Pune (formerly known as Poona) is a city located on the Mutha river in the state of Maharashtra in western India. In the eighteenth century, the city was a political center, as it was the seat of the Peshwas, prime ministers of the Maratha Empire. When the Peshwas were defeated at the Battle of Khadki on 5 November 1817, the British seized control of the city. It was connected to Mumbai by rail in 1858. The city became a center for the Indian independence movement from the 1870s onwards. The city remains a center for higher education.