page_title: History of Pune
section_title: Peshwa rule (1714–1818)
hierarchical_section_title: History of Pune / Maratha rule / Peshwa rule (1714–1818)
caption_attribution_description: English: for of shivaji
context_page_description: Pune is the 9th most populous city in India and the second-largest in the state of Maharashtra, after the state capital Mumbai. The history of the city is closely related to the rise of the Maratha empire from the 17th–18th century. During the 18th century, Pune became the political centre of the Indian subcontinent; as the seat of the Peshwas, who were the prime ministers of the Maratha Empire.
  After the fall of Peshwa rule in 1818, the new British rulers made the city one of their major military bases. Prior to the British takeover, the city was confined to the eastern bank of the Mutha river. Since then, the city has grown on both sides of the river. In the 19th and early 20th century, Pune was considered by the British as the center of political unrest against their rule. The post-independence era saw Pune emerging as a major manufacturing center.
  The post-independence period has also seen further growth in the higher education sector in the city. The Panshet flood of 1961 resulted in a huge loss of housing on the river bank and spurred the growth of new suburbs. In the 1990s, the city emerged as a major information technology hub.
context_section_description: In 1714, the Maratha ruler Shahu appointed Balaji Vishwanath, a Chitpavan Brahmin, as his Peshwa. Around the same period, Balaji was gifted the area around Pune by the grateful mother of one of Shahu's ministers, the Pantsachiv, for saving the latter's life. In 1720, Baji Rao I, was appointed Peshwa, as a successor to his father, by Shahu. Bajirao moved his administration from Saswad to Pune in 1728, and in the process, laid the foundation for turning what was a kasbah into a large city. Before Bajirao I made Pune his headquarters, the town already had six "Peths" or wards, namely, Kasba, Shaniwar, Raviwar, Somwar, Mangalwar, and Budhwar. Bajirao also started construction of a palace called Shaniwar Wada on the eastern bank of the Mutha River. The construction was completed in 1730, ushering in the era of Peshwa control over the city. The city grew in size and influence as the Maratha rule extended in the subsequent decades. During this period, in addition to being the administrative capital of the Confederacy, the city also became the financial capital of the Confederacy. Most of the 150 bankers or "savakars" in the city belonged to the Chitpavan or Deshastha Brahmin communities.
  The city gained further importance as the Maratha dominance increased across India under the rule of Bajirao I's son, Balaji Baji Rao, also known as Nanasaheb. After the disastrous Battle of Panipat in 1761, Maratha influence was curtailed. At that time, the Nizam of Hyderabad looted the city. The city and the empire recovered during the brief reign of Peshwa Madhavrao I. The rest of the Peshwa era was full of family intrigue and political machinations. The leading role in this was played by the ambitious Raghunathrao, the younger brother of Nanasaheb who wanted power at the expense of his nephews, Madhavrao I and Narayanrao. Following the murder of Narayanrao on the orders of Raghunathrao's wife, in 1775, power was exercised in the name of the son of Narayanrao, Madhavrao II, by a regency council led by Nana Fadnavis for almost the rest of the century. For most part, the Peshwa rule saw the city elites coming from the Chitpavan Brahmin community.They were the military commanders, the bureaucrats, and the bankers, and had ties to each other through matrimonial alliances.
  Pune prospered as a city during the reign of the peshwas. Nanasaheb constructed a lake at Katraj, on the southern outskirts of the city, and an underground aqueduct, which is still operational, to bring water from the lake to Shaniwar Wada. Later in the century, the city got an underground sewage system in 1782, that ultimately discharged into the river. On the southern fringe of the city, Nanasaheb built a palace on the Parvati Hill, developed a garden called Heera Baug, and dug a lake close to Parvati hill, with a Ganesh temple on an island in the middle of it. He also developed new commercial, trading, and residential localities called Sadashiv Peth, Narayan Peth, Rasta Peth, and Nana Peth. The city in the 1790s had a population of 600,000. In 1781, after a city census, household tax called Gharpatti was levied on the more affluent, which was  one-fifth to one-sixth of the property value.
  Under Peshwa rule, law and order was exercised by the office of the Kotwal. The Kotwal was both the police chief, magistrate, as well as the municipal commissioner. His duties included investigating, levying, and collecting of fines for various offenses. The Kotwal was assisted by police officers who manned the chavdi or the police station, and the clerks collected the fines and the paid informants who provided the necessary intelligence for charging people with misdemeanor. The crimes included illicit affairs, violence, and murder. Sometimes, even in case of murder, only a fine was imposed. Inter-caste or inter-religious affairs were also settled with fines. The salary of the Kotwal was as high as 9000 rupees a month, but that included the expense of employing officers, mainly from the Ramoshi caste. The most famous Kotwal of Pune during Peshwa rule was Ghashiram Kotwal. The police force d
caption: Shaniwar Wada, the palace and administrative headquarters built by Baji Rao I in 1730
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