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Poona City, 1908

(Puna). Head-quarters of Poona District, Bombay, situated in 18degree 31' N. and 73degree 51' E., on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, 119 miles south-east of Bombay, and a terminus of the Southern Mahratta Railway ; 1,850 feet above the level of the sea, and, in a straight line, about 63 miles from the coast. The name seems to be derived from the Sanskrit punyapnr, or 'cleanser,' pro- bably referring to the holy meeting of the Mutha and Mula rivers. It is the military capital of the Deccan, and from June to October the seat of the Government of Bombay.

During the last fifty years Poona has been steadily growing in size. In 1851 its population was returned at 73,209; by 1863 it was sup- posed to have risen to about 80,000. At the next three enumerations it was: (1872) 118,886, (1881) 129,751, and (1891) 161,390. In 1901 it was returned at 111,381, exclusive of 41,939 in the cantonment and suburbs; total, 153,320. Hindus numbered 122,393; Muhammadans, 18,165; Christians, 8,474; Parsis, 1,900; and Jains, 1,473.

With the heat of April and May tempered by a sea-breeze, a moderate rainfall, and strong cool winds, the climate is agreeable, but of late years it has not been reputed to be healthy. The annual rain- fall for 1891-1901 averaged 28 inches. The mean temperature in 1901 was 70; maximum 110 (in May), minimum 43 (in December). Poona has suffered severely from the plague, which first gained a foot- hold in the city in January, 1897. In 1899 the mortality rose to 125 per week, or an annual death-rate of 207 per 1,000. Severe repressive measures in 1897 failed to eradicate the epidemic.

The first mention of Poona in history seems to be in 1604, when it was granted by the Sultan of Ahmadnagar to Maloji, the grandfather of Sivaji. In 1637 the grant was conpirmed in favour of Shah j I, father of Sivaji. In 1663, during the operations conducted against Sivaji by order of Aurangzeb, the imperial viceroy Shaista Khan took possession of the open town, from which, when surprised a few days afterwards by Sivaji, he had great difficulty in making his escape. His son and most of his guard were cut to pieces, and he himself wounded. A powerful force, however, immediately reinstated the discomfited commander. In 1667 Aurangzeb restored Poona to Sivaji; but under the sway of his successor Sambhaji, it was occupied by Khan Jahan, an officer of the emperor. On the Peshwa obtaining supremacy in the Maratha confederacy, the chief seat of government was removed from Satara to Poona. In 1763 Nizam All of Hyderabad sacked the city and burned such parts of it as were not ransomed. In the struggle between the successive Peshwas and their nominal subordinates Sindhia and Holkar, Poona suffered many vicissitudes, until in 1802, by the provi- sions of the Treaty of Bassein, the Peshwa allowed a British subsi- diary force to be stationed here.

The final defeat of the Peshwa Baji Rao, and the capture of Poona in 1818, were the results of three engagements. In the battle of KIRKEE (November 5, 1817) the British forces, commanded by Colonel Burr, defeated a vastly superior force under Bapu Gokhale. The battle of Yeraoda (November 16 and 17, 1817) occurred near where the present Fitzgerald Bridge now stands, the British guns on ‘ Picket Hill ' commanding the position. The British troops were com- manded by Brigadier-General Lionel Smith. The result was the flight of the Peshwa's army and the immediate occupation of the city by the British. The third battle, that of KOREGAON (January i, 1818), was fought 2 miles distant from Loni, on the right bank of the Bhima, and 16 miles from Poona. After the deposition of the Peshwa Baji Rao II (1818), the city became the head-quarters of a British District as well as the principal cantonment in the Deccan.

