History of Jehanabad

As it stands today history of Jehanabad is indeed very intriguing and captivating. However till recent nothing much was known about the history of Jehanabad. But fortunately, historians and archeologists have excavated many places near the present day Jehanabad district, where they believed the true history of Jehanabad lay hidden. And not surprisingly at all, they ended up excavating monuments and discovering caves that today are of considerable historical importance eventually proving that there is lot more than meets the eye. Below is brief information and round up about the history of Jehanabad.

Origin of the name

The present day name Jehanabad is partly derived from Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan’s daughter Jahanara Begum Sahib. When Aurangzeb was the emperor of Mughal Empire he had allotted many important areas of the present day Jehanabad district to Jahanara Begum for administrative supervision. At that time Jehanabad was also going through its worst famine and hence Jahanara Begum was also given responsibility to alleviate people from their suffering. Whether Jahanara Begum succeeded in this responsibility is not known even to this day, but what is definitely known is that over the decades she exerted enough influence over people of this place. It is owing to her influence that this place was named as ‘Jehanarabad’ and later renamed as ‘Jehanabad’.  When and how the transition from ‘Jehanarabad’ to ‘Jehanabad’ took place is still not known, but it is believed that this was a slow transition that mainly happened after the collapse of Mughal Empire.

Ancient history of Jehanabad

The ancient history of Jehanabad dates back to 3000 years back. One such place happens to be Barabar caves near Makhdumpur village. Barabar caves are world’s oldest surviving caves. These caves were built on the instructions of one of the mighty Mauryan Emperor Ashoka. Once used as residential complexex by Jain munis, follwers of Ajivikas and Buddhist monks, today these caves lie unoccupied and isolated away from the hustle-bustle of the city life.Hence it would not be wrong to say that Jehanabad had a very important role to play in spiritual quest.   

However, Jehanabad’s tryst with religious history doesn’t end here. In the very neighborhood of Barabar caves is Nagarjuni Hill and Kauva Dol Hill which are home to many caves, cravings of Hindu goddesses and ruins of Buddhist monasteries. These two historical sites are again testimony of Jehanabad’s rich religious history, mainly pertaining to Buddhism and Hinduism.

In the end we’d like to conclude that Jehanabad’s history is still an unfinished business. This claim isn’t unrealistic but an undeniable fact. Since many historians still believe that beneath the land of Jehanabad many more secrets of its history are hidden and which are waiting to be excavated. Jehanabad, in other words, is one of those places of India whose history is more than that meets the eye.