Bhopal
Bhopal (/boʊˈpɑːl/; Hindustani pronunciation: [bʱoːpaːl] ( listen)) is the capital of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of Bhopal district and Bhopal division. The city was the capital of the former Bhopal State. Bhopal is known as the City of Lakes[3] for its various natural as well as artificial lakes and is also one of the greenest cities in India.[4] Bhopal is the 16th largest city in India and 231st[5] largest city in the world.
A Y-class city,[6] Bhopal houses various institutions and installations of national importance, including ISRO's Master Control Facility[7] and BHEL. A regional educational centre, it is also home to multiple Institutes of National Importance, including IISER, MANIT, SPA and AIIMS.
The city attracted international attention in December 1984 after the Bhopal disaster, when a Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide manufacturing plant leaked a mixture of deadly gases, leading to one of the worst industrial disasters in the world's history. The Bhopal disaster continues to be a part of the socio-political debate and a logistical challenge for the people of Bhopal.[8]
According to folklore, Bhopal is said to have been founded by the king Bhoja of the Paramara dynasty (AD 1000–1055), who ruled from his capital at Dhar. This theory states that Bhopal was originally known as Bhojpal after the king and the dam ("pal") constructed by him. No available archaeological evidence, inscriptions or historical texts support the claim about an earlier settlement founded by Bhoja at the same place, although a temple complex constructed by him exists at Bhojpur, which is located 28 km from Bhopal. An alternative theory says that the name of the city was coined from the name of another king called Bhupala (or Bhupal).[10][11] (During the British Raj, the railway tickets printed in the city and the signboards on the railway station mentioned the name of the city as "Bhupal" in Hindi and "Bhoopal" in English.)
In the early 17 th century,In the early 18th century, Bhopal was a small village in the local Gond kingdom. The modern Bhopal city was established by Dost Mohammad Khan (1672–1728), an Afghan soldier in the Mughal army.[12] After the death of the emperor Aurangzeb, Khan started providing mercenary services to several local chieftains in the politically unstable Malwa region. In 1709, he took on the lease of Berasia estate, and later annexed several territories in the region to establish the Bhopal State.[13] Khan received the territory of Bhopal from the Gond queen Rani Kamlapati in lieu of payment for mercenary services, and usurped her kingdom after her death.[14]
In 1737 Marathas defeated the Mughals in the Battle of Bhopal and started collecting tributes from local chieftains. The city remained under Maratha suzerainty until the Third Anglo-Maratha War in 1818, when Bhopal became a British princely state. Between 1819 and 1926, it was ruled by four women, Begums, – unique in the royalty of those days - under British suzerainty, Qudsia Begum was the first woman ruler, who was succeeded by her only daughter Sikandar Begum, who in turn was succeeded by her only daughter, Shahjehan Begum. Sultan Jahan Begum was the last woman ruler, who after 25 years of rule, abdicated in favour of her son, Hamidullah Khan. The rule of Begums gave the city its waterworks, railways, a postal system and a municipality constituted in 1907.[15]
Bhopal State was the second-largest Muslim-ruled princely state, the first being Hyderabad. After the independence of India in 1947, the last Nawab expressed his wish to retain Bhopal as a separate unit. Agitations against the Nawab broke out in December 1948, leading to the arrest of prominent leaders including Shankar Dayal Sharma. Later, the political detainees were released, and the Nawab signed the agreement for Bhopal's merger with the Union of India on 30 April 1949.[16] The Bhopal state was taken over by the Union Government of India on 1 June 1949. Hindu Sindhi refugees from Pakistan were accommodated in Bairagarh, a western suburb of Bhopal (now renamed to Sant Hirdaram Nagar). According to the States Reorganization Act of 1956, the Bhopal state was integrated into the state of Madhya-Pradesh, and Bhopal was declared as its capital. The population of the city rose rapidly thereafter.
