6 days in Pune District Itinerary

Pune is situated in Maharashtra state of India. Pune city is the district headquarters. In the most recent census on 2011, the total population of the district was 9,426,959, making it the fourth most populous district in India . Urban population comprises 58.08% of the total population. The current population of Pune urban agglomerate is over 5 million.HistoryPlaces in Pune district have a long history.The town of Junnar and the Buddhist caves at Karla have history dating more than two thousand years ago.There also records of visitors to Junnar in 1400s.The area was under islamic rule from 13th 17th century.From 17th century, the Marathas under Shivaji laid the foundation of an independent kingdom in the Pune district area.Peshwas, the de facto rulers of the vastly expanded Maratha empire set up their head quarters in Pune and turned that into a large city.The city and the district became part of the British empire in the 19th century.Many of the early Indian Nationalists and Marathi social reformers came from the city.Ancient and Medieval HistorySince Pune district borders the Western ghat,it formed on the trade route that links the ports of western India or more specifically of Konkan with Deccan interiors.places like Junnar have been an important trading and political center for the last two millennia. The first mention of Junnar comes the Greco -Roman travellers from the first millennium, The Karla Caves are also located close to the Western ghat near a major ancient trade route, running eastward from the Arabian Sea into the Deccan.They are a complex of ancient Indian Buddhist rock-cut cave shrines located in Karli near Lonavala. The shrines were developed over the period – from the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD. The oldest of the cave shrines is believed to date back to 160 BC, having arisen n Many traders and Satvahana rulers made grants for construction of these caves. Buddhists, having become identified with commerce and manufacturing through their early association with traders, tended to locate their monastic establishments in natural geographic formations close to major trade routes so as to provide lodging houses for travelling traders.