Nagpur - Culture and Places of Interest

Culture and Places of Interest

The city contains people from other Indian states as well as people belonging to the world's major faiths, and yet is known for staying calm during communal conflicts in India. Nagpur plays host to cultural events throughout the year. Cultural and literary societies in Nagpur include Vidarbha Sahitya Sangh (for development of Marathi), Vidarbha Rashtrabhasha Prachar Samiti (promotion and spreading Hindi) and Vidarbha Hindi Sahitya Sammelan (for promoting Hindi). Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, the conference on Marathi Literature were held twice in Nagpur city. The South Central Cultural Centre also sponsors cultural events in Nagpur city, such as the Orange City Craft Mela and Folk Dance Festival, Vidarbhawhich is noted for its numerous folk-dances. Nagpur is a head office of Aadim Sanvidhan Sanrakshan Samiti(working for the rights of scheduled tribes). Newspapers are published from Nagpur in Marathi, English and Hindi. In addition, the Government of Maharashtra organises a week long Kalidas Festival, a series of music and dance performances, by national level artists.

The Hitavada is one of the oldest and largest circulated English daily newspapers published in central India. The Nagpur Central Museum (estb. 1863) maintains collections are mainly for Vidarbha region. Another daily Tarun Bharat is a Marathi language daily published in Nagpur since 1948 AD by NarKesari publication, Ramdaspeth. Lokmat, the largest circulated Marathi daily of the World published from and headquartered at Lokmat Bhawan, Ramdaspeth, Nagpur, was started by Late Sri Jawaharlal Darda and publishes in 3 languages- Lokmat Times-English daily, Lokmat Samachar-Hindi daily and Lokmat-Marathi daily. The Times of India, The Economic Times, Dainik Bhaskar, Maharashtra Times, Navabharat, Sakal, Loksatta and Deshonatti are the other dailies published from Nagpur. There are 5 FM stations operating from Nagpur : Radio Mirchi, My FM. Radio City, Red FM, All India Radio

Three brothers Ghulam Ali (Kotwal), Mohammad Saaduddin (Subedar) and Mohammad Saladuddin (Minister and Kotwal) from Jhajjar are remembered as great scholars of Urdu and Persian during the reign of Maharaja Senasaheb Subha Chhatrapati Raghuji Bapusaheb Bhonsle III. They founded 'Jhajjar Bagh' at Hansapuri (Now Mominpura). In this location, they built their residence 'Aina-e Mahal', a well and a Masjid (now Masjid Ahle Hadith). 'Jhajjar Bagh' also known as 'Subedar ka Bada' was located where nowadays Mohammad Ali Road at Mominpura, Jamia Masjid, Mohammad Ali Sarai and Furqania Madrasa are located.

The Raman Science Centre promotes scientific knowledge and has a 133 seat planetarium. The present day Maharajbagh zoo was originally a garden developed by the Bhonsle rulers. The state government has approved a new safari park of international standards besides Gorewada Lake.

Deekshabhoomi, the largest hollow stupa or the largest dome shape monument and an important place of dalit buddhist movement, is located in Nagpur. Every year on the day of Vijayadashmi i.e. Dasehara, followers of Ambedkar visit deekshabhoomi. The 14 April, which is birth date of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar is celebrated. The most famous Temple in Nagpur is Tekdi Ganesh Mandir, and is said to be one of the Swayambhu (means Self-Manifested) temple in city. Sri Poddareshwar Ram Mandir and Shri Mahalaxmi Devi temple of Koradi are important Hindu temples. Religious events are observed in the city throughout the year. Ram Navami is celebrated in Nagpur with shobha yatra with a procession of floats depicting events from the Ramayana. Processions are also held on important festivals of other religions such as Dharma chakra privartan din, Vijayadashami, Eid E Milad, Guru Nanak Jayanti, Mahavir Jayanti, Durga puja, Ganesh Chaturthi and Moharram. Like the rest of India, Nagpurkars celebrate major Hindu festivals like Diwali, Holi and Dussera with enthusiasm. Celebrations lasting for several days are held on Ganesh Chaturthi and Durga Puja festivals in virtually every small locality in the city. The city also contains a sizeable Muslim population, and famous places of worship for Muslims include the Jama Masjid-Mominpura and Bohri Jamatkhana-Itwari.The most famous Dargah of Hazrat Tajoddin Baba at Taj Baug.The St. Francis De Sales Cathedral is located in Sadar as well as the All Saints Cathedral church.

The Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground (VCA) in Nagpur is one of the nine test venues in the country. A new stadium of VCA called Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium has been built on Wardha road with a seating capacity of 45,000 people at cost of 75 crore (US$13.65 million) and was one of the venues for the 2011 Cricket World Cup.Nagpur have one more cricket stadium named as VCA, Civil Lines which also hosted international matches.Thus Nagpur is one of the few cities, having more than one international cricket stadium in India.