namely Ajanta Caves and Ellora Caves. Apart from these monuments, the Circle has a large number of cave monuments under its jurisdiction. The earliest among the Buddhist groups of cave are represented by the caves at Pithalkhora followed by Ajanta, Ellora and Aurangabad Caves. These Buddhist caves are carved between 2nd century B.C. and 7th -8the centuries A.D. The Hindu cave architecture is represented by examples of Ellora and Dhokeshwar Caves. The Jaina caves at Ellora also represent a unique development of Jaina cave architecture.
There are also a large number of forts of different periods at Daulatabad, Narnala, Gawilgadh, etc. Besides these, there are a number of important excavated sites like Daimabad, Newasa, Prakash and Paithan which through valuable light on the archaeological remains of this region right from the Palaeolithic period to the modern times. There are also churches, temples, mosques, tombs under the protection of Aurangabad circle. The Aurangabad circle carries out preservations, conservation and maintenance of the monuments / sites falling under its jurisdiction. Further, the officers of Science Branch at Aurangabad (Western Zone) and Ajanta (Field Laboratory) carries out chemical preservation of these monuments. The Horticulture Branch located at Aurangabad carries out environmental upgradation of the monuments.