Bhopal disaster[edit]
Main article: Bhopal disaster
On 3 December 1984, a Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal leaked around 32 tons of toxic gases, including methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas which led to the worst industrial disaster to date. The official death toll was initially recorded around 4,000. A Madhya Pradesh government report stated 3,787 deaths, while other estimates state the fatalities were significantly higher (16,000) from the accident and the medical complications caused by the accident, in the weeks and years that followed - the higher estimates have been challenged.[17][18] The impact of the disaster continues to this day in terms of psychological and neurological disabilities, blindness, skin, vision, breathing and birth disorders.[19][20][21] The soil and ground water near the factory site has been contaminated by the toxic wastes.[21][22] The Bhopal disaster continues to be the part of the socio-political debate, the cleanup of environmental contamination and rehabilitation of those affected continues to challenge the people of Bhopal.[8] 3 December is annually observed as the official day of mourning, and every year, all government offices in Bhopal remain closed on this day.
Geography[edit]
A view of upper lake, part of the city and the hilly Vindhya terrain.
Bhopal has an average elevation of 500m metres (1401 ft). Bhopal is located in the central part of India, and is just north of the upper limit of the Vindhya mountain ranges. Located on the Malwa plateau, it is higher than the north Indian plains and the land rises towards the Vindhya Range to the south. The city has uneven elevation and has small hills within its boundaries. The major hills in Bhopal are Idgah hills and Shyamala hills in the northern region, katara hills in south region and Spring valley is a very famous colony in katara hills and Arera hills in the central region.
Bhopal
Climate chart (explanation)
JFMAMJJASOND
13 249
7.8 2811
7.2 3417
4.5 3822
8 4126
114 3725
356 3123
388 2922
196 3121
26 3218
14 2912
12 2510
Average max. and min. temperatures in °C
Precipitation totals in mm
[show]Imperial conversion
According to current master plan, the municipality covers 697 square kilometres It has two big lakes, collectively known as the Bhoj Wetland. These lakes are the Upper Lake (now renamed to Bhojtal) and the Lower Lake. Locally these are known as the Bada Talab (literally, big lake) and Chota Talab (literally, small lake) respectively. The catchment area of the Upper Lake is 360 km² while that of the Lower Lake is 9.6 km². The Upper Lake drains into the Kolar River. The Van Vihar National Park is a national park situated besides the Upper Lake.
Climate[edit]
Bhopal has a humid subtropical climate, with cool, dry winters, a hot summer and a humid monsoon season. Summers start in late March and go on till mid-June, the average temperature being around 30 °C (86 °F), with the peak of summer in May, when the highs regularly exceed 40 °C (104 °F). The monsoon starts in late June and ends in late September. These months see about 40 inches (1020 mm) of precipitation, frequent thunderstorms and flooding. The average temperature is around 25 °C (77 °F) and the humidity is quite high. Temperatures rise again up to late October when winter starts, which lasts up to early March. Winters in Bhopal are cool, sunny and comfortable, with average daily temperatures around 16 °C (61 °F) and little or no rain. The winter peaks in January when temperatures may drop close to freezing on some nights. Lowest temperature ever recorded was 0.3C. Total annual rainfall is about 1146 mm (46 inches).
Bhopali dishes and food in Bhopal are comparatively mild, less spicy and unique in taste. Local and individual variations of various popular snacks and foods can be found selling around the city . Bhopali food has a large variety of non-vegetarian dishes, including Bhopali Murgh Rezala, Paneer Rezala, Bhopali Gosht Korma, Murgh Hara Masala Rice and Murgh Nizami.[citation needed]
Diwali and Eid are major festivals in Bhopal. Gifts and sweets are exchanged and donation are made to the poor. Diwali is celebrated by worshiping the wealth goddess Lakshmi. Eid is special to the city as all the Hindus take time out to visit their Muslim friends and greet them and get treated with delicacies, the specialty of the day being sweet sewaiya. Bhopali culture is such that both Hindus and Muslims visit each other on their respective festivals to greet and exchange sweets. During Ganesh puja and Durga Puja (Navratras), idols of Ganesh and Durga are established in jhankis throughout the city. People throng to offer prayers to their deities. At the end of Navratras, on the day of Vijayadashami (or Dussehra), huge effigies of Ravan are burnt in different parts of the city. Some of them are organized by the local administration and stand as tall as 60 feet (18 m).
