a town of British India, capital of a collectorate of the same name in the presidency of Bombay, stands at the confluence of the rivers Moota and the Moola, which form the Moota Moola, in a treeless plain bounded on the W. by the Ghauts, 74 miles S.E. of Bombay, and 58 N. of Sattara. Until recently it was an ill-built place, having more of the appearance of a village than of a town; but since 1841 it has been much improved: two good stone bridges, instead of the ruinous old Mahratta one, have been thrown across the Moota Moola; many good and some splendid houses have been built; and the streets adjacent to the cantonments on the east have been macadamized. The chief building in the town is the former palace of the Peishwa, now used as a prison, hospital, and lunatic asylum. It is extensive, and consists of a fine quadrangle lined with ranges of carved wooden pillars. The British cantonments, which occupy an elevated position to the west of the town, are among the best and largest in India. Here there are broad streets, and a large but not very elegant church. The chief street in the town is broad, and presents a cheerful appearance, as many of the houses are adorned with painted and carved representations of mythological subjects. Poona contains numerous pagodas and extensive bazaars. The town has long suffered from the want of an adequate supply of water, and various efforts have been made to procure it. It was resolved to obtain a sufficient supply from the Moota Moola by means of a dam; and this was completed, after several failures, in 1830, chiefly at the expense of Sir Jansetjee Jejeebhoy. But after all, these works were found to be unsuitable to the end in view; they had to be abandoned, and other measures resorted to for supplying the town with water. There was at Poona a government English school, which has recently been united with the Sanscrit College, established in 1821. This institution had in 1853, 497 pupils. The town has also three girls' schools, all established since 1851, and attended in 1853 by 237 pupils in all. The manufactures of Poona have fallen off very much since the introduction of European goods; and there is only now a manufacture of paper to a very small extent. There is a profitable trade carried on in grain and the raw produce of the country; but with this exception, the merchants of Poona are said to be declining in wealth; and the trade in jewellery and precious stones which, under its Indian rulers, was carried on here, has entirely disappeared. In the neighbourhood of the town there are many ruined hill-forts and an excavated temple, similar, but greatly inferior, to those of Elephanta and Ellora. Poona stands on the south-eastern branch of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, and is connected by roads with Bombay, Sholapore, Ahmednuggur, Nassick, and Sattara. Communication by water can be carried on during the rainy season by means of the Moota Moola, Bheema, and Krishna rivers, from within 75 miles of the west coast of India to the Bay of Bengal.

Poona was, in the flourishing period of the Mahratta power, a great place of rendezvous for the different independent chiefs, with their numerous followers, in order to consult on the general interests of the confederacy, and, when at war, to settle the plan of operations. These meetings were held about the middle of October, at the end of the rainy season, and were sometimes attended by 400,000 or 500,000 people, who were encamped in the surrounding plain, and were well supplied with every necessary, such as wood, grain, and fodder, which were brought down the rivers. At the height of the Mahratta power Poona is said to have contained 150,000 inhabitants; and at its fall in 1818, 11,000. The population in 1838 was estimated at 75,170.

The collectorate of Poona, which has an area of 5298 square miles, is bounded on the N. by the collectorate of Ahmednuggur, E. by those of Ahmednuggur and Sholapore, S. by the territory of Sattara, and W. by the collectorate of Tannah. It belongs entirely to the Deccan; and is bounded on the W. by the Western Ghauts, from which many branches proceed, generally in a S.E. direction, sloping gradually down to the plain. The chief rivers are the Bheema and its affluents, the largest of which is the Neera. The soil and climate of the country are extremely arid, and the east winds especially very dry; but the climate in general is not unhealthy, nor unsuitable for Europeans. The country is almost entirely destitute of trees, but it produces the ordinary grains of the Deccan, potatoes, &c.; and cotton also is cultivated to a small extent. Pop. (1853) 666,006.

The first notice of Poona occurs in the early part of the seventeenth century, when it was included in the jaghire or estate of Shahjee, father of the famous Sevaje, the founder of the Mahratta power, who built the palace there for his own residence. In 1740 the office and the power of the peishwa or minister was rendered really supreme, and that of the rajah merely nominal, by Balajee, who fixed his residence at Poona, and died there in 1761. The dignity was transmitted to his son Madhoo Rao, who died in 1772, and was succeeded by his brother Narain Rao, who was murdered by his uncle Ragoba; and shortly afterwards a posthumous child of the deceased was placed on the throne. He died in 1795; and the elder of the two sons of Ragoba, named Bajee Rao, succeeded. This peishwa was supported by Scindia, and took his part against Holkar, who totally defeated both the allies at Poona in 1802. In order to avoid total ruin, Bajee Rao applied for an alliance with the British. A treaty was in consequence concluded which