Kolhapur, city, southwestern India, in Maharashtra State. Pottery, paper, and textiles are manufactured in the city. In about the 3rd century BC, Kolhapur was an important Buddhist center. It was the capital of the former princely state of Kolhapur, which became part of India in 1947. The former state, which extended from the Western Ghats mountains east to the Deccan plain, was a stronghold of the Hindu people known as Marathas. Population (1991) 406,370.
