Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Aurungábád

AURUNGÁBÁD, or Aurangábád, a city of India, in the native state of Haidárdbád, or the Nizám's dominions, situated in 19° 51′ N. lat., and 75° 21′ E. long., 138 miles from Púna, 207 from Bombay via Púna, and 270 from Haidárdbád. It was founded about the year 1620, under the name of Gurka, by Malik Ambar, an Abyssinian, who had risen from the condition of a slave to great influence. Subsequently it became the capital of the Moghul conquests in the south of India. Aurungzebe made it the seat of his government during his viceroyalty of the Deccan, and gave it the name of Aurangábád. It thus grew into the principal city of an extensive province of the same name, stretching westward to the sea, and comprehending nearly the whole of the territory now comprised within the northern division of the presidency of Bombay. Aurangábád long continued to be the capital of the succession of potentates bearing the modern title of Nizám, after those chiefs be came independent of Dehli. They abandoned it subsequently, and transferred their capital to Haidárdbád, when the town at once began to decline. It is now greatly fallen from its ancient grandeur. The city is but half-peopled, and is half in ruins, presenting everywhere the melancholy appearances of desertion and decay. The population is, however, still considerable, and in the bázár, which is very extensive, various rich commodities, particularly silks and shawls, are exposed for sale. The walls of the town are similar in their construction to those of all the other cities in this quarter of India, being rather low, with round towers.