Ganj Basoda | |
— town — | |
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Coordinates | |
Country | India |
State | Madhya Pradesh |
District(s) | Vidisha |
Population | 92,358 (2001[update]) |
Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) |
Area |
• 399 metres (1,309 ft) |
Ganj Basoda (Hindi: गंज बासोदा), sometimes simply referred as Basoda, is a municipality in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Ganj Basoda is one of the ten tehsils in Vidisha district.[1]
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The princely state of Basoda was founded as a vassal state of Gwalior in 1753. The rulers belonged to the Kurwai dynasty were titled as Nawab.
Basoda is located at . It has an average elevation of 399 metres (1309 feet). Parasari river devides the town in two part.
Ganj Basoda's economy mainly depends on agriculture and Stone Mines.It has one of biggest Grain Mandi of Asia.It's Sandstone is very popular in foreign countries like UK, Italy etc. Main crops are wheat, gram, lentils, soyabean and ground nuts. Wheat of Ganj Basoda is famous all over the country. Ganj Basoda is also famous for its stone market.Stones mined from Ganj Basoda or near places exported to international market via Kandla port(Gujarat).It has sound trade market and increasing.
Ganj Basoda is a politically sensitive area in Madhya Pradesh. It comes under Vidisha parliamentary constituency. The former prime minister of India, Atal Bihari Bajpayee had fought and won elections from Vidisha. The current Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mr. Shivraj Singh Chauhan was a member of parliament from Vidisha for 3 times. Former President Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma also has some connections with Ganj Basoda. At Present the opposition leader of Parliament Smt. Sushma Swaraj is the M.P. from vidisha constituency.
Udayeshwara Temple is a 11th-century lord Shiva temple located in village Udaipur† of tehsil Basoda. The temple was built by Udayeshvar, brother of Parmar King Bhoj.[2] It is a beautiful example of Indian architecture which resembles Bhojpur temple and Mahamaya temple. It is 13KM from the town of Ganj Basoda, and connected by bus service. Another old Shiva temple is in village Gamaker which is 9 km from Ganj Basoda. A large fair is organised on Shivaratri in both Udaipur and Gamaker. It may not be out of place to mention that of late the name "Basoda" has become rather well known in Urdu literature reading public as its name of the place occurs in the title of the story, "Basodai ke Mariam" by the well known writer Asad Mohammed Khan - the main character Mariam is supposed to be a resident of Ganj Basoda.
† Not to be confused with a city in Indian state of Rajasthan with similar name, see Udaipur
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