Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar

History at a glance

1. 2nd century BCE onward
   The Ajanta caves are cut and painted, holding Buddhist murals one source dates from this period.
2. Rock-cut period
   The Ellora caves are cut — thirty-four excavations across Buddhist, Hindu and Jain traditions, including the Kailasa temple, carved downward from a single hillside.
3. 12th century
   Daulatabad, also called Devagiri, is established — capital of the Yadava dynasty, later a strategic base for the Mughals and Marathas.
4. 1610
   The city is established by MALIK AMBAR.
5. Aurangzeb's reign
   Bibi Ka Maqbara is built for Aurangzeb's wife — one source notes he raised almost no monumental architecture in half a century and that this was the largest structure to his credit.
6. 2023
   Aurangabad is officially renamed CHHATRAPATI SAMBHAJINAGAR, and the district with it. Osmanabad becomes Dharashiv in the same action.
7. Current
   Both names remain in active use — government and signage moving to the new one, the airport code, monuments, travel listings and everyday speech still using the old.

Best time to visit