Pune district () is a district in Western Maharashtra with Administrative Headquarters in Pune city. Pune district is the most populous district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is one of the most industrialized districts in India.
History
Ancient and medieval history According to archaeological discoveries of the Jorwe culture in Chandoli and Inamgaon, portions of the district have been occupied by humans since the Chalcolithic (the Copper Age, 5th–4th millennium BCE). Many ancient trade routes linking ports in western India (particularly those of coastal Konkan) with the Deccan Plateau pass through the district. The town of Junnar has been an important trading and political center for the last two thousand years, and it was first mentioned by Greco-Roman travellers in the early first millennium CE.Margabandhu, C. "Trade Contacts between Western India and the Graeco-Roman World in the early centuries of the Christian era." Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient/Journal de l'histoire economique et sociale de l'Orient (1965): 316–322.Rath, Jayanti. "QUEENS AND COINS OF INDIA."Deo, S. B. "The Genesis of Maharashtra History and Culture." Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute 43 (1984): 17–36. The Karla Caves in Karli, near Lonavala, are near the Western Ghats and a major ancient trade route running eastward from the Arabian Sea to the Deccan Plateau. The caves are a complex of ancient Indian Buddhist rock-cut shrines which were developed from the second century BCE to the fifth century CE; the oldest of the shrines is believed to date to 160 BCE. Traders and Satavahana rulers financed construction of the caves. Buddhists, identified with commerce and manufacturing through their early association with traders, tended to locate their monasteries in natural formations near major trade routes to provide lodging for travelling traders. Inscriptions at Karla and Junnar suggest that in the early part of the Common Era, the area was controlled by the Shaka ruler Nahapana. Coins found further east in the district, near Indapur, suggest that the region may have been controlled by the Traikutaka king Dahragana in 465 CE; silver coins found at Junnar suggest that the region may also have been ruled by Satavahana kings.
The first reference to the Pune region is found on two copper plates, dated to 758 and 768 CE and issued by the Rashtrakuta ruler Krishna I. The plates call the region "Puny Vishaya" and "Punaka Vishaya", respectively. The Pataleshwar rock-cut temple complex was built during this time, and the area included Theur, Uruli, Chorachi Alandi, and Bhosari. The region became part of the Yadava Empire of Deogiri from the ninth to the 13th centuries.
The Muslim Khalji rulers of the Delhi Sultanate overthrew the Yadavas in 1317, beginning three hundred years of Islamic control. The Khalji were followed by another sultanate dynasty, the Tughlaqs. A Tughlaq governor on the Deccan Plateau rebelled and created the Bahamani Sultanate, which later dissolved into the Deccan sultanates. During the 1400s, Russian traveler Afanasy Nikitin spent many months in Junnar during the monsoon season and vividly describes life in the region under Bahamani rule. The fort at Chakan played an important role in the history of the Deccan sultanates. The Bahamani Sultanate broke up in the early 16th century; the Nizamshahi kingdom controlled the region for most of the century, with Junnar its first capital. During the early 1600s, the Nizam Shahi general Malik Ambar moved his capital there.
Deccan sultanates and the Bhosale jagir
The district became politically important when the Nizamshahi capital was moved to Junnar at the beginning of the 16th century. The Bhosale family received a jagir (land grant), and control of the region shifted among the Bhosale rulers, the sultanates and the Mughals during the century. The district was central to the founding of the Maratha Empire by Shivaji.
Nizamshahi With the establishment of Nizamshahi rule, with Ahmednagar its headquarters, nearly all of the region was controlled by the Nizamshahi. It was formed into a district (or sarkar), with sub-divisions (paragana) and smaller ranges (prant or desh). Revenue collection was delegated to important chieftains of the Nizamshahi.
At Ahmednagar, the Sultan bore the brunt of a heavy attack from Mughal armies who converged on the capital in 1595. To rally the strongest possible local support against the Mughal invaders, and stabilise the territories ruled by Ahmednagar, local Maratha chieftains were given increased power. Amongst the chieftains was Maloji, who was made a raja in 1595; the districts of Pune and Supa were given to him as a jagir (fief). Maloji was also given charge of the forts at Shivneri and Chakan, which played an important role in the district's early political history.
In 1600, Ahmednagar was captured by the Mughals. Nizamshahi minister Malik Ambar raised Murtaza Nizam Shah II to the throne, with its temporary headquarters at Junnar. For nearly a generation, Ambar guided the Nizamshahi kingdom and the Pune region benefited from his leadership. By his death in 1626, the region's revenue system was sound and fair.
Bhosale jagir under the Adilshahi The Pune region was administered as a jagir during much of the 17th century by Maloji Bhosale, his son Shahaji and his grandson Shivaji. Its nominal sovereignty changed with shifting allegiances of the Bhosale family. In 1632, Shahaji forsook the Mughals and accepted the friendship of the Adilshahi rulers of Bijapur (the traditional rivals of Ahmadnagar Sultanate).
After the fall of the Ahmadnagar (Nizamshahi) Sultanate, its territory was divided between the Adilshahi and the Mughals with Pune region going to the former. Shahaji refused to surrender Junnar (the seat of the Nizamshahi dynasty) before he finally capitulated. However, Shahaji was apparently considered important enough by the Adilshah to play a key role in the new regime's administration. His jagir was confirmed, continuing the region's connection with the Bhosale family.
