Pune in the context of Maratha Confederacy

Dalbergia melanoxylon (African blackwood, grenadilla, or mpingo) in French Grenadille d'Afrique is a flowering plant in the subfamily Faboideae of the family Fabaceae, native to seasonally dry regions of Africa from Senegal east to Eritrea, to southern regions of Tanzania to Mozambique and south to the north-eastern parts of South Africa. The tree is an important timber species in its native areas; it is used in the manufacture of musical instruments, sculptures vinyago in Swahili language and fine furniture. Populations and genomic resources for genetic biodiversity maintenance in parts of its native range are threatened by overharvesting due to poor or absent conservation planning and by the species' low germination rates.

African blackwood is a small tree, reaching 4–15 m tall, with grey bark and spiny shoots. The leaves are deciduous in the dry season, alternate, 6–22 cm long, pinnately compound, with 6–9 alternately arranged leaflets. The flowers are white and produced in dense clusters. The fruit is a pod 3–7 cm long, containing one to two seeds. It is often cited as one of the most expensive woods in the world.

Bhikhaiji Rustom Cama (24 September 1861 – 13 August 1936) or simply as, Madam Cama, was one of the prominent figures in the Indian independence movement. She unfurled one of the earliest versions of the flag of independent India on August 22, 1907 and she was the first person to hoist an Indian flag in a foreign nation, at the International Socialist Conference at Stuttgart.

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (28 May 1883 – 26 February 1966) was an Indian politician and ideologue. Savarkar developed the Hindu nationalist political ideology of Hindutva while confined at Ratnagiri in 1922. The prefix "Veer" (meaning 'brave') has been given by himself, when he penned his own biography under the pseudonym Chitragupta. He was a leading figure in the Hindu Mahasabha.

Savarkar began his political activities as a high school student and continued to do so at Fergusson College in Pune. He and his brother founded a secret society called Abhinav Bharat Society. When Savarkar travelled to England for his law studies, he involved himself with organisations such as India House and the Free India Society. He also published books advocating complete Indian independence by revolutionary means. One of the books he published called The Indian War of Independence about the Indian Rebellion of 1857 was banned in British India.

Shahaji Bhonsale (Marathi pronunciation: [ʃəˈɦaːdʑiː ˈbʱos(ə)le]; 15 March 1594 – 23 January 1664) was a 17th-century Indian military leader who served the Ahmadnagar Sultanate, the Bijapur Sultanate, and the Mughal Empire at various points in his career. As a member of the Bhonsle dynasty, Shahaji inherited the Pune and Supe jagirs (fiefs) from his father Maloji, who previously served the Ahmadnagar Sultanate. During the Mughal invasion of the Deccan, Shahaji joined the Mughal forces and served under Emperor Shah Jahan for a short period. After being deprived of his jagirs, he defected to the Bijapur Sultanate in 1632 and regained control over Pune and Supe. In 1638, he received the jagir of Bangalore after Bijapur's invasion of Kempe Gowda III's territories. Afterwards, he became the chief general of Bijapur and oversaw its expansion. He was the father of Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha Kingdom.

A bank engine (United Kingdom/Australia) (colloquially a banker), banking engine, helper engine or pusher engine (North America) is a railway locomotive that temporarily assists a train that requires additional power or traction to climb a gradient (or bank). Helpers/bankers are most commonly found in mountain divisions (called "helper districts" in the United States), where the ruling grade may demand the use of substantially greater motive power than that required for other grades within the division.

Naneghat, also referred to as Nanaghat or Nana Ghat (IAST: Nānāghaṭ), is a mountain pass in the Western Ghats range between the Konkan coast and the ancient town of Junnar in the Deccan plateau. The pass is about 120 kilometres (75 mi) north of Pune and about 165 kilometres (103 mi) east from Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It was a part of an ancient trading route, and is famous for a major cave with Sanskrit inscriptions in Brahmi script and Middle Indo-Aryan dialect. These inscriptions have been dated between the 2nd and the 1st century BCE, and attributed to the Satavahana dynasty era. The inscriptions are notable for linking the Vedic and Hinduism deities, mentioning some Vedic srauta rituals and of names that provide historical information about the ancient Satavahanas. The inscriptions present the world's oldest numeration symbols for "2, 4, 6, 7, and 9" that resemble modern era numerals, more closely those found in modern Nagari and Hindu-Arabic script.

