Jabalpur often called as Sanskaardhaani is one of the major cities of india situated in the Mahakaushal region of state of Madhya Pradesh in India. It is the largest urban agglomeration in Madhya Pradesh and the 38th largest urban agglomeration in India as per the 2011 census statistics.[1]
It is bordered by Katni to the north, Umaria to the north-east, Dindori to the east, Mandla to the south-ea
st, Seoni to the south, Narsimhapur to the south-west and Damoh to the north-west. Jabalpur is the administrative headquarters of Jabalpur district (the second most populous district of Madhya Pradesh) and Jabalpur division. Geographically an important place,[2] the ruling Gond dynasty of Jabalpur lent its name to the primordial continental mass Gondwanaland.[2] Historically, a center of Kalchuri and Gond dynasties, Jabalpur developed a syncretic culture influenced by the intermittent reigns of the Maratha and Mughal empires. In the early nineteenth century, it was gradually annexed in British India as Jubbulpore and incorporated as a major cantonment town. Jabalpur was also the epicenter of a major earthquake in 1997. The geographic centre of India is located 30 km east of Jabalpur in Katangi village.[citation needed] Jabalpur is known for its picturesque marble rock formations (Bhedaghat) across the banks of the river Narmada. Being the army headquarters of five states (Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand), one sixth of the city is occupied by the Indian Army. Jabalpur is the birthplace of snooker, a historic heart of Hindi literature movement and a prominent regional education hub. It is also a major cultural-spiritual center being the birthplace of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Osho Rajneesh, the painter who illustrated Constitution of India and the site of important Jain shrines. These factors lie behind the oft-quoted city's moniker Sanskaardhaani (Hindi: संस्कारधानी) or the Cultural-Capital. Several important federal and state institutions are located in Jabalpur including the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Madhya Pradesh Electricity Board, Tropical Forest Research Institute, several ordinance factories and West Central Railway zonal headquarters.
