SOLAPUR is one of the important district of Maharashtra State of India. It is located in the southern part of Maharshtra.. The district consist of eleven Talukas. The headquarter of North Solapur and South Solapur Taluka is the Solapur city itself. The famous religious places like Pandharpur and Akkalkot are in Solapur district only. The Bhagwant Mandir of Barshi is well known. Sant Damaji of Mangalwdha is also one of the important personalities of the district.
Solapur has its own history. Once it was known as Textile Capital. It was also known as the Labour city in olden days. Solapur is transport hub connecting Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. It is well connected by Road and Rail to major districts and cities.The national highways 9, 13 and 211 pass through Solapur city.
One can get down at Solapur to proceed to famous religious place Tuljapur which is just 48 kms from Solapur city but is located in Osmanabad district and even if one wants to proceed towards Bijaour, a famous historical place, 98 kms from Solapur.
History :-
The Solapur District was ruled by various dynesties such as Andhrabhratyas, Chalukyas, Rashtrkutas, Yadavas and Bahamanis. 'SOLAPUR' is believed to be derived from two words 'SOLA' meaning sixteen and 'PUR' meaning village. The present city of Solapur was considered tp be spread over sixteen villages viz. Aadilpur, Ahmedpur, Chapaldev, Fatehpur, Jamdarwadi, Kalajapur, Khadarpur, Khandervkiwadi, Muhammadpur, Ranapur, Sandalpur, Shaikpur, Solapur, Sonalagi, Sonapur and Vaidakwadi.
Recent research work however shows that the name SOLAPUR is derived not from the congregation of sixteen villages. It is evident from the inscriptions of Shivayogi Shri.Siddheshwar of the time of the Kalachuristis of Kalyani, that the town was called 'Sonnalage' which came to be pronounced as 'Sonnalagi'. The town was known as Sonnalagi even upto the times of Yadavas. A sanskrit inscription dated Shake 1238, after the downfall of the Yadavas found at Kamati in Mohol shows that the town was known as Sonalipur. One of the inscriptions found in Solapur fort shows that the town was called Sonalpur while another inscription on the well in the fort shows that it was known as Sandalpur.
During the Muslim period, the town was known as Sandalpur. It is therefore most probably that that during the course of time the name Solapur was evolved by dropping 'na' from the name Sonalpur. Subsequently the British rulers pronounced Solapur as Sholapur and hence the name of the district.
The present Solapur district was previously part of Ahmednagar, Pune and Satara districts. In 1838 it became the Sub-district of Ahmednagar. It included Barshi, Mohol, Madha, Karmala, Indi, Hippargi and Muddebihal Sub-divisions. In 1864 this Sub-district was abolished. In 1871 this district was reformed joining the Sub-divisions viz. Solapur, Barshi, Mohol, Madha and Karmala and two Sub-divisions of Satara district viz. Pandharpur, Sangola and in 1875 Malshiras Sub-division was also attached. After the State reorganisation in 1956 Solapur was included in Mumbai State and it became a full fledged district of Maharashtra State in 1960.
Famous ReligiousPlaces in Solapur :-