History of Pune - 1858-1947

1858-1947

Pune got its name from the name of the temple ‘Punyeshwar’. In the year 1918, Pune municipality had found some ruins of the temple when development work was undertaken e.g. dwarshakha of the temple, idol of Sree Vishnu, an idol of a hermit, other idols of Hindu deities, ‘Shiva-linga’, Gomukh etc. These were handed over to the Indian Historians.

Pune was an important center for the social and religious reform movements that were sweeping the country. Many prominent reformers lived here, including Mahadev Govind Ranade, Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Maharshi Vitthal Ramji Shinde and Jyotirao Phule. The most important political reformer of this era was Bal Gangadhar Tilak, who dominated the Indian political scene for six decades.

Pune is also associated with the struggle for Indian independence. Mohandas Gandhi was imprisoned at Yerwada Central Jail several times, and placed under house arrest at the Aga Khan Palace in 1942-44, where both Kasturba Gandhi, his wife, and Mahadev Desai, his long-time aide and secretary, died.