The city stands on the right bank of the Mutha river. Much of the country round is barren and rocky, and to the east stretches an open plain. Not much high ground is seen to the north and west, but to the south extends a line of hills ending in the bold square rock of Sinh- garh. Close at hand, on the north, is the confluence of the streams of the Mutha and Mula ; through the heart of the city, the line of the Kharakvasla canal, and on the south the lake and temple- crowned peak of Parvati are objects of interest. The Katraj aqueduct was built by an ancient Maratha family. This duct, together with three other private aqueducts, supplies the city in ordinary years with about half the required supply of drinking-water. The other half is derived from the Mutha Right Bank Canal at three places. The main near the Parvati bank supplements the supply from the Katraj aqueduct The municipality draws from the canal about 750^000 gallons a day, for which it pays Rs, 10,000 to Government. Any amount drawn in excess of this is paid for at the rate of 3 annas per 1,000 gallons. The old water-works owe their existence to the liberality of Sir Jamsetji Jijibhoy of Bombay, who contributed Rs. 1,75,000 towards the entire cost of Rs. 2,00,000. The new water-works for the Poona cantonment and suburbs were constructed in 1873-4, and were furnished with new settling-tanks and filter-beds in 1894-5. The maximum daily consumption from these works is 1,700,000 gallons. The pumping station is situated to the east of St. Mary's Church, the power being passed from a Poncelet wheel to three centrifugal pumps on the right bank of the canal and to a Worthington water engine on the left bank. There are five settling-tanks, with a total capacity equivalent to three days' consumption, and four filter-beds with an area of 45,000 square feet. Water is pumped from the canal into the settling-tanks and thence into the filter-beds by means of centrifugal pumps. Two reservoirs supply the cantonments and suburbs, the charge for water by meter varying from 6 to 8 annas per 1,000 gallons, according as the cost of pipes and connexions is borne by the householder or not. For three or four months in the hot season very little water is available, and pumping has to be performed almost entirely by steam-power. Gardens on every side, and groves of acacia along the banks of the rivers, give much of the neighbourhood a green, well-clothed appearance.

The city proper extends along the Mutha for about 1 1/2miles in- land, varying in height from 30 to 70 feet above the river. Its length is about 2 miles from east to west, and its breadth about 1 3/4 miles, the total area being 2 1/2square miles. For police and other purposes the city is divided among eighteen wards or peths. Under the Peshwas it was divided into seven quarters, named after the days of the week. The ruined palace of the Peshwas stands in the Shanwar quarter, or Saturday ward. The palace was burned down in 1827, and all that now remains is the fortified wall. The chief streets run north and south. Though broad in parts they are all more or less crooked, none of them offering an easy carriage-way from one end to the other. From east to west the only thoroughfare is by lanes, narrow, short, and interrupted. One of these was set apart for the execution of criminals*, who, in the time of the Peshwas, were here trampled to death by elephants. Most of the houses are of more than one storey, their walls built of a framework of wood filled in with brick or mud, and with roofs of tile.

East of the city is the military station, with an area of 4 1/4 square miles and a population of 32,777. Within cantonment limits, north- wards to the Mutha- Mula river and for 2 miles along the road leading west to the cantonment of Kirkee, are the houses of the greater part of the European population. The remaining European quarter or Civil Lines was made a suburban municipality in 1884. In area it covers if square miles, and had in 1903-4 an income and expenditure of Rs. 31,000 and Rs. 33,000 respectively, the former chiefly derived from a house tax and octroi. The first Residency was built where the present Judge's house now stands, at the Sangam or junction of the MuLa and Mutha rivers. The compound included the site of the present Science College and the English burial-ground close to the present Sangam Lodge. The Resident's quarters contained five houses, besides out-offices for guard and escort parties. The entire block was destroyed on November 5, 1817, immediately upon the departure of Mr. Mountstuart Elphinstone to join the British forces drawn up for battle at Kirkee. There have been five European cemeteries open since the Maratha possession of Poona one near the old Residency, the second near the present church of St. Paul, the third in East Street, one near the rifle butts, and one on the left of the Sholapur road. A new Residency was built near the present site of St. Paul's Church in 1819, and was accidentally burnt down in 1863. The Sangam Bridge was first built on piles in 1829, at a cost of Rs. 95,000. Sir John Malcolm opened it in 1830, under the name of the Wellesley Bridge, after the Duke of Wellington. It was rebuilt with stone in 1875, at a cost of Rs. 90,000. Holkar's Bridge was built by Madhu Rao Peshwa, and so named because Holkar was accustomed to pitch his tents in its vicinity. Close by is ‘ Holkar's tomb’ so called, being a Saiva temple erected in memory of Vithoj! Holkar and his wife, who was a sail.

