Beed (also spelt Bid) is a city and the administrative headquarters of Beed district in the Marathwada region of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It lies on the banks of the Bindusara River, a tributary of the Godavari, and serves as a market and administrative centre for the surrounding largely agrarian region.
| Country | India |
|---|---|
| State | Maharashtra |
| Region | Marathwada |
| District | Beed |
| Headquarters of | Beed district |
| River | Bindusara |
| Languages | Marathi (official), Urdu, Hindi |
Beed is situated in the southern part of the Marathwada region on the Balaghat plateau, with the Balaghat range running through the district. The Bindusara River flows past the town and is impounded upstream by a small dam that supplies water to the city. The terrain around Beed is generally undulating, with black cotton soil supporting rain-fed agriculture. The region falls in a semi-arid climatic zone and is historically prone to drought.
Beed has a long recorded history and finds mention under several names in medieval sources. The town came under successive ruling powers including the Yadavas of Devagiri, the Delhi Sultanate, the Bahmani Sultanate, the Nizam Shahi dynasty of Ahmadnagar, and the Mughal Empire. From the 18th century until the mid-20th century, Beed was part of the dominions of the Nizam of Hyderabad as a part of the Hyderabad State.
Following the integration of Hyderabad State into the Indian Union in 1948, Beed became part of Hyderabad State of independent India. With the reorganisation of states in 1956, the Marathwada districts including Beed were transferred to the bilingual Bombay State, and on the formation of Maharashtra in 1960, Beed became one of the districts of the new state.
Local civic affairs in the city are administered by the Beed Municipal Council. As the district headquarters, the city houses the offices of the District Collector, the Zilla Parishad, the district court, and other state government departments serving Beed district.
The economy of Beed is largely tied to agriculture and allied activities. Major crops grown in the surrounding region include cotton, sugarcane, jowar (sorghum), bajra (pearl millet), tur (pigeon pea), and soybean. The district is known as a major source of sugarcane harvest labour migrating seasonally to sugar factories elsewhere in Maharashtra. Trade in agricultural produce, retail commerce, and small-scale industry form the urban economic base.
Beed is connected by state highways to Ahmednagar, Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar), Latur, and Solapur. The city is served by the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation through a central bus stand. A long-pending broad-gauge railway line connecting Ahmednagar–Beed–Parli Vaijnath has been under phased construction to bring Beed onto the Indian Railways network.
The city contains several historic monuments reflecting its medieval and Nizam-era past, including the Khandeshwari temple, the Kankaleshwar temple complex set within a tank, the dargahs of Mansoor Shah and Shahenshah Wali, and old mosques from the Bahmani and Mughal periods. Kankaleshwar, a Hemadpanti-style stone temple dedicated to Shiva, is among the better-known heritage sites in the town.
Beed hosts a number of colleges affiliated to Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad, offering courses in arts, science, commerce, education, and law, along with polytechnic and professional institutions and a government district hospital that supports medical training.