Ahmedabad

The area around Ahmedabad has been inhabited since the 11th century, when it was known as Ashaval.[28] At that time, Karna, the Chaulukya (Solanki) ruler of Anhilwara (modern Patan), waged a successful war against the Bhil king of Ashaval,[29] and established a city called Karnavati on the banks of the Sabarmati.[30] Solanki rule lasted until the 13th century, when Gujarat came under the control of the Vaghela dynasty of Dholka. Gujarat subsequently came under the control of the Delhi Sultanate in the 14th century. However, by the earlier 15th century, the local Muslim governor Zafar Khan Muzaffar established his independence from the Delhi Sultanate and crowned himself Sultan of Gujarat as Muzaffar Shah I, thereby founding the Muzaffarid dynasty.[31][32][33] This area finally came under the control of his grandson Sultan Ahmed Shah in 1411 who while at the banks of Sabarmati liked the forested area for a new capital city and laid the foundation of a new walled city near Karnavati and named it Ahmedabad after the four saints in the area by the name Ahmed.[34] According to other sources, he named it after himself.[35][36] Ahmed Shah I laid the foundation of the city on 26 February 1411[37] (at 1.20 pm, Thursday, the second day of Dhu al-Qi'dah, Hijri year 813[38]) at Manek Burj. Manek Burj is named after the legendary 15th-century Hindu saint, Maneknath, who intervened to help Ahmed Shah I build Bhadra Fort in 1411.[35][39][40][41] He chose it as the new capital on 4 March 1411.[42] Chandan and Rajesh Nath, 13th generation descendants of Saint Maneknath, perform puja and hoist the flag on Manek Burj on Ahmedabad's foundation day and for the Vijayadashami festival every year.[35][40][43][44]

City Walls of Ahmedabad, 1866

In 1487, Mahmud Begada, the grandson of Ahmed Shah, fortified the city with an outer wall 10 km (6.2 mi) in circumference and consisting of twelve gates, 189 bastions and over 6,000 battlements.[45] In 1535 Humayun briefly occupied Ahmedabad after capturing Champaner when the ruler of Gujarat, Bahadur Shah, fled to Diu.[46] Ahmedabad was then reoccupied by the Muzaffarid dynasty until 1573 when Gujarat was conquered by the Mughal emperor Akbar. During the Mughal reign, Ahmedabad became one of the Empire's thriving centres of trade, mainly in textiles, which were exported as far as Europe. The Mughal ruler Shahjahan spent the prime of his life in the city, sponsoring the construction of the Moti Shahi Mahal in Shahibaug. The Deccan Famine of 1630–32 affected the city, as did famines in 1650 and 1686.[47] Ahmedabad remained the provincial headquarters of the Mughals until 1758, when they surrendered the city to the Marathas.[48]

During the period of Maratha Empire governance, the city became the centre of a conflict between the Peshwa of Poona and the Gaekwad of Baroda.[49] In 1780, during the First Anglo-Maratha War, a British force under James Hartley stormed and captured Ahmedabad, but it was handed back to the Marathas at the end of the war. The British East India Company took over the city in 1818 during the Third Anglo-Maratha War.[34] A military cantonment was established in 1824 and a municipal government in 1858.[34] Incorporated into the Bombay Presidency during British rule, Ahmedabad became one of the most important cities in the Gujarat region. In 1864, a railway link between Ahmedabad and Mumbai (then Bombay) was established by the Bombay, Baroda, and Central India Railway (BB&CI), enabling traffic and trade between northern and southern India via the city.[34] Over time, the city established itself as the home of a developing textile industry, which earned it the nickname "Manchester of the East".[50]

