Pune
Pune has been known by a plethora of sobriquets. Popular among them: Queen
of the Deccan, cultural capital of Maharashtra, pensioner's paradise and
Oxford of the East. Pune is one of the historical cities of India with a
glorious past, an innovative present and a promising future. The Pune Municipal
Corporation administers the city. Its boundaries extend over four hundred
square kilometres and it has a population of close to four million. Thus,
Pune city has been developed into a Pune metropolitan area, just equal in
area to that of Greater Mumbai. It is located 192 km (by rail) and 160 km
(by road) from Mumbai and is 559 metres above the mean sea level. Being
surrounded by beautiful hills and the Sinhagad fort, it has a temperate
climate. Water, which is plentiful, is supplied to the city from Panshet,
Khadakvasla and Varasgaon dams --all located about thirty kilometres from
Pune. Pune is among the greenest urban areas in the country with more than
40 per cent of its area under green cover.
Pre-historic Pune
Human civilisations have prospered on the banks of rivers; Pune city too
has flowered on the banks of the Mutha river originating from the Sahyadri
range of mountains. Eminent archaeologist Dr. H. D. Sankalia and his colleagues
from the Deccan College carried out excavations of the Mutha riverbed
and banks. These researchers found evidence of human civilisations that
existed 100,000 years ago along the Mutha river. Pune finds mention in
some of the Puranas.
What's in a name?
Down the centuries, Pune has been ruled by several dynasties. The earliest
evidence found (copper plates of 758 A. D. and of 768 A. D.) reveals that
the Rashtrakootas ruled this region then. At that time, Pune was referred
to as Punaka Vishaya and Punya Vishaya. Copper plates of 960 A. D. and
963 A. D. refer to it as Punaka Wadi and Punaka Desha. Here Vishaya means
region. Later on, the city has been mentioned as Kasabe Pune. The Pune
Gazetteer explains the term Pune as Punya - a holy place. In Hindu tradition,
a confluence (sangama) of two rivers is sacred. Hence, this city, where
there is a confluence of two rivers, is Punyanagari. After the Rashtrakootas,
Pune was ruled by the Yadava dynasty. After the fall of this dynasty,
it came under Muslim dominance till the middle of the seventeenth century.
Ancient monuments
Some of the remains of this period can still be studied. The first is
the Pataleshwar Temple on the Jangli Maharaj Road. It is a temple of Shiva
in rock-cut caves with over forty pillars, and a bull (nandi) in front
of Shiva, with sixteen pillars. This dates back to the Rashtrakoota age
and is close to one thousand years old. The second monument is the set
of dargahs --Muslim places of worship. The senior and junior Shaikhsalla
on the banks of the Mutha river, near the Shaniwarwada, are constructed
on the earlier temples of Puneshwar and Narayaneshwar.
Pune Tourism Reservation Form