The Bene Israel (lit. 'Sons of Israel'), also referred to as the "Shanivar Teli" (lit. 'Saturday oil-presser') or "Native Jew" caste, are a community of Jews in India. It has been suggested that they are the descendants of one of the Ten Lost Tribes via their ancestors who had settled there centuries ago. Starting in the second half of the 18th century, after they were taught about normative Sephardi Judaism, they migrated from villages in the Konkan region where they had previously lived to nearby cities throughout British India—primarily to Mumbai where their first synagogue opened in 1796 but also to Pune, Ahmedabad, and Karachi (now in Pakistan), where they gained prominent positions in the British colonial government and the Indian Army.

In the early part of the 20th century, many Bene Israel became active in the Indian film industry as actresses/actors, producers, and directors. With Indian independence in 1947 followed by the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948, many Bene Israel, including those who had arrived in India after their exodus from newly-independent Pakistan, soon emigrated to the State of Israel, the United States, as well as Canada, and other Commonwealth countries. Emigration from India (mostly to Israel but also to the UK, the US, Canada and Australia) reduced the approximate population there from a peak of 20,000 in 1951 to 16,000 in 1961 and 5,500 in 1971, after which the emigration greatly declined.

Several cities in the Indian subcontinent, including Ahmedabad, Ambala, Bellary, Belgaum, Bangalore, Danapur, Jabalpur, Kanpur, Bathinda, Delhi, Nilgiris, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Meerut, Ramgarh, Secunderabad, and Trichy, contained large cantonments of the former British Indian Army, with Meerut and Ramgarh being two of the most important cantonments in Northern India, second only to the headquarters at Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan). Meerut was established in 1803, and for 150 years was the largest cantonment in the region. Although cantonments in India were considered to be semi-permanent in the 18th and 19th centuries, by the turn of the 20th century, they had transitioned to being permanent garrisons. They were further entrenched as such, via the military reforms ofLord Kitchener in 1903, and the Cantonments Act of 1924.

At India's Independence in 1947, India had 56 cantonments. After this India added 6 cantonments the last being Ajmer Cantonment in 1962, taking the total number to 62. They covered an area of 161,000 acres (650 km).

Supercomputing in India has a history going back to the 1980s. The Government of India created an indigenous development programme as they had difficulty purchasing foreign supercomputers. As of November 2025, the AIRAWAT supercomputer is the fastest supercomputer in India, having been ranked 188th fastest in the world in the TOP500 supercomputer list. AIRAWAT has been installed at the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) in Pune.

University Grants Commission (UGC) is a statutory body under Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Government of India. It was set up in accordance to the UGC Act 1956 and is charged with coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of higher education in India. It provides recognition to universities in India, and disbursements of funds to such recognized universities and colleges. The UGC headquarters are in New Delhi, and it has six regional centres in Pune, Bhopal, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Guwahati and Bengaluru. A proposal to replace it with another new regulatory body called HECI is under consideration by the Government of India. The UGC provides doctoral scholarships to all those who clear JRF in the National Eligibility Test. On an average, each year ₹725 crore (US$86 million) is spent on doctoral and post-doctoral fellowships by the commission.

Bajaj Auto Limited (/bəˈdʒɑːdʒ/ bə-JAHJ) is an Indian multinational automotive manufacturing company based in Pune. It manufactures motorcycles, scooters and auto rickshaws. Bajaj Auto is a part of the Bajaj Group. It was founded by Jamnalal Bajaj (1889–1942) in Rajasthan in the 1940s.

Bajaj Auto is the world's third-largest manufacturer of motorcycles and the second-largest in India. It is the world's largest three-wheeler manufacturer. In December 2020, Bajaj Auto crossed a market capitalisation of ₹1 trillion (US$12 billion), making it the world's most valuable two-wheeler company.