Ahmedabad and its environs, ca 1914

The Indian independence movement developed roots in the city when Mahatma Gandhi established two ashrams – the Kochrab Ashram near Paldi in 1915 and the Satyagraha Ashram (now Sabarmati Ashram) on the banks of the Sabarmati in 1917 – which would become centres of nationalist activities.[34][51] During the mass protests against the Rowlatt Act in 1919, textile workers burned down 51 government buildings across the city in protest at a British attempt to extend wartime regulations after the First World War. In the 1920s, textile workers and teachers went on strike, demanding civil rights and better pay and working conditions. In 1930, Gandhi initiated the Salt Satyagraha from Ahmedabad by embarking from his ashram on the Dandi Salt March. The city's administration and economic institutions were rendered inoperative in the early 1930s by the large numbers of people who took to the streets in peaceful protests, and again in 1942 during the Quit India Movement. Following independence and the partition of India in 1947, the city was scarred by the intense communal violence that broke out between Hindus and Muslims in 1947, Ahmedabad was the focus of settlement by Hindu migrants from Pakistan,[52] who expanded the city's population and transformed its demographics and economy.

By 1960, Ahmedabad had become a metropolis with a population of slightly under half a million people, with classical and colonial European-style buildings lining the city's thoroughfares.[53] It was chosen as the capital of Gujarat state after the partition of the State of Bombay on 1 May 1960.[54] During this period, a large number of educational and research institutions were founded in the city, making it a centre for higher education, science and technology.[55] Ahmedabad's economic base became more diverse with the establishment of heavy and chemical industry during the same period. Many countries sought to emulate India's economic planning strategy and one of them, South Korea, copied the city's second "Five-Year Plan".

Sabarmati Ashram, established by Mahatma Gandhi

In the late 1970s, the capital shifted to the newly built city of Gandhinagar. This marked the start of a long period of decline in the city, marked by a lack of development. The 1974 Nav Nirman agitation – a protest against a 20% hike in the hostel food fees at the L.D. College of Engineering in Ahmedabad – snowballed into a movement to remove Chimanbhai Patel, then chief minister of Gujarat.[56] In the 1980s, a reservation policy was introduced in the country, which led to anti-reservation protests in 1981 and 1985. The protests witnessed violent clashes between people belonging to various castes.[57] The city was considerably impacted by the 2001 Gujarat earthquake; up to 50 multi-storey buildings collapsed, killing 752 people and causing much damage.[58] The following year, a three-day period of violence between Hindus and Muslims in the western Indian state of Gujarat, known as the 2002 Gujarat riots, spread to Ahmedabad; in eastern Chamanpura, 69 people were killed in the Gulbarg Society massacre on 28 February 2002.[59] Refugee camps were set up around the city, housing 50,000 Muslims, as well as some small Hindu camps.[60]

The 2008 Ahmedabad bombings, a series of seventeen bomb blasts, killed and injured several people.[61] Militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad claimed responsibility for the attacks.[62]

Other than New Delhi, Ahmedabad is a rare city in India to have hosted premiers of major economies like the US, China and Canada. On 24 February 2020, President Trump became the first president of the US to visit the city as part of Namaste Trump. Earlier, President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited the city.[63][64][65]

19th-century painted cloth map of Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad lies at 23.03°N 72.58°E / 23.03; 72.58 in western India at 53 metres (174 ft) above sea level on the banks of the Sabarmati river, in north-central Gujarat. It covers an area of 505 km² (195 sq mi).[4][5][6][7] The Sabarmati frequently dried up in the summer, leaving only a small stream of water, and the city is in a sandy and dry area. However, with the execution of the Sabarmati River Front Project and Embankment, the waters from the Narmada river have been diverted to the Sabarmati to keep the river flowing throughout the year, thereby eliminating Ahmedabad's water problems. The steady expansion of the Rann of Kutch threatened to increase desertification around the city area and much of the state; however, the Narmada Canal network is expected to alleviate this problem. Except for the small hills of Thaltej-Jodhpur Tekra, the city is almost flat. Three lakes lie within the city's limits—Kankaria, Vastrapur and Chandola. Kankaria, in the neighbourhood of Maninagar, is an artificial lake developed by the Sultan of Gujarat, Qutb-ud-din, in 1451.[86]

