Sholapur

/shoh"leuh poor'/, n.

a city in S Maharashtra in SW India. 398,122.

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▪ India

      town, administrative headquarters of Sholāpur district, Mahārāshtra state, western India, on the Sīna River. In early centuries the town belonged to the Hindu Cālukyas and Devagiri Yādavas but later became part of the Bahmanī and Bijāpur kingdoms. Located on major road and rail routes between Pune (Poona) and Hyderābād with branch lines to the south, the town developed as a commercial centre for cotton and agricultural produce. It is also an industrial centre, second only to Bombay as a cotton textile centre. There are ruins of the old Muslim fort.

      Sholāpur district (5,800 sq mi [15,021 sq km]) comprises a low, undulating plateau with no major hills. The Bhīma River (tributary of the Krishna) and two major tributaries—the Nīra and Sīna—drain the district. Most of the population is engaged in agriculture, but uncertain rainfall causes occasional famine. Wheat, millet, and cotton are the principal crops; sugarcane is grown under irrigation. Cigarette and oil-cake manufacture and handloom weaving are the major industries. Pandharpur is an important religious centre. Pop. (1981) town, 511,103; metropolitan area, 514,860; district, 2,610,144.

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