Early history It is believed that Yavatmal, along with the rest of the former
Berar province, was part of the legendary kingdom of
Vidarbha mentioned in the
Mahabharata. Berar also formed part of the
Mauryan Empire during the reign of
Ashoka (272 to 231 BCE). Berar later came under the rule of the
Satavahana dynasty ( to ), the
Vakataka dynasty (3rd to 6th centuries), the
Chalukya dynasty (6th to 8th centuries), the
Rashtrakuta dynasty (8th to 10th centuries), the
Western Chalukya (10th to 12th centuries), and finally the
Yadava dynasty of
Devagiri (late 12th to early 14th centuries).
Medieval history A period of
Muslim rule began when
Ala ud din Khilji,
Sultan of Delhi, conquered the region in the early 14th century. The region was part of the
Bahmani Sultanate, which broke away from the Delhi Sultanate in the mid-14th century. The Bahmani Sultanate broke into smaller sultanates at the end of the 15th century, and in 1572 Berar became part of the
Nizam Shahi sultanate, based at
Ahmednagar. The Nizam Shahis ceded Berar to the
Mughal Empire in 1595. As Mughal rule started to unravel at the start of the 18th century,
Asaf Jah I,
Nizam of
Hyderabad, seized the southern provinces of the empire (including Berar) in 1724, forming an independent state. A detailed account of
Berar was added to the
Ain-i-Akbari in 1596–97, immediately after the treaty of Ahmadnagar under which the province was ceded to the Mughal Empire; this account may be regarded as a description of the province as it was administered by the Nizam Shahi and Imad Shahi kings, and probably also by the Bahamani Sultans. The account notes that Berar was divided into thirteen sarkars or revenue districts. The Yavatmal district comprised the greater part of Akbar's sarkars of Kalam and Mahur. But some few mahals of these sarkars lay beyond the present limits of the district. Yavatmal appears in the record as the headquarters of a pargana under the name of Yot-Lohara –
Yot being the Urdu or Persian corruption of
Yevata, the original name of the town; and
Lohara the name of a village about to the west of Yavatmal. The suffix
mal is a corruption of
mahal (pargana-town). A rough estimate makes the land revenue demand in Akbar's time for the area now occupied by the district more than ten lakhs (one million) rupees, while it is certain that collection must have fallen far short of the nominal demand.
British colonial period In 1853 the East Berar district, together with the rest of Berar, came under the administration of the
British East India Company. After the
Indian Rebellion of 1857, Hingoli and its adjoining areas were restored to the Nizam and the province was reconstituted into two districts, East Berar with its headquarters at
Amraoti, and West Berar with its headquarters at
Akola. In 1864, British divided the East Berar into two districts: Amraoti (Amravati) and Southeast Berar (which was first renamed as Wun district and then in 1905, Yeotmal district), with headquarters at
Yeotmal. In 1867,
Ellichpur District was also carved out of Amraoti. == Geography ==