www.tjprc.org editor@tjprc.org CHRONOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT OF PUNE FROM 758-2014 AD NITIN N. MUNDHE 1 & RAVINDRA G. JAYBHAYE 2 1 Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Sir Parashurambhau College, Pune, Maharashtra, India 2 Professor, Department of Geography, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, Maharashtra, India ABSTRACT The aim of the research work is to examine the process of urbanization in Pune, from a small agriculture settlement called “Punnakka” to the cultural capital of Maharashtra. Pune is one of the historical cities of India, with a glorious past, an innovative present and a promising future. Pune has emerged as a prominent location for manufacturing industries, and has now been recognized as the information technology hub and education hub of the country. The city is spread over an area of 250.56 sq. km with a population of over 3 million. The rapid growth of the city has transformed from its character, as Pensioner’s city to Educational – Administrative Center and now to a bustling economic center. The city has experienced a long-standing urban tradition: first as an historical centre of pre- colonial Urbanism, then as an important military centre during British rule, after independence as a rapidly growing contemporary industrial centre, and today identified as a growing metropolis. This kind of background helps to understand the status, impacts and also to design strategy to promote urban planning in a sustainable manner. KEYWORDS: Pensioner’s city, Pune, Punnakka, Sustainable, Urban Planning, Urbanization & Urbanism Received: Sep 17, 2017; Accepted: Oct 03, 2017; Published: Oct 16, 2017; Paper Id.: IJEEFUSOCT20175 INTRODUCTION Pune is the second largest and fastest developing city, in the state of Maharashtra and one of the eight- mega cities of India [1]. Pune has been well known as the Oxford of the East, Queen of the Deccan, cultural capital of Maharashtra, Pensioner’s City, Cycle City and Detroit of India [2]. Pune has a long history and played a significant role in India's pre independence era [3]. According to a local tradition, Pune was a hamlet in 613 A. D. consisting of about fifteen huts [4]. It is quite probable that, Pune at this time was a small village, situated on a raised ground, slightly away from the Mutha River, occupying the southern part of the present Kasba ward. This was the original nucleus, a small village community. The settlement, originally a small hamlet, seems to have grown in size, as a century later we have the first recorded mention of Pune, as the headquarters of Taluka, which was named after it. Pune was referred to as “Puny Vishaya’ in 758 A. D. and ‘Punaka Vishava’, in 768 A. D., Punya meaning ‘holy’ and Vishaya meaning ‘region’ 4 . It was so described because; the city has a confluence of two rivers Mula and Mutha [5], which is considered holy in the Hindu religion [6]. During the 900s, it was ruled by the Yadava Dynasty, which was defeated by the Mughals in the 11 th Century. During the 12 th and 13 th Century, under the rule of Allaudin Khilji and later Muhammad Tuglaq, several Maratha noblemen served these rulers. Hence, for a long time, Pune was under the Muslim rulers [7]. In 1604, the Sultan of Ahmednagar, granted Pune, then a small village, to Maloji Bhosale grandfather of Original Article International Journal of Environment, Ecology, Family and Urban Studies (IJEEFUS) ISSN (P): 2250-0065; ISSN (E): 2321-0109 Vol. 7, Issue 5, Oct 2017, 33-50 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.