HISTOR Y
13
when sultry oppressive weather succeeds, till, with the break of the
south-west monsoon, about the middle of June, the climate again
becomes temperate and continues agreeable till the close of the rains in
either early or late October. The temperature varies from 45° in January
to 106° in May, the average being 75°. During the twenty years
ending 1903, the annual rainfall at Ahmadnagar averaged 23 inches.
The heaviest rainfall, namely 26 inches, occurs in the Jamkhed and
Shevgaon tdlukas, and the lightest, I8 to I9 inches, in Sangamner,
Karjat, Shrigonda, and Kopargaon. Frost has occasionally been
registered in the District during the last thirty years, and severe hail-
storms are not unknown.
The early history of Ahmadnagar centres in Paithan in the Nizam's
territory on the left bank of the Godavari. The District was held from
about 550 to 757 by the Western Chalukyas of
History.
Badami. It then passed into the hands of the
Rashtrakutas, who retained it till 973. They were followed by the
Western Chalukyas of Kalyani (till 1156), the Kalachuris (1187), and
the Deogiri Yadavas, who were displaced by the Musalmans in 1294;
but the power of the Deogiri Yadavas was not crushed till I318. In
I346 there was widespread disorder. The governors appointed from
Delhi were replaced in that year by the Bahmani Sultans of the
Deccan, who held their court at Daulatabad and then at Gulbarga and
Bidar. About I490 the governor in charge of the District revolted
and succeeded in establishing himself as an independent ruler. He
founded the Nizamshahi dynasty, and built the city and fort of
Ahmadnagar on the field of his victory. In the sixteenth century the
kingdom extended over the Konkan as far as Kalyan, but progress
on either side was checked by the Faruki dynasty in Khandesh and
the Bijapur kings, whose dominions almost surrounded it. The
history of the State is in fact the history of the local wars in which it
engaged to extend its rule or to maintain its existence, until it was
subdued by the Mughals in 600o; it again became independent under
Malik Ambar, and enjoyed a gleam of prosperity until it was finally
subverted by Shah Jahan in 1635. Maratha inroads commenced in
the reign of Aurangzeb, who died here, and on the decay of Mughal
power the fort was surrendered to the Marathas in I759. The Peshwa
granted it to Sindhia in 1797, and in 1803 it capitulated to the British
under Wellesley. It was restored at the peace; but in I817, after the
fall of the Peshwa, the District finally became British. The Nizam
ceded 107 villages in I882 and Sindhia 120 villages in I86I, which
were added to the District. In recent years Ahmadnagar received
the first batch of Boer prisoners sent to India during the South
African War. About 500 arrived in Ahmadnagar in April, I9or,
and were confined in the fort till the close of the war.
VOL. V. I
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