01The golden plough
Pune was part of Shahaji Bhonsle’s jagir. Around 1630 an Adil Shahi general, Murar Jagdeo, burnt the town and, as the Marathi chronicles tell it, had donkeys drawn across its soil as a curse. A few years later Jijabai came here with the boy Shivaji and Dadoji Kondadev, and had the ground ploughed with a golden plough to undo the curse. The Kasba Ganapati was set up near their house, and Shahaji had the Lal Mahal built for them around 1640. From here the young Shivaji learned the Maval valleys and the forts above them. The Lal Mahal standing today is a modern rebuilding on the old site.
02Seat of the Peshwas
On the night of 5 April 1663 Shivaji slipped into the Lal Mahal, where the Mughal general Shaista Khan was camped, and the Khan escaped with three fingers cut off. Pune became the centre of Maratha power when Bajirao I made it his seat; the foundation of Shaniwar Wada was laid in 1730. The Nizam’s army plundered the town in 1763, and Yashwantrao Holkar defeated the Peshwa and Scindia at Hadapsar in October 1802. After the British victory at Khadki on 5 November 1817 the Union Jack went up over Shaniwar Wada on 17 November. In the 1880s Tilak, Chiplunkar and Agarkar started the New English School, Kesari and Fergusson College here, and in 1942–44 the British held Gandhiji in the Aga Khan Palace, where Kasturba died.
The life of this place
- c. 1630Adil Shahi general Murar Jagdeo burns Pune.
- c. 1640Shahaji builds the Lal Mahal for Jijabai and Shivaji; the town is resettled.
- 5 April 1663Shivaji’s night raid on Shaista Khan in the Lal Mahal.
- 1730Bajirao I lays the foundation of Shaniwar Wada; Pune becomes the Peshwa capital.
- 1763The Nizam’s army plunders Pune; the Marathas answer at Rakshasbhuvan the same year.
- October 1802Yashwantrao Holkar defeats the Peshwa and Scindia at Hadapsar; Bajirao II flees and signs the Treaty of Bassein.
- 5–17 November 1817Battle of Khadki; the British occupy Pune and raise their flag on Shaniwar Wada.
- 1828A great fire burns Shaniwar Wada for days; only the walls and gates survive.
- 22 February 1944Kasturba Gandhi dies in British custody at the Aga Khan Palace.
Shaniwar Wada, the Lal Mahal and the Kasba Ganapati are within a short walk of each other in the old city. Sinhagad is 35 km south-west.
