Malavli (Marathi: मळवली) is a town and a hill station in

Pune district Pune district (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, uɳeː is the most populous district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The district's population was 9,429,408 in the 2011 census, making it the fourth most populous district amongst I ...

in the Indian state of

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

. It is about 55 km away from the city of

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

, 139 km away from the city

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

and 39 km from

Chinchwad Chinchwad is an upscale, affluent locality in the city of Pune, India. The neighbourhood is home to extensive industry and is well known for its automotive, pharmaceutical, electrical, cons. products, electronics & hardware, aerospace and manuf ...

. It is a major stop on the rail line connecting

and Pune. For Mumbai suburbs local trains are available from

Karjat Karjat (Pronunciation: əɾd͡zət̪ is a city administered under a Municipal Council in Raigad district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is served by Karjat railway station. Karjat forms a part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Karja ...

. It is also an important town in order of

Lonavla Lonavala (ISO: Loṇāvaḷā) is a hill station town and a Municipal Council in the Pune district, Maharashtra, India. It is about west of Pune and to the east of Mumbai. It is known for its production of the hard candy ''chikki'' and is also ...

Khandala Khandala is a hill station in the Western Ghats in the state of Maharashtra, India, about from Lonavala, 12 kilometres from Khopoli and from Karjat. Khandala is located at the top end of the Bhor Ghat, a major ''ghat'' (meaning valley in ...

Malavli on the Mumbai-Pune road link. Both the Mumbai-Pune Expressway as well as the Mumbai-Pune highway pass through Malavli, Lonavla. The population of Lonavla is around 10,000 as of 2010.

History

Present day Malavli was a part of the

Yadava Empire The Seuna, Sevuna, or Yadavas of Devagiri (IAST: Seuṇa, –1317) was a Medieval Indian dynasty, which at its peak ruled a kingdom stretching from the Narmada river in the north to the Tungabhadra river in the south, in the western part of t ...

. Later, the

Mughals The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

realized the strategic importance of the region and kept the region for an extended time. The forts in the region and the Mavla warriors played an important role in the history of the

Maratha The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...

and Peshwa empires. In 1871, the Lonavla and Khandala hill stations were discovered by

Lord Elphinstone Lord Elphinstone is a title in the Peerage of Scotland created by King James IV in 1510. History The title of Lord Elphinstone was granted by King James IV in 1510 to Sir Alexander Elphinstone of Elphinstone, who was killed at the Battle of ...

, who was the Governor of

Bombay Presidency The Bombay Presidency or Bombay Province, also called Bombay and Sind (1843–1936), was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India, with its capital in the city that came up over the seven islands of Bombay. The first mainl ...

during those times.

Tourism

Lonavla Khandala and Malavli are

hill stations A hill station is a town located at a higher elevation than the nearby plain or valley. The term was used mostly in colonial Asia (particularly in India), but also in Africa (albeit rarely), for towns founded by European colonialists as refuges ...

, in the Sahyadri ranges that demarcate the Deccan Plateau and the Konkan coast. The name Lonavla is derived from the Sanskrit lonavli, which refers to the many caves like Karla Caves, Bhaja Caves and Bedsa that are close to Lonavla. A trip to Malavli combined with sight-seeing visits of Karla, Bhaja and Bedsa caves and also the two fortresses, Lohagad and Visapur.

Transport

By road: Malavli is situated on the halfway of Mumbai-Pune Expressway and is well connected to several other towns of Khopoli, Karjat, Talegaon dhabade, etc. By Air: Lonavla has its own airport used by Indian Air Force on the way to Aamby Valley city. Nearest commercial airports are Pune at 59 km and Mumbai at 109 km

References

{{reflist * "Karka and Bhaja Caves". Retrieved 2007-03-14.

External links

Article on Western Indian Caves, including Bhaja
Cities and towns in Pune district

History

Tourism

Transport

See also

References

External links