Bhopal Ijtema is an annual Muslim world preachers congregation, is held at Ghasipura 11 km from Bhopal. The congregation is said to be one of the largest Islamic gathering other than Hajj at Mecca in Saudi Arabia and “Bishwa Ijtima” at Tongi in Bangladesh. The annual congregation near Bhopal draws between 500,000 to 1,000,000 Muslims from all over the globe.[44]
Bharat Bhavan is the main cultural centre of the city. It has an art gallery, an open-air amphitheatre facing the Upper Lake, two other theatres and a tribal museum.
Rabari house is one of the cultural displays at IGRMS under Indian government's Ministry of Culture.
The Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS), an autonomous organization of Govt. of India, Ministry of Culture is dedicated to the depiction of story of mankind in time and space. The Sangrahalaya is involved in generating a new museum movement in India, with open, freewheeling, flexible plan, to demonstrate the simultaneous validity of human cultures and the plurality of alternatives for human articulation. The innovative aspects of the Organisation are its open air and indoor exhibitions, built with active involvement of traditional artisans and experts drawn from different community groups, and the Education, Outreach and Salvage activities for revitalisatin of vanishing but valuable cultural traditions. The headquarters of the IGRMS is located in Bhopal (M.P.) while a regional centre is functioning from Heritage building Wellington House, Mysore (Karnataka). It showcases the tribal culture of various regions and various examples of tribal art and architecture. Every year in January/February, it hosts potters' workshops, folk music and dance events and open-air plays. Tribals also demonstrate their skills in painting, weaving, and the fashioning of bell metal into works of art.
Bhopal
Bhopal (/boʊˈpɑːl/; Hindustani pronunciation: [bʱoːpaːl] ( listen)) is the capital of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of Bhopal district and Bhopal division. The city was the capital of the former Bhopal State. Bhopal is known as the City of Lakes[3] for its various natural as well as artificial lakes and is also one of the greenest cities in India.[4] Bhopal is the 16th largest city in India and 231st[5] largest city in the world.
A Y-class city,[6] Bhopal houses various institutions and installations of national importance, including ISRO's Master Control Facility[7] and BHEL. A regional educational centre, it is also home to multiple Institutes of National Importance, including IISER, MANIT, SPA and AIIMS.
The city attracted international attention in December 1984 after the Bhopal disaster, when a Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide manufacturing plant leaked a mixture of deadly gases, leading to one of the worst industrial disasters in the world's history. The Bhopal disaster continues to be a part of the socio-political debate and a logistical challenge for the people of Bhopal.[8]
According to folklore, Bhopal is said to have been founded by the king Bhoja of the Paramara dynasty (AD 1000–1055), who ruled from his capital at Dhar. This theory states that Bhopal was originally known as Bhojpal after the king and the dam ("pal") constructed by him. No available archaeological evidence, inscriptions or historical texts support the claim about an earlier settlement founded by Bhoja at the same place, although a temple complex constructed by him exists at Bhojpur, which is located 28 km from Bhopal. An alternative theory says that the name of the city was coined from the name of another king called Bhupala (or Bhupal).[10][11] (During the British Raj, the railway tickets printed in the city and the signboards on the railway station mentioned the name of the city as "Bhupal" in Hindi and "Bhoopal" in English.)