According to the Bureau of Indian Standards, the town falls under seismic zone 3, in a scale of 2 to 5 (in order of increasing vulnerability to earthquakes).[87]

Ahmedabad is divided by the Sabarmati into two physically distinct eastern and western regions. The eastern bank of the river houses the old city, which includes the central town of Bhadra. This part of Ahmedabad is characterised by packed bazaars, the pol system of closely clustered buildings, and numerous places of worship.[88] A Pol (pronounced as pole) is a housing cluster which comprises many families of a particular group, linked by caste, profession, or religion.[89][90] This is a list of Pols in the old walled city[89] of Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India. Heritage of these Pols[91] has helped Ahmedabad gain a place in UNESCO's Tentative Lists, in selection criteria II, III and IV.[92] The secretary-general of EuroIndia Centre quoted that if 12000 homes of Ahmedabad are restored they could be very helpful in promoting heritage tourism and its allied businesses.[93] The Art Reverie in Moto Sutharvado is Res Artis center. The first pol in Ahmedabad was named Mahurat Pol.[94] Old city also houses the main railway station, the main post office, and some buildings of the Muzaffarid and British eras. The colonial period saw the expansion of the city to the western side of Sabarmati, facilitated by the construction of Ellis Bridge in 1875 and later the relatively modern Nehru Bridge. The western part of the city houses educational institutions, modern buildings, residential areas, shopping malls, multiplexes and new business districts centred around roads such as Ashram Road, C. G. Road and Sarkhej-Gandhinagar Highway.[95]

There are nine bridges on the river Sabarmati that connect the eastern and western regions.

Sabarmati Riverfront is a waterfront being developed along the banks of the Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad, India. Proposed in the 1960s, its construction began in 2005

Gujarat High Court in Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad is the administrative headquarters of Ahmedabad district, administered by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC). The AMC was established in July 1950 under the Bombay Provincial Corporation Act of 1949. The AMC commissioner is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer appointed by the state government who reserves the administrative executive powers, whereas the corporation is headed by the mayor of Ahmedabad. The city residents elect the 192 municipal councillors by popular vote, and the elected councillors select the deputy mayor and mayor of the city. The mayor, Bijal Patel, was appointed on 14 June 2018.[129] The administrative responsibilities of the AMC are: water and sewerage services, primary education, health services, fire services, public transport and the city's infrastructure.[7] AMC was ranked 9th out of 21 cities for "the best governance & administrative practices in India in 2014. It scored 3.4 out of 10 compared to the national average of 3.3."[130] Ahmedabad registers two accidents per hour.[131]

The city is divided into seven zones constituting 48 wards.[132][133] The city's urban and suburban areas are administered by the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA).

• The city is represented by two elected members of parliament in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Indian Parliament) and 21 members of the Legislative Assembly at the Gujarat Vidhan Sabha.
• The Gujarat High Court is located in Ahmedabad, making the city the judicial capital of Gujarat.[134] Law enforcement and public safety is maintained by the Ahmedabad City Police, headed by the Police Commissioner, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer.[135]

Navaratri celebrations in Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad observes a range of festivals. Celebrations and observances include Uttarayan, an annual kite-flying day on 14 and 15 January. Nine nights of Navratri are celebrated with people performing Garba, the most popular folk dance of Gujarat, at venues across the city. The festival of lights, Deepavali, is celebrated with the lighting of lamps in every house, decorating the floors with rangoli, and the lighting of firecrackers. The annual Rath Yatra procession on the Ashadh-sud-bij date of the Hindu calendar at the Jagannath Temple, the festival of colours Holi, celebrated on the last full moon day in the end of the winter and based on the lunisolar Hindu calendar, and the procession of Tajia during the Muslim holy month of Muharram are important events.[139][140]

