Shrirampur Knowledge Guide
History
Shrirampur is quite new as compared to other cities. As the Central Railway (India) Daund-Manmad Line was being laid, a railway station for the village of Belapur (बेलापुर) was built nearly 6 km (3.7 mi) from the place where the station was originally planned. During this period, people (such as Gangaram Dawkhar, the first resident of Shrirampur) started living around the railway station. This area was considered as one of the major producers of sugarcane in the sugarcane belt in the state of Maharashtra. Over 10 to 15 sugarcane industries surrounded the town. People from throughout Maharashtra settled in Shrirampur. After partition, Shrirampur received many migrants from Pakistan, who opted to settle in India. As a result, non-Maharashtrian communities helped to transform this city into a major business center. The rapid growth from the 1960s to the 1980s has slowed.
Culture
Hinduism is the most commonly practiced religion in Shrirampur, but still Mosque, Gurudwara, Jain temples, Church and other religious buildings are also found in the city. The city is been named Shrirampur after the most prominent temple, Ram temple located on Nevasa Road, along with Hanuman's Temple. The Navratri festival is the main attraction in Shrirampur city. The biggest and the oldest Mosque in Shrirampur is "Jama Masjid" Located near the railway station under the bridge. Peoples of all religion celebrate Ramnavami and Sayyed Baba urus together for more than 5 days, in spite of this type of bringing harmony to the social life of Shrirampur, the city had suffered from some riots too. Important Religious buildings of Shrirampur - A very good model of communal and religious harmony is found in Shrirampur. As the name indicates, it is known for Shri Ram Mandir located in the heart of the town. The annual festival for the people is Ramnavami, a celebration of the birth of Bhagwan Shri Ramchandra. At the same time, the Urus (Holy Gathering) of Sayyed Baba is celebrated at Sayyed Baba Dargah Shrine situated in the city. Recently a beautiful minar was built near Jama Masjid. Both these festivals are well attended by people from surrounding places. People from the nearby villages and the town itself come and pray at the temple and shrine during these auspicious days. Fireworks take place on an inaugural day. This is the festival when people come and enjoy themselves. Christian pilgrims in the area visit the village for the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Marathi: Matmauli yatra), celebrated on the second Saturday of September. The Jesuit priest in the village started the celebration in 1949 to help local devotees who could not afford to go to the celebration in Bandra, Mumbai. Nowadays Haregaon is often described as the Pandharpur of the Marathi-speaking Catholics in the state, as nearly 4,00,000 devotees from Ahmednagar, Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad district and Mumbai attend the feast every year. Gangagiri Maharaj Samadhi Sthal - This is a holy place situated at Sarala Bet (an island), just 25.8 km from Shrirampur, which comes under Shrirampur Taluka & Ahmednagar district from 1996. The River Godavari gets divided into 2 streams here and further, it rejoins itself, thus forming a beautiful island. The famous saint Gangagiri Maharaj established here an Ashram years ago. Here all devotees celebrate Punyatithi and Harinaam Saptah every year. Gangagiri Maharaj took Samadhi in 1902. After Gangagiri Maharaj, there were legal heirs, Harigiri, Nathgiri, Someshwargiri, Narayangiri and now from 2009 Mahant Ramgiri Maharaj.