As a civil station, Poona is the residence of the usual District officers and the head-quarters of the Commissioner of the Central Division. It is also the monsoon head-quarters of the Bombay Government. The garrison generally consists of European and Native infantry, artillery, and cavalry. There is a branch of the Bank of Bombay.

In addition to the Peshwa's palace, already referred to, the city contains numerous palaces and temples from one to three hundred years old, of which the chief are : Belbag, built by Nana Farnavis about a century ago ; the Faraskhana, the remains of the Budhwar palace which was burnt down in 1879 ; Ganpati's temple; the new market, built by the Poona city municipality ; the temple of Omkareshwar ; the Vishrambag palace, now used as a Government high school. Other chief objects of interest, outside the Poona city municipal limits, are : the arsenal, built in 1882 ; the Bund gardens on the right bank of the Mula-Mutha river ; the Saiva caves of Bhamburda, the oldest remains in Poona ; Chatarshingi hill with a temple of a devi, where a large fair is held annually in September-October ; the Western India club ; the council hall; Government House, Ganeshkhind; the Poona gymkhana; Yeraoda Central jail, intended for all classes of prisoners, as well as for relieving the overcrowding of the several District jails ; the Sassoon Hospital ; the Jewish synagogue ; the office of the City Magistrate, formerly the jail ; the Native General Library ; the General Post and Telegraph office ; the Record office or Poona Daftar ; and the Empress Gardens at Wanowri. The total number of in-patients treated at the Sassoon Hospital in 1903-4 was 2,585, in addition to 12,110 out- patients. Other medical institutions are the Roman Catholic school hospital, the St. Margaret Hospital, St. John's Hospital, and six dispen- saries, treating annually about 40,000 patients.

The city municipality, established in 1857, had an average income during the decade ending 1901 of 3 1/2 lakhs. In 1903-4 the income was also 3! lakhs. The chief items of income are octroi (1 1/4lakhs) and conservancy tax (Rs. 39,000), while the expenditure, which amounted to 3 lakhs in 1903-4, is chiefly devoted to conservancy (1 lakh) and establishment charges (Rs. 44,000). The income and the expenditure of the cantonment fund in 1903-4 were nearly 1-8 lakhs and 1-5 lakhs respectively.

Though Poona is no longer so great a centre of trade and industry as under the Peshwas, there are still many handlooms for the weaving of fabrics of silk and cotton ; and articles of brass, copper, iron, and clay are made in the city. Throughout Western India Poona workers have earned a reputation for the manufacture of cloth, silver and gold jewellery, combs, dice, and other small articles of ivory, of fans, baskets, and trays of khas-khas grass ornamented with peacocks' feathers and beetles' wings, and of small, carefully dressed clay figures representing the natives of India. There are now several important factories in the city and its immediate vicinity. Chief of these are the gun-carriage factory * and arsenal in cantonments, and the small arms and ammuni- tion factories at Kirkee. At Dapuri there is a large brewery. In addition there are two cotton-mills, some iron and brass foundries, and a paper-mill.

Besides a female normal school, an unaided normal class for mis- tresses, and a training college for preparing teachers for vernacular and Anglo-vernacular schools, and several Government and private vernacular, Anglo-vernacular, and English schools, Poona has twelve high schools and three colleges the Deccan and Fergusson Colleges teaching up to the degrees of B.A. and first LL.B., and the College of Science with special training for civil engineers and agricultural specialists. There is a medical school attached to the Sassoon Hospital, a forest class at the College of Science, a municipal technical school, and a reformatory at Yeraoda. The total number of schools is 78 for boys with 7,205 pupils, and 4 for girls with 3,318 pupils. The city contains 2 Subordinate Judges' courts, in addition to the chief revenue, 1 The gun-carriage factory was closed in 1907.

judicial, and other public offices. Besides the purely European clubs, Poona contains the Deccan Club, to which both Europeans and natives can belong ; two native clubs, the Sarvajanik Sabha and the Deccan Sabha; and a newly opened club for ladies. The most important library is the Native General Library in Budhwar Peth.

Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.