One of the most popular dishes in Ahmedabad is a Gujarati thali, which was first served commercially by Chandvilas Hotel in 1900.[141] It consists of roti (Chapati), dal, rice and shaak (cooked vegetables, sometimes with curry), with accompaniments of pickles and roasted papads. Sweet dishes include laddoo, mango, and vedhmi. Dhoklas, theplas and dhebras are also very popular dishes in Ahmedabad.[142] Beverages include buttermilk and tea. Drinking alcohol is forbidden in Ahmedabad.[143]

There are many restaurants, which serve Indian and international cuisines. Most of the food outlets serve only vegetarian food, as a strong tradition of vegetarianism is maintained by the city's Jain and Hindu communities.[144] The first all-vegetarian Pizza Hut in the world opened in Ahmedabad.[145] KFC has a separate staff uniform for serving vegetarian items and prepares vegetarian food in a separate kitchen,[146][147] as does McDonald's.[148][149] Ahmedabad has a quite a few restaurants serving typical Mughlai non-vegetarian food in older areas like Bhatiyar Gali, Kalupur and Jamalpur.[150]

Manek Chowk is an open square near the centre of the city that functions as a vegetable market in the morning and a jewellery market in the afternoon. However, it is better known for its food stalls in the evening, which sell local street food. It is named after the Hindu saint Baba Maneknath.[151] Parts of Ahmedabad are known for their folk art. The artisans of Rangeela pol make tie-dyed bandhinis, while the cobbler shops of Madhupura sell traditional mojdi (also known as mojri) footwear. Idols of Ganesha and other religious icons are made in huge numbers in the Gulbai Tekra area. In 2019, there was a swing in the trend and people are adopting a more eco-friendly version of the Ganesha statue.[152] The shops at the Law Garden sell mirrorwork handicrafts.[117]

Swaminarayan Temple, Ahmedabad

Three main literary institutions were established in Ahmedabad for the promotion of Gujarati literature: Gujarat Vidhya Sabha, Gujarati Sahitya Parishad and Gujarat Sahitya Sabha. Saptak School of Music festival is held in the first week of the new year. This event was inaugurated by Ravi Shankar.[153][154]

The Sanskar Kendra, one of the several buildings in Ahmedabad designed by Le Corbusier, is a city museum depicting its history, art, culture and architecture. The Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya and the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Memorial have permanent displays of photographs, documents and other articles relating to Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel. The Calico Museum of Textiles has a large collection of Indian and international fabrics, garments and textiles.[155] The Hazrat Pir Mohammad Shah Library has a collection of rare original manuscripts in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Sindhi and Turkish. There is the Vechaar Utensils Museum which has stainless steel, glass, brass, copper, bronze, zinc and German silver tools.[156][157]

Shreyas Foundation has four museums on the same campus. Shreyas Folk Museum (Lokayatan Museum) has art forms and artefacts from the communities of Gujarat. Kalpana Mangaldas Children's Museum has a collection of toys, puppets, dance and drama costumes, coins and a repository of recorded music from traditional shows from all over the world. Kahani houses photographs of fairs and festivals of Gujarat. Sangeeta Vadyakhand is a gallery of musical instruments from India and other countries.[158][159][160]

L D Institute of Indology houses 76,000 hand-written Jain manuscripts with 500 illustrated versions and 45,000 printed books, making it the largest collection of Jain scripts, Indian sculptures, terracottas, miniature paintings, cloth paintings, painted scrolls, bronzes, woodwork, Indian coins, textiles and decorative art, paintings of Rabindranath Tagore and art of Nepal and Tibet.[161] N C Mehta Gallery of Miniature Paintings has a collection of ornate miniature paintings and manuscripts from all over India.[162]

In 1949 Darpana Academy of Performing Arts was established by the scientist Dr. Vikram Sarabhai and Bharat Natyam dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai, and thus Ahmemedabad city became the centre of Indian classical dance.

Gujarat university, Ahmedabad

Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad had a literacy rate of 79.89% in 2001 which rose to 89.62 percent in 2011. As of 2011, the literacy rate among males and females were 93.96 and 84.81 percent, respectively.

