'Punaka' is the name by
which Pune was known in the ancient times. The etymology of the name is
uncertain. The word may have been derived from the Sanskrit root 'poo',
that is to purify. In the pre-historic times, like the rest of the Deccan
plateau, Pune is said to have formed a part of the Dandaka forest, which
the epic Ramayana represents as inhabited by demons who disturbed the
religious rites of the Brahmin sages. Sacredness was attached to the town
because of its location on the confluence of the Mula and Mutha rivers.
The Pune region seems to have attained prominence as early as 90 B.C.,
when king Vedishri made Junnar the capital of his kingdom, thirty miles
north of Pune. For the 900 years ending in the early fourteenth century,
with the overthrow of the Devgiri Yadavs by the Mughals, no historical
information regarding Pune is available. The Mughals ruled the Deccan and
other parts of India from the fourteenth century till the end of the
sixteenth century. |
