A photograph of a view in Poona 1855

 

A photograph of a view in Poona from the 'Vibart Collection of Views in South India' taken by an unknown photographer about 1855. In the 18th Century Pune was the capital of Raja Shivaji, the Maratha king who defied the Moghul emperor Aurangzeb. However, in 1802 Jaswant Rao Holkar defeated the combined armies of the Peshwa and Scindia. As a result of this defeat the Peshwa invited British assistance and Pune was occupied by troops under Wellesley in 1803. After the battle of Kirkee in November 1817 it was surrendered to the British who based the summer headquarters of the Government of Bombay here and established a large military cantonment