Bodhan
Encyclopedia
Bodhan is a town
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...

 in the Nizamabad
Nizamabad district
Nizamabad District is located in the north-western region in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is also known as Induru. Nizamabad is the current and official name of the district....

 district of the state of Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...

, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. Bodhan is primarily known for the Nizam Sugar Factory
Nizam Sugar Factory
Nizam Sugar Factory or NSF is a suagar factory located at Bodhan in Nizamabad district, AP, India. The factory is not functioning and was declared as sick unit.-History:...

 and some historical sites.

Bodhan is divided into three areas: Bodhan, Rakaspet and Shakkarnagar.

History

Bodhan is located in Nizamabad district of Andhra Pradesh and is about 28 km from Nizamabad town. Bodhan is constellated with many ancient constructions and is a commercial and industrial center. A big reservoir called Belal is located here which is natural scenery and attracts tourist. The reservoir was named after the follower of prophet of Islam, Hazrat Bilal. Bodhan was previously known as Eka Chakrapuram.

Assaka (Sanskrit: अश्मक, Aśmaka Pali: Assaka), was one of ancient Indian regions (700–300 BCE). It is one of the solasa (sixteen) mahajanapadas in the 6th century BCE, mentioned in the Buddhist text Anguttara Nikaya.
The region was located on the banks of the Godavari river, between the rivers Godavari and Manjira. It was the only Mahajanapada situated to the south of the Vindhya Range, and was in Dakshinapatha. It corresponds to districts Nizamabad and parts of Adilabad, Nanded and Yavatmal in current-day India.
The capital of Ashmaka was Paudanyapura, the Prakrit name of Bahudhanyapura meaning "city of many grains", identified as present day Bodhan. The capital is variously called Potali, Potana or Podana, which now lies in the Nandura Tehsil.

Places of Interest

Hazrat Jalal Bhuqari Rahmat Ullah Alaih, Dargah Shareef; Sri Renuka Ellamma Devi Temple (Nearly 1200 Years Old); Phathar Masjid build in 8th century; Sri Chakreshwar Mahadev; Sri Bhim Mandir (Known in the Local Language As Bheemudi Gutta); Sri Ayyappa Swami Temple (Located In the premises of Bhim Mandir); Karthikeshwar Mahadev; Haridra Teerth (Known as Haldi Vol in Local Language was the Birth Place of the presiding deity); Hanuman Temple in Ootpally Village; Pandutal Lake (Shiv Mandir)

Bodhan
Bodhan is the birth-place of Fateh Mohammed Patel and the original home of the Patel family. The reign of Patels in Bodhan dates back centuries. The latest known connection with the recent dynasties which ruled the Deccan was the friendship of Fateh Mohammed Patel with Fath Jang Nawwab Mir Osman Ali Khan Asif Jah VII (1911–1949). Other significant historical figures from Bodhan include Maqdoom Ahmed Patel and Zakaulla Patel. Patels had a long-standing administrative hold on Bodhan until the independence in 1947. As the power enjoyed by most of them came through the then-ruling Nizam regime, their political power diminished with the independence; however, the family social privilege and status is said to be enjoyed even today.

Sri Renuka Ellamma Devi Temple

The Renuka temple is of the goddess Renuka Ellamma, she was the presiding deity of the village (Grama devatha). The temple is a very ancient one with a long back history. The presiding goddess is so powerful that people come from long distances.

The story can be dated back to the time of Pandavas, while they were in their vanavas and agyatvas (disguise for 13 years) they resided at this particular place and prayed for the goddess for her blessings and then won in the Kurukshetra
Kurukshetra
Kurukshetra is a land of historical and religious importance. Historically the land belonged to Punjab now a district in Haryana state of India. It is a holy place and is also known as Dharmakshetra . According to the Puranas, Kurukshetra is named after King Kuru, the ancestor of Kauravas and...

 war.

The name Eka Chakra nagar is inherent from the Vishnu
Vishnu
Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....

 avatar of Parashurama
Parashurama
Parashurama , is the sixth avatar of Vishnu and belongs to the treta yuga, and is the son of a Brahmin father Jamadagni and mother Renuka. He is considered one of the seven immortal human. He received an axe after undertaking a terrible penance to please Shiva, from whom he learned the methods of...

 who threw his chakra to protect the goddess deity. This is the living proof that the village was in existence since the time of Tretayug

There is also another story that bees (or bhramaris in Sanskrit) protected this temple by attacking on the army at the time of Aurangzeb’s effort to demolish the temple.
The temple has been built in a very different style. It has no similarities with other temples which have the gopuras and dhwaja stambha shikar. (it was said that because of the fear for the Muslim rulers, Nizams who were ruling the Deccan those shikaras and gopuras were not build to escape the invasion).
The temple has been renovated and no previous architecture can be seen. The goddess is identified to have come on consent of the king Vishwapal who prayed at Mahur, Maharashtra. The birthplace of the goddess is on the banks of river Haridra (now known as Haldivol), the place where Pandavas had prayed to the mango tree believing it to be a goddess. The idol of the goddess was made on her consent to the village landlord. The idol was carved with the deities of Goddess Renuka (sitting in padmasana) in the middle, Parshurama on her right and Goddess weapons in her four hands on to the left.

