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POONA, or PUNA

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 73 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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POONA, or PUNA , a See also:city and See also:district of See also:British See also:India, in the Central See also:division of Bombay. The city is at the confluence of the Mutha and See also:Mula See also:rivers, 185o ft. above See also:sea-level and 119 M. S.E. from Bombay on the See also:Great See also:Indian See also:Peninsula railway. Municipal See also:area, about 4 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 153,320. It is pleasantly situated amid extensive gardens, with a large number of See also:modern public buildings, and also many temples and palaces dating from the 16th to the 19th See also:century. The See also:palace of the peshwas is a ruin, having been destroyed by See also:fire in 1827. From its healthy situation Poona has been chosen not only as the headquarters of the 6th division of the See also:Southern See also:army, but also as the See also:residence of the See also:governor of Bombay during the See also:rainy See also:season, from See also:June to See also:September. The native See also:town, along the See also:river See also:bank, is somewhat poorly built. The See also:European See also:quarter, including the See also:cantonment, extends See also:north-See also:west towards See also:Kirkee. The waterworks were constructed mainly by the munificence of See also:Sir Jamsetjee See also:Jeejeebhoy. Poona was never a great centre of See also:trade or manufacture though still noted for See also:brass-See also:work, See also:jewelry and other articles of luxury.

See also:

Cotton-See also:mills, See also:paper-mills, a brewery (at Dapuri), See also:flour-mills, factories of See also:ice and See also:mineral See also:waters, and See also:dairy farms furnish the See also:chief See also:industries. Educational institutions are numerous. They include the See also:government See also:Deccan See also:College, with a See also:law class; the aided See also:Fergusson college; the government colleges of See also:science and See also:agriculture; high See also:schools; training schools, for masters and mistresses; medical school; and municipal technical school. The See also:recent See also:history of Poona has been painfully associated with the See also:plague. During 1897, when the city was first attacked, the See also:death-See also:rate See also:rose to 93 per r000 in Poona city, 71 per loon in the cantonment, and 93 per r000 in Kirkee. The DISTRICT OF POONA has an area of 5349 sq. m. See also:Population (1901), 995,330, showing an increase of 18% after the disastrous See also:famine of 1876-1877, but a decrease of 7% in the last See also:decade. Towards the west the See also:country is undulating, and numerous spurs from the Western See also:Ghats enter the district; to the See also:east it opens out into plains. It is watered by many streams which, rising in the ghats, flow eastwards until they join the. ' See also:Bhima, a river which intersects the district from north to See also:south. The See also:principal crops are millets, pulses, oil-seeds, See also:wheat, See also:rice, See also:sugar-See also:cane, vegetables and See also:fruit (including grapes). The two most important See also:irrigation See also:works in the Deccan are the Mutha See also:canal, with which the Poona waterworks are connected, and the Nira canal.

There are manufactures of cotton, See also:

silk and blankets. The district is traversed by the Great Indian Peninsula railway, and also by the Southern Mahratta See also:line, which starts from Poona city towards See also:Satara. It is 'liable to drought, from which it suffered severely in 1866-1867, 1876-1877, and again in 1896-1897. In the 17th century the district formed See also:part of the See also:Mahommedan See also:kingdom of Ahmadnagar. See also:Sivaji was See also:born within its boundaries at Junliar in 1627, and he was brought up at Poona town as the headquarters of the hereditary See also:fief of his See also:father. The district thus was the See also:early centre of the Mahratta See also:power; and when Satara became first the See also:capital and later the See also:prison of the descendants of Sivaji, Poona continued to be the seat of government under their hereditary ministers, with the See also:title of See also:peshwa. Many stirring scenes in Mahratta history were enacted here. See also:Holkar defeated the last peshwa under its walls,, and his See also:flight to See also:Bassein led to the treaty by which he put himself under British See also:protection. He was reinstated in 1802, but, unable to maintain friendly relations, he attacked the British at Kirkee in 1817, and his kingdom passed from him.

End of Article: POONA, or PUNA

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