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) is a research Institute under the Department of Atomic Energy of the Government of India. It is a public deemed university located at Navy Nagar, Colaba in Mumbai. It also has centres in Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad. TIFR conducts research primarily in the natural sciences, the biological sciences and theoretical computer science.

Bhaja Caves are a group of 22 rock-cut caves dating back to the 2nd century BC located off the Mumbai - Pune expressway near the city of Pune, India. The caves are 400 feet above the village of Bhaja, on an important ancient trade route running from the Arabian Sea eastward into the Deccan Plateau (the division between North India and South India). The inscriptions and the cave temple are protected as a Monument of National Importance, by the Archaeological Survey of India per Notification No. 2407-A. It belongs to the Early Buddhist schools in Maharashtra. The caves have a number of stupas, one of their significant features. The most prominent excavation is its chaitya (or chaityagrha – Cave XII), a good example of the early development of this form from wooden architecture, with a vaulted horseshoe ceiling. Its vihara (Cave XVIII) has a pillared verandah in front and is adorned with unique reliefs. These caves are notable for their indications of the awareness of wooden architecture. The carvings prove that tabla – a percussion instrument – was used in India for at least 2300 years, disproving the centuries-held belief that the tabla was introduced to India by outsiders or from Turko-Arab. The carving shows a woman playing tabla and another woman dancing.

They are some 9 km west from the Bedse Caves. Other caves in the area are Karla Caves, Patan Buddhist Cave and Nasik Caves.

Aurangabad (pronunciation), officially renamed as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in 2023, is a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Aurangabad district and is the largest city in the Marathwada region. Located on a hilly upland terrain in the Deccan Traps, Aurangabad is the fifth-most populous urban area in Maharashtra, after Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Nashik, with a population of 1,175,116.

The city is a major production center of cotton textile and artistic silk fabrics. Several prominent educational institutions, including Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, are located in the city. The city is also a popular tourism hub, with attractions like the Ajanta and Ellora caves lying on its outskirts, both of which have been designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1983, the Aurangabad Caves, Devagiri Fort, Grishneshwar Temple, Jama Mosque, Bibi Ka Maqbara, Himayat Bagh, Panchakki and Salim Ali Lake. Historically, there were 52 gates in Aurangabad, some of them still extant, which have earned Aurangabad the nickname the "City of Gates". In 2019, the Aurangabad Industrial City (AURIC) became the first greenfield industrial smart city of India under the country's flagship Smart Cities Mission.

Karli (also Karla) is a town on the highway between Pune and Mumbai in the Mawal taluka of the Pune district in the southern Maharashtra of India. It is on a major trade route that runs from the Arabian Sea eastward, into the Deccan. Karli's location in Maharashtra places it in a region that is the division between North India and South India. It encompasses an area of 457 ha (1,129 acres).

The small town is most famous for the Karla Caves—a 1st-century BC Buddhist temple complex or chaityas cut out of stone. At 40 m (130 ft) long and 15 m (49 ft) in height, it is the largest such chaitya in India. The aisle of the temple is flanked by 37 pillars that are topped with kneeling elephants.

Lonavala-Khandala is a hill station and a municipal council in the Pune district, Maharashtra. It is about 64 km (40 miles) west of Pune and 96 km (60 miles) to the east of Mumbai. It is known for its production of the hard candy chikki and is also a major stop on the railway line connecting Mumbai and Pune. From the Pune suburbs, local trains are available from Pune Junction. The Mumbai-Pune Expressway and the Mumbai-Pune national highway both pass through Lonavala.

Lonavala is also home to INS Shivaji (formerly HMIS Shivaji), the Indian Navy's premier technical training institute. On 16 February 1945, the Establishment was commissioned as HMIS Shivaji and since then, the premier Technical Training Establishment of the Indian Navy trains officers.

Ashta Pradhan (literally, 'Council of Eight') was the cabinet of the Maratha Confederacy. The council is credited with having implemented good governance practices in the Maratha heartland, as well as for the success of the military campaigns against the Mughal Empire.