Solapur district's history page traces its name and its rulers

Background

Solapur district's official history page records that the region was ruled successively by the Andhrabhratyas, Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas, Yadavas and Bahamanis. The name 'Solapur' is popularly believed to derive from 'Sola' (sixteen) and 'Pur' (village), from a tradition that the present city grew out of sixteen villages. The page notes that inscriptions from different periods referred to the town variously as 'Sonnalage', 'Sonnalagi', 'Sonalipur' and 'Sandalpur', and that British rulers pronounced it 'Sholapur'. It further records that the present Solapur district was earlier part of the Ahmednagar, Pune and Satara districts, becoming a sub-district of Ahmednagar in 1838.