Pondicherry
This article is about the union territory. For its capital named Pondicherry, click here. |
Map of Pondicherry Region, Union Territory of Pondicherry, India |
Pondicherry is a
Union Territory of
India. It is a former
French colony. It consists of four non-contiguous districts or enclaves and is named for the largest,
Pondicherry.
The territory is currently undergoing a name change to the original name of the city,
Puduchery meaning "new village" in the official
Tamil language. The French spelled it "Poudichéry", which is the closest French approximation to the Tamil pronunciation. At some point, the hand-written 'u' was mistaken for an 'n', and the misspelling stuck. The territory is called புதுச்சேரி (
') or பாண்டிச்சேரி (') in Tamil, పుదుచ్చేరి (
') in Telugu, and പോത്തുച്ചേരി (') or പോണ്ടിച്ചേരി (
) in
Malayalam. It is also known as
The French Riviera of the East.
Pondicherry consists of four small unconnected districts:
Pondicherry,
Karaikal, and
Yanam on the
Bay of Bengal and
Mahé on the
Arabian Sea. Pondicherry and Karaikal are by far the larger ones, and are both enclaves of
Tamil Nadu. Yanam and Mahé are enclaves of
Andhra Pradesh, and
Kerala respectively. The territory has a total area of 492
km²:
Pondicherry (city) 293 km²,
Karaikal 160 km²,
Mahé 9 km² and
Yanam 30 km². It has 900 000 inhabitants (
2001).
See also: French IndiaThe
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, of the early
2nd century AD, mentions a marketplace named Poduke (ch. 60), which G.W.B. Huntingford identified as possibly being
Arikamedu, about 2 miles from the modern Pondicherry. Huntingford further notes that Roman pottery was found at Arikamedu in
1937, and
archeological excavations between
1944 and
1949 showed that it was "a trading station to which goods of Roman manufacture were imported during the first half of the 1st century AD".
Before this period nothing is known with certainty. The "Bahur Plates", issued in the 8th century speak of a
Sanskrit University which was here from an earlier period. Legend has it that the sage Agastya established his Ashram here and the place was known as Agastiswaram. An inscription found near the Vedhapuriswara Temple hints at the credibility of this legend.
History continues at the beginning of the fourth century A. D. when the Pondicherry area is part of the
Pallava Kingdom of
Kanchipuram. During the next centuries Pondicherry is occupied by different dynasties of the south: in the tenth century A.D. the
Cholas of
Thanjavur took over, only to be replaced by the
Pandya Kingdom in the thirteenth century. After a brief invasion by the Muslim rulers of the North, who established the Sultanate of
Madurai, the
Vijayanagar Empire took control of almost all the South of India and lasted till 1638, when the Sultan of
Bijapur began to rule over
Gingee.
Much of the credit for putting Pondicherry into the framework of strategic importance, as far as colonial scheme of things is concerned, should rest definitely with the French. The
French East India Company set up a trading centre at Pondicherry in 1673. This outpost eventually became the chief French settlement in India.
Dutch and British trading companies also wanted trade with India. Wars raged between these European countries and spilled over into the Indian subcontinent. The Dutch captured Pondicherry in 1693 but returned it to France by the
Treaty of Ryswick in 1699. The French acquired Mahe in the 1720's, Yanam in 1731, and Karaikal in 1738. During the Anglo-French wars (1742-1763), Pondicherry changed hands frequently. On
January 16 1761, the
British captured Pondicherry from the
French, but the
Treaty of Paris (1763) returned the city to the French. It was taken again by the British in 1793 amid the Wars of the
French Revolution, but once again returned to France in 1814. When the British gained control of the whole of India in the late 1850s, they allowed the French to retain their settlements in the country. Pondicherry,
Mahe,
Yanam,
Karaikal and
Chandernagar remained a part of
French India until
1954.
The independence of India in 1947 gave impetus to the union of France's Indian possessions with former
British India. An agreement between France and India in
1948 agreed to an election in France's Indian possessions to choose their political future. The de jure union of French India with the Indian Union did not take place until 1962, although de facto, the bureaucracy had been united with India's on 01 November, 1954. It was organized as a Union Territory in
1963.
