Jabalpur

Jabalpur (IPA: [d͡ʒəbəlpʊɾ]), formerly Jubbulpore, is a city situated on the banks of Narmada River in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is the 3rd-largest urban agglomeration of the state and the 38th-largest of the country. Jabalpur is the administrative headquarters of the Jabalpur district and the Jabalpur division. It is the judicial capital of Madhya Pradesh with Madhya Pradesh High Court being located in the city.

It is generally accepted that the game of snooker originated in Jabalpur. Jabalpur is also the railway headquarters of the West Central Railway. Jabalpur Cantonment is one of the largest cantonments in India and houses the army headquarters of five states (Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand). The city is renowned for the Marble Rocks at Bhedaghat, an 8 km gorge sculpted entirely from pure marble by the ferocious Narmada River, as it descends from the Dhuandhar Falls boasting a rare status of being one of only three such gorges in the world, alongside Taroko Gorge in Taiwan and Trigrad Gorge in Bulgaria.

Jabalpur holds the distinction of being the first dinosaur fossil discovery site in Asia in 1828 near Bara Simla Hill by British officer William Henry Sleeman, with later finds in the region including dinosaur eggshells and fossils from species like Titanosaurus and Rajasaurus. It is also known as 'Sanskardhani' meaning 'The Cultural Capital' highlighting the city's rich cultural and historical heritage.

According to a prevalent theory, Jabalpur was named after a sage named Jabali, who meditated on the banks of the Narmada river. Another theory suggests an Arabic origin of the word since jabal (جبل) in Arabic means granite boulders or huge boulders, which were common in the region. According to a fringe theory, the name refers to Jauli Pattala, a sub-divisional unit, mentioned in Kalachuri inscriptions. Jauli also refers to the Huna queen of the Kalachuri king, Karna. It was spelled as Jubbulpore during British rule

In 2006, the Jabalpur Municipal Corporation renamed the city to Jabalpur.

Mythology describes three Asuras (evil spirits) in the Jabalpur region, who were defeated by the Hindu god Shiva. Tripurasura being the main asura, gave the city its puranic name Tripur Tirth. Tripuri region corresponds to the ancient Chedi Kingdom of Mahabharata times, to which king Shishupala belongs.

Ashokan relics dating to 300 BCE have been found in Rupnath, 84 kilometres (52 mi) north of the city, indicating the presence of the Mauryan Empire (322 to 185 BCE) in the region. When the empire fell, Jabalpur became a city-state before coming under the rule of the Satavahana dynasty (230 BCE to 220 CE). After their reign, the region was ruled locally by the Bodhis and the Senas, following which it became a vassal state of the Gupta Empire (320 to 550).

The region was conquered by the Kalachuri Dynasty in 875 CE. The best known Kalachuri ruler was Yuvaraja-Deva I (r. 915–945), who married Nohla Devi (a princess of the Chalukya dynasty). One of the Kalachuri ministers, Golok Simha Kayastha, was instrumental in founding the Chausath Yogini Temple near Bhedaghat. His descendants include Bhoj Simha, who was the Dewan to the Gond king Sangram Shah (1491–1543); Dewan Aadhar Singh Kayastha, who was the prime minister to Rani Durgavati (r. 1550–1564), and Beohar Raghuvir Sinha, the last Jagirdar of Jabalpur who reigned until 1947.^{[citation needed]}