Jabalpur

Jabalpur is a beautiful city, located in the Mahakoshal region in the geographic center of India. Jabalpur is one of the largest cities in Madhya Pradesh. Jabalpur stands 120 in term of the fastest growing cities and urban areas in the world in 2006.Jabalpur city consists of Jabalpur Municipal Corporation, Jabalpur Cantonment, Khamaria township and Panagar Municipal Board.

Jabalpur is the first district in India to have obtained the comprehensive ISO-9001 certificate. This has come into force from April 1, 2007. Jabalpur also houses the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

It is known as the judicial capital of Madhya Pradesh. The principal seat of the Madhya Pradesh High Court is in Jabalpur. The numerous gorges in the neighboring rocks surround the city with a series of lakes, which are shaded by trees and add much greenery to the suburbs.

However, many of these lakes now have been encroached upon for the purpose of fishing or for building works, although the greenery still exists. The city itself dates from the nineteenth century. It has a beautiful collection of Marble Rocks called Bhedaghat bordering the holy Narmada River.

Many visitors every year come to visit Jabalpur because of this major attraction. Jabalpur is zonal headquarters for the western central division of Indian railways. Jabalpur has a big Defence and Military Centre - HQ of the MPBO Area, the headquarters of West Central Railway Zone, the Madhya Pradesh State Electricity Board, and the Madhya Pradesh High Courts.[6] It is also known for housing spiritual leaders like Maharishi Mahesh Yogi of Transcendental Meditation and Bhagwan Rajneesh.

The name of the city Jabalpur comes from a combination of the Arabic word Jabal= Mountain and the Sanskrit word Pura = city. Jabal is also the root word in the name of Gibraltar which was originally called Jebel al Tariq (Tariq’s Mountain). It is believed that Jabalpur is the tapasya bhumi of a mythological figure known as sage Jabalie, from whom the name ‘Jabali-pattan’ is derived.

Ashokan relics have been found. Later on it was the capital of the famous Tripuri kingdom in the (9th–10th centuries):- In AD 875, it was taken over by the Kalachuri dynasty who made Jabalpur their capital. In the 13th century, the Gonds seized it and made it their capital.

Inscriptions record the existence during the 11th and 12th centuries of a local line of princes of the Haihai people who are closely connected with the history of Gondwana.