Right from the time India gained its independence from British rule in 1947, the issue of the French settlements was raised with the Government of France. It took seven years for Pondicherry to effectively unite with independent India. However, even earlier there were agitations now and then against the French.
In 1787 and 1791, farmers of Karaikal agitated against the heavy land tax imposed by the French. The first war of Indian Independence had its impact in the French settlements but it did not attract the attention of the rulers, as the incidents were few and considered as local. People employed legal means to fight against the French. In 1873, an advocate, Ponnuthammbi Pillai, moved the Paris court and won the case in which he was fined by a French magistrate in Pondicherry for walking into the court with footwear.
There were student agitations in 1927 and 1930 which exhibited their sentiments. Leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Bal Gangadhar Tilak visited Pondicherry and its other enclaves and addressed the meetings. In 1934, "Swatantram", a monthly, was started by veteran freedom fighter and trade union leader V. Subbiah for the cause of workers and the country.
Police control, which warranted trade union unrest, further increased the anger of the people against their rulers. In the late 1930, grassroots organizations known as
mahajana sabhas were opened in Pondicherry and Karaikal. These groups, along with trade unions, organized the Non-Cooperation Movement. During the
Second World War, Pondicherry supported France with men and
materiel. Deaths among French-Indian soldiers caused unrest in the enclaves.
In 1946, the French India Congress was formed with the objective of integrating the French possessions with India. Later the following year, the French India Students Congress adopted a resolution on merger. In January 1948, the French People's Convention passed a resolution expressing its determination to merge the French possessions with India. The Communist Party also asked the people to accept only the merger.
The post-independence government under Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru was anxious to integrate the French Indian territories with the country. India signed an agreement with France in June 1948 which gave power to the people for determining the political status of their land. Accordingly, the municipal elections in Pondicherry, Karaikal and Yanam were held in October, 1948. All municipalities except one were captured by the French India Socialist Party, a pro-French group. The new councillors at a meeting accepted the autonomy offered by the French Government.
The Indian Government continued to press for unification, pledging a distinct status and help for Pondicherry after its merger with India.
As the unification movement gathered momentum under Subbiah, the pro-French leader
Edouard Goubert switched his loyalty to the pro-merger camp. A momentous event in the freedom movement of Pondicherry occurred on
March 18 1954, when the members of the executive council and mayors of Pondicherry and seven adjoining communes proclaimed their decision to merge with India without a referendum. All the communes in Karaikal also followed suit. This decision was to be confirmed by the Representative Assembly and when the Socialist Party was preparing to move the merger resolution, the French governor scuttled it by postponing the session. Provoked by this, the Socialists planned to capture the outlying communes one by one and move to Pondicherry. The Communist Party was also ready to launch a campaign of direct action to merge Pondicherry with India. Accordingly, the leaders of the Socialist Party hoisted the Indian national flag atop the Nettapakkam police station on the last day of March in 1954. Subsequently, many villages in Mannadipet and Bahour communes came under the sway of the pro-merger forces. In the Karaikal region, all the communes and Karaikal municipality passed a resolution in favour of merger. The National Youth Congress began a Satyagraha. A freedom fighters' procession was
lathi charged and the flags carried by the processionists were seized and torn by the French Indian Police.
India and France, following talks, issued a joint statement on
March 13 1954 announcing a procedure for deciding the status of the French settlements. Five days later the elected members of the Representative Assembly and the municipal councillors of Pondicherry and Karaikkal took part in a referendum at Keeloor. Of the 178 members voting, an overwhelming majority of 170 members favoured the merger of French Indian territories with the motherland. Three days later, an agreement on the de facto transfer of the French territories to India was signed in New Delhi between the two countries.
A treaty of cession was signed by the two countries in May 1956. It was ratified by the French parliament in May 1962. On
August 16 1962 India and France exchanged the instruments of ratification under which France ceded to India full sovereignty over the territories it held. Pondicherry and the other enclaves of Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam came to be administered as the Union Territory of Pondicherry from
July 1 1963.