Among the several universities in Ahmedabad, Gujarat University is the largest and claims to be the oldest;[163] although the Gujarat Vidyapith was established in 1920 by Mahatma Gandhi – it received no charter from the British Raj, becoming a deemed university only in 1963.[164] A large number of colleges in the city are affiliated with Gujarat University. Gujarat Technological University, CEPT University, Nirma University, Institute of Infrastructure Technology Research and Management (IITRAM) and Ahmedabad University all date from this century. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University has over 100,000 students enrolled on its distance learning courses.[165][166]

Ahmedabad is home to the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, which was ranked first among management institutes in the country by the Ministry of Human Resource Development in 2018.[167]

Established in 1947 by the scientist Vikram Sarabhai, the oldest of the research institutes in Ahmedabad, the Physical Research Laboratory is active in space science, astronomy, high-energy physics and other areas of research.[168] The Darpana Academy of Performing Arts, established in 1949 by Mrinalini Sarabhai, was listed by UNESCO as an institution active in the "Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage".[169][170]

Schools in Ahmedabad are either run publicly by the municipal corporation, or privately by entities, trusts and corporations. The majority of schools are affiliated with the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board, although some are affiliated with the Central Board for Secondary Education, Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, International Baccalaureate and National Institute of Open School.

Broadcasting tower of the Ahmedabad Doordarshan

Newspapers in Ahmedabad include English dailies such as The Times of India, Indian Express, DNA, The Economic Times, The Financial Express, Ahmedabad Mirror and Metro.[171] Newspapers in other languages include Divya Bhaskar, Gujarat Samachar, Sandesh, Rajasthan Patrika, Sambhaav, and Aankhodekhi.[171] The city is home to the historic Navajivan Publishing House, which was founded in 1919 by Mahatma Gandhi.[172]

The state-owned All India Radio Ahmedabad is broadcast both on medium wave bands and FM bands (96.7 MHz) in the city.[173] It competes with five private local FM stations: Radio City (91.1 MHz), Red FM (93.5 MHz), My FM (94.3 MHz), Radio One (95.0 MHz), Radio Mirchi (98.3 MHz) and Mirchi Love (104 MHz). Gyan Vani (104.5 MHz) is an educational FM radio station run under the media co-operation model.[174] In March 2012, Gujarat University started a campus radio service on 90.8 MHz, which was the first of its kind in the state and the fifth in India.[175]

The state-owned television broadcaster Doordarshan provides free terrestrial channels, while three multi system operators—InCablenet, Siti Cable and GTPL—provide a mix of Gujarati, Hindi, English, and other regional channels via cable.[176] Telephone services are provided by landline and mobile operators such as Jio, BSNL Mobile, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea.[177]

Torrent Power thermal power station at Sabarmati, Ahmedabad

The gross domestic product of Ahmedabad was estimated at US$80 billion in 2014.[178][179] The RBI ranked Ahmedabad as the seventh largest deposit centre and seventh largest credit centre nationwide as of June 2012.[180] In the 19th century, the textile and garments industry received strong capital investment. On 30 May 1861 Ranchhodlal Chhotalal founded the first Indian textile mill, the Ahmedabad Spinning and Weaving Company Limited,[181] followed by the establishment of a series of textile mills such as Calico Mills, Bagicha Mills and Arvind Mills. By 1905 there were about 33 textile mills in the city.[182] The textile industry expanded further at a rapid rate during the First World War, and benefited from the influence of Mahatma Gandhi's Swadeshi movement, which promoted the purchase of Indian-made goods.[183] Ahmedabad was known as the "Manchester of the East" for its textile industry.[51] The city is the largest supplier of denim and one of the largest exporters of gemstones and jewellery in India.[19] The automobile industry is also important to the city; after Tata's Nano project, Ford and Suzuki are planning to establish plants near Ahmedabad while the Groundbreaking ceremony for Peugeot has already been performed.[184][185][186]

