Beed

Beed बीड بیڑ
City
Khandoba temple, often regarded as the symbol of the city, stands in the eastern hills.
Beed Location of Beed in Maharashtra
Coordinates: 18°59′N 75°46′E / 18.99°N 75.76°E / 18.99; 75.76Coordinates: 18°59′N 75°46′E / 18.99°N 75.76°E / 18.99; 75.76
Country	India
State	Maharashtra
Region	Marathwada
District	Beed
Founded	13th century CE (Possibly)
Government
• Type	Municipal Council
Area
• Total	8.29 km2 (3.20 sq mi)
Elevation	515 m (1,690 ft)
Population (2011)Largest city of Beed district
• Total	146,709
• Rank	321
• Density	17,697.1/km2 (45,835/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Beedkar
Language
• Official	Marathi, Urdu (unofficial)
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN	431 122
Telephone code	+91-2442
Vehicle registration	MH-23
Sex ratio	933 ♀/♂
Child sex ratio	843 ♀/♂
Literacy	88.56%
Male literacy	94.01%
Female literacy	82.81%
Climate	BSh (Köppen)
Precipitation	666 millimetres (26.2 in)
Avg. summer temperature	40 °C (104 °F)
Avg. winter temperature	15 °C (59 °F)
Website	beed.nic.in

Beed (Marathi:बीड) is a city in central region of Maharashtra state in India. It is the administrative headquarters and the largest city with a population of 146,709 in Beed district. Nearly 36% of the district’s urban population lives in the city alone. It has witnessed 6.1% population growth during 2001 – 2011 decade.

Its official name is Beed, though; Bhir, Bir, Bīr, Bid or Bīd is also seen in official and unofficial usage. Encyclopædia Britannica refer it as Bhir, Encyclopedia Encarta as Bīr and Google Maps as Bir while it is found at World Gazetteer as Bīd.

Beed is a historical city of possibly medieval origin. But the early history is obscure. Historians speculate; based on archaeological remains, that the city might have been founded by the Yadava rulers (1173–1317) of Devagiri (Daulatabad). Beed was a part of the State of Hyderabad (Asaf Jahi Kingdom) of Nizams in British India. Operation Polo, the code name of the Hyderabad "Police Action" was a military operation in September 1948 in which the Indian Armed Forces invaded the State of Hyderabad and overthrew its Nizam, annexing the state into the Indian Union. Beed remained in annexed Hyderabad state until 1956 when it was included in Bombay Presidency. On May 1, 1960 Maharashtra state was created on linguistic basis and Marathi dominant Beed district became part of Maharashtra.

The first historical mention of the city came in the history of Firishta (Tārīkh-e-Firishta تاريخ فرشته) written by famous 17th century Persian-Indian historian Muhammad Qasim Firishta (1560–1620). This can be referred in the famous English translation of this book History of The Rise of Mahomedan Power in India by John Briggs, which has been published several times in India and abroad. Firishta has given modest but valuable information about the city of his time. He has mentioned the famous Kankaleshwar temple in some detail. Qazi Muhammad Qutubullah, a resident and Qazi of Beed wrote a detailed Tārīkh-e-Bīr (تاريخ بير History of Bir) in Urdu in 1898 (1317 Islamic calendar). Copy of this book, now can only be found in the State Archives, Library of Salar Jung Museum and Library of Osmania University. However, the first detailed history of the city Riyāz-ul-Abrār (رياض الأبرار Garden of the Virtuous) was written by Qazi Muhammad Fakhruddin in 1739 (1152 Islamic calendar). Unfortunately this book is now unavailable in the libraries for reference. Qutubullah has quoted this book in his History of Beed and also has acknowledged this book as a source for his history.