Lying east of Mumbai in Maharashtra state, Aurangabad is a city that too often gets forgotten by foreign tourists in favour of its much larger neighbour. For Indians though, the city is a well known and frequently visited destination. Mixing historical attractions like the Daulatabad with a number of naturally formed sites such as the Ajanta and Ellora caves, Aurangabad is a central Indian city that offers a worthwhile diversion from Mumbai without the crowds.

Although tourism is among the city’s main earners, Aurangabad has flourished as a business centre for a long time prior to India’s current economic surge. For 400 years, the city has been situated on a major trading route, making the most of its position to manufacture and sell its wares, predominantly fabrics.

Today that tradition has continued, with Aurangabad still a major producer and multinational companies showing a willingness to set up shop here. Pepsi, Siemens and Colgate & Palmolive have all established factories in the town, and if ever you needed proof that former bastions of communism have been swallowed whole by globalisation then look no farther than Aurangabad. Formerly an eastern bloc favourite, Czech car manufacturer Skoda has even immigrated here.

At an elevation just over 500 metres above sea level, Aurangabad remains a little cooler than other low-lying towns in the area but not by much. The city still endures the harsh cycle of Indian weather that means torrential rain for nearly half the year and sweltering 40˚C heat for much of the rest.

With more than one million inhabitants, Aurangabad certainly is nowhere near the largest city in the country but it is still a major urban centre with its own domestic airport and even its own life-sized replica of India’s most famous monument – the Taj Mahal.

To the untrained eye, Bibika Maqbara looks exactly like its more illustrious northern competitor but in truth Aurangabad’s monument is different in that it comes from a later era of the Mughal rulers; even if like the Taj, it was built in honour of a woman – in this case the mother of Prince Azan Shah, Dilras Bano Begam – at the end of the 1600s. Historians consider Bibika a less ostentatious version of the Taj Mahal – a fitting description perhaps of the whole of Aurangabad.

This is a destination that won’t jump out of your guide book like Delhi and Varanasi; instead it’s an understated destination with plenty to reveal for those foreign tourists prepared to do a little exploration away from India’s well-worn tourist circuit.

While the area around Aurangabad has been settled for many centuries, it is only in the past 400 years that this settlement has been established as a large population centre. Prior to the 1600s, Aurangabad was known as Kirki, a small village in the central hilly area of the country a few hundred kilometres east of the Arabian Sea.

However, like many parts of India, Aurangabad’s fortunes changed as the result of a highly unlikely source – an Ethiopian slave by the name of Malik Ambar. After showing his military prowess and ability to hold sway farther south in India, in the Deccan region, Malik Ambar turned his attention to Kirki, transforming the settlement into an increasingly important city by 1610.

The name of the city was changed at this time to Fatehpura, which translates to ‘City of Victory’. Although there is no evidence to suggest great battles were fought and won here, economically the new city was a winner. Situated between the influential Deccan region in south central India and the west Arabian Sea coast, Aurangabad was well placed right in the middle of an increasingly strong trade route.

In 1634, the city received a visitor who was, much like Malik Ambar, destined to hold great sway in the India of the time. Known as Aurangzeb, he was a governor under the Deccan system. He only stayed for 10 years before heading to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal, to further his career as a politician. In 1681, Aurangzeb returned to the city as the new Mughal emperor, establishing Aurangabad as a military centre from which to launch campaigns against remaining areas outside of the Deccan sphere of influence. This strategy saw his empire extended to all areas of the south before his death in 1707. Aurangabad was so named in the emperor’s honour and his body laid to rest in Khultabad, just outside the city.

This period proved to be the height of Aurangabad’s influence in the region, although today the city remains an important component in the economic development of the area, attracting significant foreign investment.

As with any area of India outside of the Himalayan region, Aurangabad is best visited during the short winter from the end of November to the beginning of February. At this time of year, temperatures often drop below 10˚C, offering respite from the sun and chilly conditions at night.

By the end of February, the city begins to heat up as the days get longer and the sun hotter. March and April mark the beginnings of the hot season here, with temperatures on average reaching close to 30˚C. May is generally the hottest month of the year. It’s a dry heat that can get to around 40˚C as India turns into a cauldron prior to the onset of the annual monsoon.

The rains typically hit Aurangabad around mid-June as temperatures stay high and the air gets a little stickier. The wet season, which lasts until September, sees an average total of more than 700mm of rain a year in Aurangabad. The end of September marks the return of the dry weather and a slow dropping of temperatures, although this can still be a very hot part of the year. Usually by October, the sun becomes a little less fierce, which makes this a good time to visit as winter begins to set in.