The Ahmedabad Stock Exchange, located in the Ambavadi area of the city, is India's second oldest stock exchange.[187] Two of the biggest pharmaceutical companies of India — Zydus Cadila and Torrent Pharmaceuticals – are based in the city. The Nirma group of industries, which runs detergent and chemical industrial units, has its corporate headquarters in the city. The city houses the corporate headquarters of the Adani Group, a multinational trading and infrastructure development company.[188] The Sardar Sarovar Project of dams and canals has improved the supply of potable water and electricity for the city.[189] The information technology industry has developed significantly in Ahmedabad, with companies such as Tata Consultancy Services opening offices in the city.[190] A NASSCOM survey in 2002 on the "Super Nine Indian Destinations" for IT-enabled services ranked Ahmedabad fifth among the top nine most competitive cities in the country.[191] The city's educational and industrial institutions have attracted students and young skilled workers from the rest of India.[192] Ahmedabad houses other major Indian corporates such as Cadila Healthcare, Rasna, Wagh Bakri, Nirma, Cadila Pharmaceuticals, and Intas Biopharmaceuticals. Ahmedabad is the second largest cotton textile centre in India after Mumbai and the largest in Gujarat.[193] Many cotton manufacturing units operate in and around Ahmedabad.[194][195][196][197][198] Textiles are one of the major industries of the city.[199] Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation has acquired land in Sanand taluka of Ahmedabad to set up three new industrial estates.[200]

Cricket is one of the most popular sports in the city.[226] Narendra Modi Stadium, also known as Motera Stadium, originally Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium built in 1982, hosts both one day internationals and test matches. It is the largest stadium in the world by capacity, with a seating capacity of 132,000 spectators.[227] It hosted the 1987, 1996 and 2011 Cricket World Cups.[228] This is the home ground of first-class team Gujarat cricket team, which competes in domestic tournaments. Ahmedabad has a second cricket stadium at the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation's Sports Club of Gujarat.[229]

Other popular sports include field hockey, badminton, tennis, squash and golf. Ahmedabad has nine golf courses.[230] Mithakhali Multi Sports Complex is being developed by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation to promote various indoor sports.[231] Ahmedabad has also hosted national level games for roller skating and table tennis.[232] Kart racing is gaining popularity in the city, with the introduction of a 380 metre long track based on Formula One design concepts.[233][234]

Participants in the Sabarmati Marathon

Sabarmati Marathon has been organized every year December–January since 2011; it has categories like a full and half-marathon, a 7 km dream run, a 5 km run for the visually disabled, and a 5 km wheelchair run.[235] In 2007, Ahmedabad hosted the 51st national level shooting games.[236] The 2016 Kabaddi World Cup was held in Ahmedabad at The Arena by Transtadia (a renovated Kankaria football ground). Geet Sethi, a five-time winner of the World Professional Billiards Championship and a recipient of India's highest sporting award, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, was raised in Ahmedabad.[237]

The Adani Ahmedabad Marathon has been organized by the Adani Group every year since 2017; it attracted 8,000 participants in its first edition and also hosted its first virtual marathon in 2020 in compliance with COVID-19 guidelines.[238]

• Gautam Adani (born 1962), chairman and founder of the Adani Group
• Jasprit Bumrah (born 1993), cricketer
• Narhari Parikh (born 1891, died 1957), writer, activist, and social reformer
• Mallika Sarabhai (born 1953), dancer, actor, and activist
• Vikram Sarabhai (born 1919, died 1971), physicist and astronomer

Sister cities

• Astrakhan, Astrakhan Oblast, Russia[239]
• Columbus, Ohio, United States (2008) [240]
• Guangzhou, Guangdong, China (September 2014)[241]
• Jersey City, New Jersey, United States (1994) [242]
• Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan (2019)[243][244]
• Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain (2019)[245]

• List of people from Ahmedabad
• List of tallest buildings in Ahmedabad
• Timeline of Ahmedabad

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ahmedabad.

• Ahmedabad Collectorate Archived 21 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
• Ahmedabad at Curlie
• Ahmadabad Encyclopædia Britannica entry