Ahmedabad Foundation Day – Ahmedabad Sthapana Divas: 26 February

26 February: Happy Birth Day Ahmedabad

All You Need To Know about Ahmedabad Foundation Day – Ahmedabad Sthapana Divas.

Ahmedabad (Amdavad) is the largest city & former capital of Indian state Gujarat. 606 years ago Ahmed Shah Badshah initiated the construction of our heritage city Ahmedabad.

It begun on 26^th February 1411 exactly. Therefore, today we are celebrating the 606^th birthday of Ahmedabad.

Ahmedabad is the seat of the Gujarat High Court and the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district. As per 2011 serve Ahmedabad is the 5^th most populous city in India with the population of 5,633,927. 

Ahmedabad is located on the Sabarmati riverbank. Length of it is 23km (14mi) from the state capital Gandhinagar. Gandhinager is its twin city.

In India Ahmedabad is an important economic & industrial hub. At that time, it was the second largest producer of cotton in India. That is why it was known as ‘Manchester of India’.

After 606 prosperous years, Ahmedabad has evolved as one of the fastest growing cities in the world.

It has a managed to keep medieval heritage alive. The land of Gandhi & Sardar is a foremost example of modern and medieval thriving together.

Ahmedabad has emerged as an important industrial & economic hub. In Ahmedabad cricket is a popular sport.

A newly built Narendra Modi Stadium at Motera is the largest cricket stadium in the world & second largest stadium overall. This stadium can accommodate 110,000 spectators.

Ahmedabad was ranked third in Forbes’s list as fastest growing cities of the decade in 2010. The Times of India choose Ahmedabad as India’s best city to live in 2012.

Under Government of India’s flagship Smart Cities Mission, Ahmedabad was selected as one of the hundred Indian cities to be developed as smart city.

The Historic City of Ahmedabad or Old Ahmedabad was declared as India’s first UNESCO World Heritage City in July 2017.

Early in the history of Ahmedabad under Ahmed Shah, builders combined Hindu craftsmanship with Persian architecture, giving rise to the Indo-Saracenic style.

Famous Sidi Saiyyed Mosque was built in the last year of the Sultanate of Gujarat. That is a very beautiful stone latticework windows or jali on the side and rear arches. Pole was the typical housing Custer of Old Ahmedabad.

Law garden, Victoria garden & Bal Vatika were the most visited garden of the city. Among them Law Garden was named after the Law College nearby.

At the same time Victoria Garden was on the name of queen Victoria with a statue of queen inside the garden.

Bal Vatika is a children park on the ground of Kankaria Lake. Now Parimal Garden, Usmanpura Garden, Prahlad Nagar Garden & Lal Darwaja Garden are also developed.
Kankaria lake was built in 1451 AD and the Kankaria Lake is one of the biggest lakes in Ahmedabad.

In 2010, another 34 lakes were planned in & around Ahmedabad. Among them five had to developed by AMC & another 29 had to developed by the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA).

Ahmedabad is the administrative headquarters of Ahmedabad district; it is administrated by AMC (Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation).

AMC was established in July 1950. Ahmedabad city is divided into six zones constituting 64 wards.

Ahmedabad district is divided into a number of talukas including Ahmedabad taluka (administrative divisions) Dhandhuka, Dholka, Sanand, Bavla, Detroj, Viramgam, Barwala, Ranpur, Mandal, and Daskroi.

Ahmedabad observes many festivals like Uttrayan Kite flying day), Navratri (9 nights of Garba), Deepavli (festival of light) Rath Yatra, Holi, Tajia and many more.

Gujarati thali is one of the most popular meals in Ahmedabad. In 1900, Chandvilas hotel started to serve it commercially.

It consists of roti (Chapati), dal, rice and shaak (cooked vegetables, sometimes with curry), pickles and roasted papads.

Sweet dishes include laddoo, mango, and vedhmi and many more. Dhoklas, theplas and dhebras are also very popular dishes in Ahmedabad.

Beverages include buttermilk and tea. Drinking alcohol is ban in Ahmedabad. Now, many restaurants are serving Indian & international cuisines.

Most outlets are serving vegetarian food. Because a strong tradition of vegetarianism is maintained by Jain and Hindu communities in the city. 

First all-vegetarian Pizza Hut in the world opened in Ahmedabad. Even KFC has a separate staff uniform for serving vegetarian items and prepares vegetarian food in a separate kitchen, same in McDonald’s.

Very popular Manek Chowk is an open square near the centre of the city that functions as a vegetable market in the morning and a jewellery market in the afternoon.

It is named after Hindu saint Baba Maneknath. This place is famous for night food stalls.

There are three libraries for promotion of Gujarati literature: Gujarat Vidhya Sabha, Gujarati Sahitya Parishad and Gujarat Sahitya Sabha. Saptak School of Music festival is held in the first week of the New Year in Ahmedabad.

Ravi Shankar inaugurated this event. Sanskar Kendra is one of the several buildings in Ahmedabad designed by Le Corbusier.

In 2001, Ahmedabad had a literacy rate of 89% & it rose to 89.62% in 2011.
Gujarat University is the largest & oldest; Mahatma Gandhi established the Gujarat Vidyapith in 1920.

A large number of colleges in the city are affiliated with Gujarat University. Now Gujarat Technological University, CEPT University, Nirma University, and Ahmedabad University are also available.

Ahmedabad is home to the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. In 2018, the Ministry of Human Resource Development ranked it first among management institutes in the country.

Physical Research Laboratory is active in space science, astronomy, high-energy physics and other areas of research.

The scientist Vikram Sarabhai established it in 1947. Mrunalini Sarabhai established the Darpan Academy of performing Arts.

It was listed by UNESCO as an institution active in the “Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage”.