Aurangabed must have been of great historical importance from very ancient times, A flourishing trade centre in the Maharashtra state. The town is named after Aurangzeb (1659-1707 A.D) the last of six great Mughal Emperors. Its original name was skhitki. or window.
Aurangabad had no impor- tance. The growing fame of Elepura or Ellora and Devagiri or Daulatabad, both of them situated close by.
1347 A.D on wards this re- gion formed a part of the muslim kingdom of the Bahman of Gulbarga; and after the disintegration and divi- sion of this kingdom Aurangabad was included in the Nizam shahi kingdom Ahmadnagar in 1499 A.D with the fall of Ahmadnagar, maikambar, the able minister of the Nizam shahi kings,set up his head Quarters at this place, then re- nowned as khidki city was named Fatech Nagar, after the name of Malik ambars son who was the prime Minister of Sultana chand Bibi of Ahamad nagar, The Mughals and the Nizam shahi troops under Malik Ambar were constantly at war during the early part of the 17 th centrury. After the death of Malik Ambar in ; 1626 A.D the power of the
I Ahmadnagar rulers declined, and in
• 1637 A.D their territories were incor- porated in the Deccan subah of the Mughal Empire. Aurangzeb was ap¬pointed viceroy of the Deccan in 1635 A.D and again 1663 A.D and during his residence at Khidki, he changed its name to Aurangabad. It was from here that he directed his earlier campaings against the Maharashtra and the Bijapur and Golkonda kingdoms. His Deccan policy led to his constant presence in the south, and naturally Aurangabad grew in size and popu¬lation till it was one of the important cities of India in 1666 A.D when Sivaji Maharj passed through this city enroute to Delhi and the whole city came out of curiosity to meet him
The city had the previlage of being the Mughal capital during the Reign of Aurangzeb while he ruled Deccan. After the death of Emperor Aurangzeb it came under Nizamul¬Mulk who made it his capital which was later shifted to Hyderabad.
Aurangabad a center of Buddhist religion and culture till al¬most at the end of the 7 th century A.D There are 12 Buddhist caves 3 km. to the north of the city.
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