In the early 17 th century,In the early 18th century, Bhopal was a small village in the local Gond kingdom. The modern Bhopal city was established by Dost Mohammad Khan (1672–1728), an Afghan soldier in the Mughal army.[12] After the death of the emperor Aurangzeb, Khan started providing mercenary services to several local chieftains in the politically unstable Malwa region. In 1709, he took on the lease of Berasia estate, and later annexed several territories in the region to establish the Bhopal State.[13] Khan received the territory of Bhopal from the Gond queen Rani Kamlapati in lieu of payment for mercenary services, and usurped her kingdom after her death.[14]
In 1737 Marathas defeated the Mughals in the Battle of Bhopal and started collecting tributes from local chieftains. The city remained under Maratha suzerainty until the Third Anglo-Maratha War in 1818, when Bhopal became a British princely state. Between 1819 and 1926, it was ruled by four women, Begums, – unique in the royalty of those days - under British suzerainty, Qudsia Begum was the first woman ruler, who was succeeded by her only daughter Sikandar Begum, who in turn was succeeded by her only daughter, Shahjehan Begum. Sultan Jahan Begum was the last woman ruler, who after 25 years of rule, abdicated in favour of her son, Hamidullah Khan. The rule of Begums gave the city its waterworks, railways, a postal system and a municipality constituted in 1907.[15]
Bhopal State was the second-largest Muslim-ruled princely state, the first being Hyderabad. After the independence of India in 1947, the last Nawab expressed his wish to retain Bhopal as a separate unit. Agitations against the Nawab broke out in December 1948, leading to the arrest of prominent leaders including Shankar Dayal Sharma. Later, the political detainees were released, and the Nawab signed the agreement for Bhopal's merger with the Union of India on 30 April 1949.[16] The Bhopal state was taken over by the Union Government of India on 1 June 1949. Hindu Sindhi refugees from Pakistan were accommodated in Bairagarh, a western suburb of Bhopal (now renamed to Sant Hirdaram Nagar). According to the States Reorganization Act of 1956, the Bhopal state was integrated into the state of Madhya-Pradesh, and Bhopal was declared as its capital. The population of the city rose rapidly thereafter.
Bhopal disaster[edit]
Main article: Bhopal disaster
On 3 December 1984, a Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal leaked around 32 tons of toxic gases, including methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas which led to the worst industrial disaster to date. The official death toll was initially recorded around 4,000. A Madhya Pradesh government report stated 3,787 deaths, while other estimates state the fatalities were significantly higher (16,000) from the accident and the medical complications caused by the accident, in the weeks and years that followed - the higher estimates have been challenged.[17][18] The impact of the disaster continues to this day in terms of psychological and neurological disabilities, blindness, skin, vision, breathing and birth disorders.[19][20][21] The soil and ground water near the factory site has been contaminated by the toxic wastes.[21][22] The Bhopal disaster continues to be the part of the socio-political debate, the cleanup of environmental contamination and rehabilitation of those affected continues to challenge the people of Bhopal.[8] 3 December is annually observed as the official day of mourning, and every year, all government offices in Bhopal remain closed on this day.
Geography[edit]
A view of upper lake, part of the city and the hilly Vindhya terrain.
Bhopal has an average elevation of 500m metres (1401 ft). Bhopal is located in the central part of India, and is just north of the upper limit of the Vindhya mountain ranges. Located on the Malwa plateau, it is higher than the north Indian plains and the land rises towards the Vindhya Range to the south. The city has uneven elevation and has small hills within its boundaries. The major hills in Bhopal are Idgah hills and Shyamala hills in the northern region, katara hills in south region and Spring valley is a very famous colony in katara hills and Arera hills in the central region.
Bhopal
Climate chart (explanation)
JFMAMJJASOND
13 249
7.8 2811
7.2 3417
4.5 3822
8 4126
114 3725
356 3123
388 2922
196 3121
26 3218
14 2912
12 2510
Average max. and min. temperatures in °C
Precipitation totals in mm
[show]Imperial conversion
According to current master plan, the municipality covers 697 square kilometres It has two big lakes, collectively known as the Bhoj Wetland. These lakes are the Upper Lake (now renamed to Bhojtal) and the Lower Lake. Locally these are known as the Bada Talab (literally, big lake) and Chota Talab (literally, small lake) respectively. The catchment area of the Upper Lake is 360 km² while that of the Lower Lake is 9.6 km². The Upper Lake drains into the Kolar River. The Van Vihar National Park is a national park situated besides the Upper Lake.
