Vidarbha's Orange Heart — Amravati is the cultural and educational hub of Maharashtra's Vidarbha region, the Ambadevi Temple is the city's beating spiritual centre, and the surrounding cotton-growing plateau produces the finest long-staple cotton in India
Amravati is the administrative and cultural capital of Vidarbha's western division in Maharashtra — a city on the Citrawati River on the Deccan plateau, surrounded by some of the most fertile black cotton soil (regur) in India. The Vidarbha region's Santra (mandarin orange) production around Amravati makes it the orange-growing capital of India: the local mandarins are small, intensely fragrant, and peelable by hand, and the Amravati orange market in winter (November–February) is one of the most remarkable agricultural markets in the country. The Ambadevi Temple (dedicated to the goddess Amba…
Amravati lies within the ancient Vidarbha Kingdom mentioned in the Mahabharata — the region where the Naga kingdom of Vidarbha was situated, and where Damayanti (of the Nala-Damayanti love story in the Mahabharata) was a princess. The city grew as a cotton-trading centre under the Nizam of Hyderabad and later the British Central Provinces. The Berar region (of which Amravati was the capital) was historically the most contested territory between the Nizams of Hyderabad and the British East India Company — its fertile cotton plains made it economically crucial. Amravati was the birthplace of Ba…