One of the oldest cities in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra, Nanded is situated on the north bank of the Godavari River. The Nanda dynasty ruled over Nanded for generations in the 5th and 4th centuries BCE. Nanded was also part of the Maurya Empire under Ashoka (ca. 272 to 231 BCE).
Early mentions of Nanded are found in the Lilacharitra, a treatise written about 700 years ago by Mhaimbhatta. The city was formerly known as Nanditat (Marathi: नंदितट) according to a copper plate inscription found at Vasim. Nanded District and the adjoining areas were ruled over by the Andhrabhrtyas and Satvahanas during the first century AD.
Nanded was the capital of the district of Telangana under Aurangzeb. In 1708, the year following Aurangzeb's death, Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth spiritual leader of the Sikhs, came to Nanded. He proclaimed himself the last living Guru and established the Guru Granth Sahib as the eternal Guru of Sikhism, elevating the reverence of the text to that of a living leader. Around 1835, Maharaja Ranjit Singh's oversaw the construction of a gurudwara at Nanded. Located at the site of Guru Gobind Singh's cremation, the gurudwara is part of the Hazur Sahib..
Nanded became part of the Hyderabad State in 1725 and continued to be part of the Nizam's dominions until 1948. After India gained independence in 1947, the Indian Armed Forces annexed Hyderabad and ended the rule of the Nizam in Operation Polo, making Nanded part of the new Hyderabad State. Nanded being Marathi speaking area, is part of Maharashtra based on India's linguistic state