Cession of Mahe and Yanam
Conditions became intolerable in Yanam after its mayor and other representatives of Yanam adopted the merger resolution. The mayor, deputy mayor, and over 200 people took refuge in the adjacent areas of the Indian Union. Police and hired hoodlums from Yanam assaulted refugees on Indian soil. It was then that the refugees marched into Yanam under the leadership of Mayor Satyanandam and took over the administration. After hoisting the Indian National Flag, they adopted a resolution declaring Yanam "liberated." Close on their heels, in Mahe, the Mahajana sabha under its president, I.K. Kumaran began a picketing programme. Some days later, hundreds of volunteers marched into Mahe to stage a demonstration in front of the administrator's residence. They were joined by citizens of the enclave. On
July 16 1954, Kumaran took over the administration from the French administrator marking the end of 224 years of French rule in Mahe.
Under the Indo-French Agreement of June 1948, the first municipal elections were held in
Chandernagore, also a French territory. In August that year the Congress Karmaparishad won 22 of the 24 seats. The new municipal assembly overwhelmingly voted for its merger with the Indian Union and the Government of India took control of Chandernagore on
June 9 1952. Later, it became a part of the Hoogly district of West Bengal.
A remarkable degree of French Influence in Pondicherry exists to this date. Pondicherry was designed based on the French grid pattern and features neat sectors and perpendicular streets. The entire town is divided into 2 sections, the French quarter and the Indian quarter. Many streets still retain their French names and French style villas are a common sight in Pondicherry. In the French quarter, the buildings are typically colonial style with long compounds and stately walls. The Indian (Tamil) quarter consists of houses lined with verandas, and houses with large doors and grills. French and Tamil are equally spoken, while Pondicherry is one of the few places where one can see the French flag fluttering in India [
1].
Pondicherry still has a large number of Tamil and a small number of non Tamil residents with French passports, whose ancestors were in French Governmental service and who chose to remain French at the time of Independence. This gives them some privileges with France that are not available to other Indians. Apart from the monuments pertaining to the French Period, there is the French Consulate in Pondicherry and several cultural organisations, and even the Foyer du Soldat for war veterans of the French Army.
Of the cultural organisations the
French Institute of Pondicherry, the
Pondicherry Centre of the
École française d'Extrême-Orient and a branch of the
Alliance Française are noteworthy. A French-medium school system, the
Lycée Français de Pondichéry, continues to operate under the aegis of the French
Minister of National Education (France).
Commissaires:
*
François Caron, 1668 - 1672
* François Baron, 1672-1681
*
François Martin, 1681 " November 1693
*
Dutch occupation, September 1693 - September 1699 <--
Treaty of Ryswick (1697)
Gouverneur Générals:
*
François Martin, September 1699 -
December 31 1706* Pierre Dulivier, January 1707-July 1708
* Guillaume André d'Hébert, 1708 - 1712
* Pierre Dulivier, 1712 -1717
* Guillaume André d'Hébert, 1717 - 1718
* Pierre André Prévost de La Prévostière,
August 1718 "
11 October 1721*
Pierre Christoph Le Noir(Acting),
1721-
1723*
Joseph Beauvollier de Courchant,
1723 -
1726*
Pierre Christoph Le Noir,
1726 -
1734*
Pierre Benoît Dumas,
1734 -
1741*
Joseph François Dupleix,
January 14 1742 -
October 15 1754*
Charles Godeheu, Le commissaire (Acting),
Octobre 15 1754 -
1754*
Georges Duval de Leyrit,
1754 -
