Solapur District

Solapur District is a district in Maharashtra state of India. The city of Solapur is the district headquarters. It is located on the south east edge of the state and lies entirely in the Bhima and Seena basins. The entire district is drained by the Bhima River.

Solapur district leads in beedi production. Kundalsangam, Karmala and Barshi have adopted the path of development through industry and education. Akkalkot also has mallikarjun temple where many lingayat devotees worship daily.

Solapur is an ancient historical and religious place with Shri Siddharameshwar as its "Gramadaiwata". Shri Siddharameshwar was a historical figure of the 12th century whose "Karmayoga" on his own native land-Solapur, turned him into a God-figure over the course of time. Siddharama was a great conributor to Lingayata religion and he is considered as one of the six prophets of Lingayat religion. He had gained the "Siddhi". As Solapur was a drought prone area, Shri Siddharameshwar dug a lake with the help of 4000 "Sharanas" to solve the problem of potable water. He entombed himself alive (Shivyogsamadhi) at Solapur.

During the Indian independence movement, the people of Solapur enjoyed full freedom on 9th, 10 and 11 May 1930. However, this resulted in the executions of Shri Mallappa Dhanshetti, Shri Kurban Hussein, Shri Jagannath Shinde and Shri Kisan Sarda who were hanged on 12 January 1931, in the prison at Pune. This resulted in the city becoming recognized as "The City of Hutatmas".

The presiding deity of Maharashtra, Lord Vitthal is at Pandharpur in this district. Swami Samarth of Akkalkot has followers from all walks of life. Solapur is famous as a textile town, especially owing to its talented weavers’ community, and is an important railway junction on the North-South train line.