Maharashtra: CM Eknath Shinde Announces Renaming Of Ahmednagar As 'Ahilyanagar' After Devi Ahilyabai Holkar

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday (May 31) announced that Ahmednagar city would be renamed ‘Ahilyanagar’ in honour of 18^th century Maratha warrior queen Ahilyabai Holkar.

CM Shinde made the announcement on the 298^th birth anniversary of Ahilyabai Holkar.

“The state government has decided to rename Ahmednagar as Ahilyadevi Nagar. Ahilyadevi is known for her Himalayan works. Her name will bring honour to the district,” said CM Shinde said while addressing a public rally near Ahmednagar.

In February this year, the Shinde-led Shiv Sena-BJP government renamed Aurangabad as ‘Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar’ and Osmanabad as ‘Dharashiv.’

The BJP in Maharashtra has been demanding the renaming of Ahmednagar to Ahilya Nagar as tribute to the warrior queen. Gopichand Padalkar, a BJP MLC, has been in forefront of demanding the renaming.

Born in a shepherd family in the district of Ahmednagar in Maharashtra, Devi Ahilyabai guided a fledgeling kingdom ably, rising far above the contemporary standards of administration and governance.

Devi Ahilyabai Holkar ruled the province of Malwa for 28 years, and created a strong local administration, overcoming the 18th-century disadvantage of gender. Taking over as the Queen of Malwa after all the male claimants to the throne had died, she stood out as a strong ruler spreading the message of dharma, rejuvenating Hinduism, and promoting the relatively modern virtues of small-scale industrialisation.

The most significant contribution of Ahilyabai comes in the preservation, reconstruction and refurbishment of a host of Hindu sites which she carried out.

From Gangotri to Rameshwaram, and from Dwarka to Gaya, she spent money on rebuilding temples destroyed under the Mughal rule, in restoring the past glory of holy sites, in building new temples and in building ghats for easy access to almost all major rivers in the Bharatvarsha.