Pune, formerly Poona (pronounced [puɳeː]), is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula (Marathi: मुळा) and Mutha rivers (Marathi: मुठा). Pune city is the administrative capital of Pune district.

The Maratha (IPA: [ˈməraʈa];, archaically transliterated as Marhatta or Mahratta) are an Indian caste, found predominantly in the state of Maharashtra. The term Marāthā has three related usages: within the Marathi speaking region it describes the dominant Maratha caste; outside Maharashtra it can refer to the entire regional population of Marathi-speaking people; historically, it describes the Maratha Empire founded by Shivaji in the seventeenth century and continued by his successors, which included many castes.