Sri Chakreshwara Mahadev

This temple has the one of the biggest lingam
Lingam
The Lingam is a representation of the Hindu deity Shiva used for worship in temples....

s in South India and is approximately 1200 years old and is located half kilometer away from the Renuka Temple. A farmer accidentally found this temple and all deities in the temple are excavated from the hillock on which the temple stands.

Shivalayam

Shivalayam is the temple of Lord Shiva. The Shivalayam Shiva Lingam, which is regarded as the representation and embodiment of Lord Shiva, is one of the biggest lingam in all of South India. It is said that Bodhan was once populated with a large number of devotees of Lord Shiva. The city has been flooded 7 times in recorded history. Due to this, the devotees of Lord Shiva established the temple on a hill. Whenever there is any major excavation in Bodhan and the surrounding areas, at least one idol of Lord Shiva is usually unearthed.

Shakkarnagar

The Nizam Sugar Factory of Bodhan was at one time Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

’s biggest sugar factory. Now owned by the Delta Paper Mills Ltd, Chairman Gokaraju Gangaraju, the factory has been renamed Nizam Deccan Sugars Ltd and the surrounding area is known as Shakkarnagar. The name is derived again from Urdu and Hindi languages, wherein Shakkar means "Sugar" and Nagar means "a small area where the people live".The town had witnessed a big crisis due the closure and privatization of the Nizam sugar factory.
During the time of Nizam the Sugar Factory's holdings included over 1,600 square kilometres of land, 14 village camps and the Super Specialty Hospital. Other services that were provided for the children of employees included the Madhu Malancha high school, junior and degree colleges. However, these services have ceased and the holdings have been largely sold off before privatization. After privatization factory was established a 20 MW power plant to improve quality of production and reducing pollution. Shakkaranagar was the model colony of the times and had been constructed to provide basic amenities for specialized services in the areas of Education, Health, Sports, Cultural Activities.so many employees lost their life due to employement problem,N.chandrababu naidu had done this kind of worst thing and till now he is suffering.

Bimudi Gutta Temple

Bakasura was the demon living on the hill top who used to attack all the common people living in the village for his food. Later all the village heads spoke to the demon and came to a compromise that they send loads of rice with a bullock cart and one person per family as food instead of killing many people together. The demon agreed to this and sending of a bullock cart of food with one person per family was going on. It was the vanavas time of pandavas and when there came a turn of a family who were helping Mother kunti were weeping to send their son to the Demon. Mother Kunti as she know the power of her son took the initiative and sent her son Bheema along with food. As we know the power of bheema. He was rejoicing all the way and he ate all the food sent on bullock cart by the time he reached the raakshas. Finally there was a big fight so called up to 30 days in which the demon was killed.

Today the footprints of Bheema are said to appear on the rock hill. This Beemudi Gutta(So called in Telugu) is located in the heart of Rakasipet and has a view point for the entire town.

Geography

Bodhan is located at 18.67°N 77.9°E. It has an average elevation of 357 metres (1171 feet).

Demographics

India census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

, Bodhan had a population of 71,355. Males constitute 50% of the population and females 50%. Bodhan has an average literacy rate of 60%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; with male literacy of 66% and female literacy of 53%. 14% of the population is under 6 years of age. Languages spoken include Telugu, Hindi, English, Marathi, Kannada and Urdu.

Rail Route & Transportation

The British built this rail route for exporting goods easily,...nowadays people of the region find it very difficult to go by train. There was a proposal to extend bodhan railway line to bidar but every other railway minister did their best not to take this project as they do not find it profitable in terms of gaining political interests.

Bodhan is well connected by rail and road.There are plenty of buses from Hyderabad with a frequency of 30 minutes.It is about 195km from Hyderabad and the bus journey is of 5 hours. There is a four lane express highway till kamareddy, work is yet to be finished till nizamabad, thereby speeding up travel from hyderabad to bodhan.A direct Passenger train is available from Secunderabad to Bodhan at 1700 Hrs. In addition to this, there are many super fast express trains up to Nizamabad.
A domestic airport is proposed at Dichpalli, which is 45 km from Bodhan.
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