Gaganbawada
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Gaganbawada गगनबावडा |
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|---|---|
| town | |
gagangad
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 Gaganbawada
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| Coordinates: 16°32′45″N 73°49′52″E / 16.5457904°N 73.8311296°ECoordinates: 16°32′45″N 73°49′52″E / 16.5457904°N 73.8311296°E | |
| Country |
 India
|
| State | Maharashtra |
| District | Kolhapur |
| Named for | gagan means sky.literally means sky touching town. |
| Government | |
| • Type | Panchayat Raj |
| • Body | Gram Panchayat |
| Population (2001) | |
| • Total | 4,000 |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Marathi |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+5:30) |
| Telephone code | 02326 |
| Vehicle registration | MH-09 |
| Nearest city | Kolhapur/Kankavali/Rajapur |
| Civic agency | Gram Panchayat |
| Climate | Cool, Heavy rainfall area (Köppen) |
Gaganbawda is a town situated in the district of Kolhapur in Maharashtra, India. It is located 55 km by road from Kolhapur. It is the taluka headquarters.
Gaganbawda is situated on the sahyadri range or the western ghats also has a very famous fort Gagangad near it. Gaganbawada, though only 55 km from Kolhapur, is non developed and hilly area of the district. Gaganbawada gets the maximum rainfall during rainy season. Gaganbawada is on threshold of famous Karul Ghat & Bhuibawada Ghat. Perhaps the only place having two ghats originating at a single place but going towards different directions, one towards Talere-Kankavali (Karul Ghat) and another towards Kharepatan-Rajapur (Bhuibawada Ghat). The Kolhapur district boundary ends immediately after Gaganbawada and Sindhudurg District starts just at the beginning of Karul Ghat and Bhuibawada Ghat. From Gaganbawada bus stand, road to the left will take one to the Karul Ghat and road to the right will take you to the Bhuibawada Ghat. The Karul Ghat starts immediately after Gaganbawada village (1 km from bus stand). Karul Ghat goes towards Northern part of Sindhudurg District. Tha quality of road is good. Length of Karul Ghat is 11 km. The entire ghat comes under the administration of Vaibhavwadi Tehsil of Sindhudurg. This ghat is beautiful and very scenic in monsoon. This ghat ends just before Vaibhavwadi and the state highway ends at Talere village (NH 17). The other ghat called Bhuibawada Ghat starts at the right turn from Gaganbawada Bus stand. This entire ghat also comes in Vaibhavwadi Tehsil of Sindhudurg. The ghat is of 10 km length with medium quality road and useful for people going towards southern part of Ratnagiri District's Rajapur area. This ghat ends at Bhuibawada and this road will further take one to Kharepatan Town (NH 17).
Looking back into history, Gaganbawada used to be called Bawada Mahal and comprise the current Gaganbawada tehsil of Kolhapur district and the current entire tehsil of Vaibhavwadi of Sindhudurg district. In 1981, Sindhudurg became the independent district. The entire Vaibhavwadi area which used to be a part of Gaganbawada Tehsil was at the foothills of Sahyadri and it was very tedious for people living at the foothills to come to Gaganbawaba for their daily needs. So the portion of Sahyadri foothills was separated from Gaganbawada tehsil of Kolhapur District and joined to the Sindhudurg District. At that time the villages called Vaibhavwadi, Karul, Bhuibawada, Umbarde, Tithavali, Achirne, etc. became a part of Sindhudurg district and Vaibhavwadi became the tehsil headquarters. Now the funny thing is The Gagangiri Ashram and fort is only 1 km from Gaganbawada of Kolhapur district above Sahyadri range but geographically it is a part of Vaibhavwadi Tehsil of Sindhudurg district which is at the foothills of Sahyadri range.
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