Pune district under Shivaji and the Mughals Shahaji second son, Shivaji (founder of the Maratha Empire), was born on the hill fort of Shivneri near Junnar on 19 February 1630. His mother was Jijabai, the daughter of Lakhuji Jadhavrao of Sindhkhed (a Mughal-allied sardar claiming descent from the Yadavas of Devagiri.
The Pune Jagir which was restored to Shahaji after he joined the Adilshahi service in 1637.Since he was required to be based in Bengaluru as the Adilshah commander, Shahaji selected Pune as the residence for [Jijabai and son Shivaji, and appointed Dadoji Konddeo as administrator of the Pune jagir. Konddeo oversaw the construction of their Lal Mahal palace. Konddeo established complete control over the Maval region, winning over (or subduing) most of the local Maval leaders. He rebuilt the settlement of Pune, and prominent families who had left the town during its 1631 destruction by the Adilshahi general Murar Jaggdeo returned.Gadgil, D.R., 1945. Poona a socio-economic survey part I. Economics. Among Kondadeo's reported reforms was a tax of one-fourth the cash equivalent of a land's yield, and the Fasli calendar was introduced at this time. He is said to have focused on the western Pune region, and has been credited with overseeing Shivaji's education and training. Kondadeo died in 1647, and Shivaji became his father's deputy.
Many of Shivaji's comrades (and, later, a number of his soldiers) came from the Maval region in the district's western mountains, including Yesaji Kank, Suryaji Kakade, Baji Pasalkar, Baji Prabhu Deshpande and Tanaji Malusare. Shivaji traveled the hills and forests of the Sahyadri range with his Maval friends, acquiring skills and familiarity with the land which would be useful in his military career. Around 1645, the teenaged Shivaji first expressed his concept of Hindavi Swarajya (Indian self-rule) in a letter.: "It was a bid for Hindawi Swarajya (Indian rule), a term in use in Marathi sources of history.": "The earliest relevant usage that I myself have found is Hindavi swarajya from 1645, in a letter of Shivaji. This might mean, Indian independence from foreign rule, rather than Hindu raj in the modern sense. According to legend, he took an oath to that effect at the temple of Raireshwar near Bhor in the district.
Shivaji began his rule in 1648 of the Pune region, taking possession of the key Torna Fort and controlling the Chakan and Purandar forts and raiding Junnar. He moved his administration to the renovated Rajgad fort in 1648, and kept it there until his coronation in 1674.
During the 1660s, the Mughals under Aurangzeb began paying attention to Shivaji. Pune and the region's forts frequently changed hands between the Mughals and Shivaji. In the Treaty of Purandar (1665), signed by the Mughal general Mirza Jaisingh and Shivaji, Shivaji ceded control of a number of forts in the district to the Mughals. Shivaji recaptured many of these forts when the truce ended.
He was succeeded on the Marathi throne by his eldest son, Sambhaji, in 1680. Shortly afterwards, the Mughal army under Aurangzeb moved into the Deccan Plateau and remained there for nearly three decades. Sambhaji was captured and executed, at Aurangzeb's order, in the village of Tulapur at the confluence of the Bhima river and the Indrayani Rivers.
The period following his 1689 death was one of political ferment in the Deccan Plateau, and the Pune region experienced major fluctuations in administrative authority. Shivaji's younger son, Rajaram I, ruled after his brother's death. He spent most of his time in Gingee, fighting the Mughal siege. Before the Mughals captured Gingee, Rajaram returned to Maharashtra and died in Sinhagad in 1700. Ambikabai, one of his widows, committed sati at Rajaram's death. The Bhimthadi (or Deccani) horse was developed in the region under Maratha rule by crossing Arabian and Turkic breeds with local ponies.
Peshwa rule (1714–1818)
Shivaji's grandson, Shahu I, appointed the Chitpavan Brahmin Balaji Vishwanath as his Peshwa in 1714. Vishwanath received the area around Pune from the grateful mother of one of Shahu's ministers for saving her son's life.Duff, J. G., 1990. History of the Marathas, Vol. I. Cf. MSG, p.437. In 1718, Shahu sent him to Delhi to assist the Sayyads; in return for this help, Muhammad Shah (the Mughal emperor in Delhi) granted Shahu sardeshmukhi rights for Pune, Supa, Baramati, Indapur and Junnar. Shahu appointed Baji Rao I Peshwa in 1720, succeeding his father. Baji Rao moved his administration from Saswad to nearby Pune in 1728, laying the foundation for turning a kasbah into a large city. Pune grew in size and influence as Maratha rule extended through the subcontinent in subsequent decades. A well-known saying in the era before the third battle of Panipat was that the "ponies of Bhimthadi drank the water of the Indus river".
Pune under the Peshwas Pune gained more influence under the rule of Baji Rao I's son, Balaji Baji Rao (Nanasaheb). Maratha influence waned after the disastrous 1761 Battle of Panipat, and the Nizam of Hyderabad looted the city. It (and the empire) recovered during the brief reign of Peshwa Madhavrao. The rest of the Peshwa era was rife with family intrigue and political machinations. The leading role was played by the ambitious Raghunathrao, the younger brother of Nanasaheb, who wanted power at the expense of his nephews Madhavrao I and Narayanrao. After Narayanrao's 1775 murder by order of Raghunathrao's wife, power was exercised in the name of his son Madhavrao II by a regency council led by Nana Fadnavis for most of the century. Under Peshwa rule, the urban elite came from the Chitpavan Brahmin community; they were the military commanders, the bureaucrats and the bankers, and had ties to each other by marriage.Review: Glory of Peshwa Pune