Katol is a city and a municipal council in Nagpur district of Maharashtra state, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Katol taluka, one of the 14 talukas of this district. Being located in orange belt it is a major centre for orange trading. Mythology In Dvapara Yuga, during the reign of Raja Chandrahasa, Katol's name was Kuntalapur. Katol is also mentioned in the Ashwamedh canto of the Mahabharat as Kuntalapur. Katol is the location of two of the Hemadpanthi temples, Maa Chandika and Maa Saraswati, which are said to date from the days of Rawan and to have been built in one night by his demons. The mud fort dates from the time of the Gond dynasty. Geography and climate Katol is located at . It has an average elevation of 417 metres (1368 ft). Katol is approximately 56 km to the west of Nagpur, with which it is connected by a road of fair quality that also passes through the town of Kalmeshwar, 18 km from Nagpur. The town now includes the large adjoining village of Peth Budhwar, which lies on the Jam, a tributary of the Wardha River. The combined population of Katol and Peth Budhwar was 7040 in 1891 and 7313 in 1901, but as the town is the trade centre of a wide cotton-growing tract, it has grown considerably since the last census. The old town-site is crowded, lying in a hollow, but the recent trend of extension has been towards the higher ground on the southeast where the cotton factories stand. Katol has a tropical wet and dry climate (Köppen climate classification) with dry conditions prevailing for most of the year. Demographics As of 2011 Indian Census, Katol had a total population of 43,267, of which 22,064 were males and 21,203 were females. Population within the age group of 0 to 6 years was 4,174. The total number of literates in Katol was 35,231, which constituted 81.4% of the population with male literacy of 83.6% and female literacy of 79.2%. The effective literacy rate of 7+ population of Katol was 90.1%, of which male literacy rate was 92.8% and female literacy rate was 87.4%. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes population was 6,086 and 3,425 respectively. Katol had 9866 households in 2011. Administration The Corporation of Katol was established in 1919. Katol reached the first stage of modern municipal development in 1905 when it