Climate[edit]
Bhopal has a humid subtropical climate, with cool, dry winters, a hot summer and a humid monsoon season. Summers start in late March and go on till mid-June, the average temperature being around 30 °C (86 °F), with the peak of summer in May, when the highs regularly exceed 40 °C (104 °F). The monsoon starts in late June and ends in late September. These months see about 40 inches (1020 mm) of precipitation, frequent thunderstorms and flooding. The average temperature is around 25 °C (77 °F) and the humidity is quite high. Temperatures rise again up to late October when winter starts, which lasts up to early March. Winters in Bhopal are cool, sunny and comfortable, with average daily temperatures around 16 °C (61 °F) and little or no rain. The winter peaks in January when temperatures may drop close to freezing on some nights. Lowest temperature ever recorded was 0.3C. Total annual rainfall is about 1146 mm (46 inches).
Bhopali dishes and food in Bhopal are comparatively mild, less spicy and unique in taste. Local and individual variations of various popular snacks and foods can be found selling around the city . Bhopali food has a large variety of non-vegetarian dishes, including Bhopali Murgh Rezala, Paneer Rezala, Bhopali Gosht Korma, Murgh Hara Masala Rice and Murgh Nizami.[citation needed]
Diwali and Eid are major festivals in Bhopal. Gifts and sweets are exchanged and donation are made to the poor. Diwali is celebrated by worshiping the wealth goddess Lakshmi. Eid is special to the city as all the Hindus take time out to visit their Muslim friends and greet them and get treated with delicacies, the specialty of the day being sweet sewaiya. Bhopali culture is such that both Hindus and Muslims visit each other on their respective festivals to greet and exchange sweets. During Ganesh puja and Durga Puja (Navratras), idols of Ganesh and Durga are established in jhankis throughout the city. People throng to offer prayers to their deities. At the end of Navratras, on the day of Vijayadashami (or Dussehra), huge effigies of Ravan are burnt in different parts of the city. Some of them are organized by the local administration and stand as tall as 60 feet (18 m).
Bhopal Ijtema is an annual Muslim world preachers congregation, is held at Ghasipura 11 km from Bhopal. The congregation is said to be one of the largest Islamic gathering other than Hajj at Mecca in Saudi Arabia and “Bishwa Ijtima” at Tongi in Bangladesh. The annual congregation near Bhopal draws between 500,000 to 1,000,000 Muslims from all over the globe.[44]
Bharat Bhavan is the main cultural centre of the city. It has an art gallery, an open-air amphitheatre facing the Upper Lake, two other theatres and a tribal museum.
Rabari house is one of the cultural displays at IGRMS under Indian government's Ministry of Culture.
The Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS), an autonomous organization of Govt. of India, Ministry of Culture is dedicated to the depiction of story of mankind in time and space. The Sangrahalaya is involved in generating a new museum movement in India, with open, freewheeling, flexible plan, to demonstrate the simultaneous validity of human cultures and the plurality of alternatives for human articulation. The innovative aspects of the Organisation are its open air and indoor exhibitions, built with active involvement of traditional artisans and experts drawn from different community groups, and the Education, Outreach and Salvage activities for revitalisatin of vanishing but valuable cultural traditions. The headquarters of the IGRMS is located in Bhopal (M.P.) while a regional centre is functioning from Heritage building Wellington House, Mysore (Karnataka). It showcases the tribal culture of various regions and various examples of tribal art and architecture. Every year in January/February, it hosts potters' workshops, folk music and dance events and open-air plays. Tribals also demonstrate their skills in painting, weaving, and the fashioning of bell metal into works of art.