The best of times, the worst of times

In 1805, Sir James Mackintosh, the Recorder or Chief Justice of Bombay, went on a visit to Poona. He found the chief streets of the city paved with stone and the city regarded as one of the best-built native towns in India. The Peshwa’s residence, the Saturday Palace or Shanvar Wada, from its size well deserved the name of a palace. On the 10th of November, 1808, Sir James Mackintosh paid a second visit to Poona. He learnt from Colonel Close, the Resident, that Poona had a population of about a hundred thousand. The police was entrusted to a military Brahman of the family of Gokhle, who had a large establishment and whose duty was either so easy or so well performed that notwithstanding the frequent meeting of armed men, instances of disorder were rare.

In 1816, the unknown author of Fifteen Years in India described Poona as a modern build and not of any great extent or imposing in appearance. The city lay in a garden-like plain with fine mountain scenery in the distance. Covering the city was a high mountain range with several romantic hill forts in sight and near the city walls was the round and steep Parvati hill. It was well watered by the Mula and Mutha which met near the city. The streets were broader in general than in other native towns and showed vast wealth.

In 1820, according to Hamilton, Poona had a population of 1,50,000. It covered probably not more than two square miles, was indifferently built and wholly open and defenceless, more a large village than a city.

In 1825 (27th June), Bishop Heber describes Poona as lying in the centre of an extensive plain, about 2,000 feet above the sea, surrounded by singularly scarped trap hills from 1,500 to 2,000 feet higher. The plain was very bare of trees, and though there were some gardens close to the city, they were not sufficient to interrupt the nakedness of the picture, any more than the few young trees and ornamental shrubs of the cantonment. The most pleasing feature was the small insulated hill of Parvati. The city was far from handsome and of no great apparent size, though it was said to have a population of 1,00,000. It was without walls or fort, it was irregularly built and paved, it had deep ruinous streets interspersed with pipal trees and many small but no large or striking temples, and as few traces as can well be conceived of having been so lately the residence of a powerful sovereign. Bishop Heber found the chief palace (Shaniwar Wada) large with a handsome quadrangle surrounded by cloisters of carvedwooden pillars. Smaller residences were mean and were whimsically known by the names of the week. The ground floor of the chief palace was used as a prison, and the upper storey as a dispensary and an insane hospital.

In 1832, the French traveller and botanish Jacquemont, a sharp but ill-tempered observer, described Poona as a large city, very dirty and ill built. Nothing bore witness of its former greatness. There were just about 50,000 inhabitants. There were many temples but none remarkable…Wood was extremely rare and dear and the dung of cows as well as the horses was the universal fuel. The streets were very dirty, and in the morning were thronged with men and women. On Parvati, near the temple, were the ruins of the Peshwa’s palace, and great mango groves stretched at the foot of Parvati towards the Mutha and surrounded the city to the south. But the trees were wretched and vegetation had no strength except on the river side. From the hill top, Poona looked a mixture of huts and trees such as pipals, bors and babhuls, with a few coconuts. There were two wooden bridges, one built by the Marathas and the other by the English.

During the fifty years since 1832, Poona has advanced more perhaps than any other of the leading towns of this presidency except Bombay. Since the opening of the railway in 1860, the trade and prosperity of Poona has rapidly increased. The making of the railway, the American war, and the building of the barracks, and most of the leading public buildings between 1860 and 1870, added very greatly to the wealth of the city….The growth of Poona is shown in the increase in the number of its people. The total in 1851 was 73, 219. By 1872, this had risen to 90,436, and to 99,421 in 1881.