AHMADNAGAR, a city and district of British India in the central division of Bombay on the left bank of the river Sina. Pop. (1931) 41,890. The town was founded in 1494 on the site of a more ancient city, Bhingar, by Ahmad Nizam Shah, who es tablished a new monarchy, which lasted till its overthrow by Shah Jahan in 1636. In 1759 the Peshwa obtained possession of the place by bribery, and in 1797 it was ceded to the Mahratta chief, Daulat Rao Sindhia. During the war with the Mahrattas in 1803 Ahmadnagar was invested by Gen. Wellesley and cap tured. Restored to the Mahrattas, it again became a British possession in 1817, under the Treaty of Poona. There is a large trade in cotton and silk goods, while turbans and copper and brass pots are made. There are also factories for ginning and pressing cotton, indigo works and a tannery. Ahmadnagar is a station on the loop line of the Great Indian Peninsula rail way, 218m. from Bombay, a military station of the Poona district and an important mission station.
The district of Ahmadnagar is a comparatively barren tract with a small rainfall. The area is 6,61 i square miles. The popu lation in 1931 was 988,206, showing a considerable decrease in the decade. On the north the district is watered by the Godavari and its tributaries, the Prawara and the Mula; on the north east by the Dor, another tributary of the Godavari; on the east by the Sephani, which flows through the valley below the Bala ghat range ; and in the extreme south by the Bhima and its trib utary the Gor. The Sina river, another tributary of the Bhima, flows through the Nagar and Karjat talukas. The principal crops are cotton, millet, pulse and wheat and dyes are produced.