1758* Thomas Arthur, comte de
Lally-Tollendal,
1758 "
January 16 1761*
British occupation,
January 16 1761 -
June 25 1765 <--
Treaty of Paris (
1763)
*
Jean Law de Lauriston*,
1765 -
1766*
Antoine Boyellau,
1766 -
1767*
Jean Law de Lauriston*,
1767 "
January 1777*
Guillaume de Bellecombe, seigneur de Teirac,
January 1777 -
1782* Charles Joseph Pâtissier,
Marquis de Bussy-Castelnau,
1783 -
1785* Le Vicomte,
François de Souillac,
1785*
David Charpentier de Cossigny,
October 1785 -
1787* Thomas, comte de Conway,(
Thomas Conway)
October 1787 -
1789* Camille Charles Leclerc,
Chevalier de Fresne,
1789 -
1792* Dominique Prosper de Chermont,
November 1792 -
1793* L. Leroux de Touffreville,
1793*
British occupation,
August 23 1793 " 1802 <--
Treaty of Amiens (
1802)
*
Charles Matthieu Isidore, Comte Decaen,
June 18 1802 -
August 1803*
Louis François Binot,
1803 *
British occupation, August 1803 " September 1816 <--
Treaty of Paris (1814)
* André Julien,
Comte Dupuy,
September 26 1816 "
October 1825 *
Joseph Cordier, Marie Emmanuel (Acting),
October 1825 "
June 19 1826* Eugène Panon,
Comte Desbassayns de Richemont,
1826 "
August 2 1828*
Joseph Cordier, Marie Emmanuel (Acting),
August 2 1828 "
April 11 1829* Auguste Jacques Nicolas Peureux de Mélay,
April 11 1829 "
May 3 1835* Hubert Jean Victor, marquis de Saint-Simon,
May 3 1835 "
April 1840* Paul de Nourquer du Camper, April 1840 - 1844
* Louis Pujol, 1844 - 1849
* Hyacinth Marie de Lalande de Calan, 1849 - 1850
* Philippe Achille Bédier, 1851 - 1852
* Raymond de Saint-Maur, August 1852 - April 1857
* Alexandre Durand d'Ubraye, April 1857 - January 1863
* Napoléon Joseph Louis Bontemps, January 1863 - June 1871
* Michaux, June 1871 - November 1871
* Pierre Aristide Faron, November 1871 - 1875
* Adolph Joseph Antoine Trillard, 1875 - 1878
* Léonce Laugier, February 1879 - April 1881
* Théodore Drouhet, 1881 - October 1884
* Étienne Richaud, October 1884 - 1886
* Édouard Manès, 1886 - 1888
* Georges Jules Piquet, 1888 - 1889
* Louis Hippolyte Marie Nouet, 1889 - 1891
* Léon Émile Clément-Thomas, 1891 -1896
* Louis Jean Girod, 1896 - February 1898
* François Pierre Rodier, February 1898 -
January 11 1902* Pelletan (Acting),
January 11 1902 - 1902
* Victor Louis Marie Lanrezac, 1902 - 1904
* Philema Lemaire, August 1904 - April 1905
* Joseph Pascal François, April 1905 - October 1906
* Gabriel Louis Angoulvant, October 1906 -
December 3 1907* Adrien Jules Jean Bonhoure, 1908 - 1909
* Ernest Fernand Lévecque, 1909 -
July 9 1910* Alfred Albert Martineau,
July 9 1910 - July 1911
* Pierre Louis Alfred Duprat, July 1911 - November 1913
* Alfred Martineau, November 1913 -
June 29 1918 * (unknown),
June 29 1918 -
February 21 1919* Louis Martial Innocent Gerbinis,
February 21 1919 -
February 11 1926 * Pierre Jean Henri Didelot, 1926 - 1928
* Robert Paul Marie de Guise, 1928 - 1931
* François Adrien Juvanon, 1931 - 1934
* Léon Solomiac, Août 1934 " 1936
* Horace Valentin Crocicchia, 1936 -1938
* Louis Alexis Étienne Bonvin,
September 26 1938 - 1945
* Nicolas Ernest Marie Maurice Jeandin, 1945 - 1946
* Charles François Marie Baron,
March 20 1946 -
August 20 1947Commissaires:
* Charles François Marie Baron,
August 20 1947 - May 1949
* Charles Chambon, May 1949 -
July 31 1950 * André Ménard,
July 31 1950 - October 1954
* Georges Escargueil, October 1954 -
November 1 1954Pondicherry is a
Union Territory of India, not a separate State, which implies that the governance and administration of the territory falls directly under the federal authority in
New Delhi. However, along with
Delhi, Pondicherry is one of the few two union territories in India, which is entitled by special constitutional amendments to have an elected
legislative assembly and a cabinet of ministers, thereby enjoying partial statehood powers. Under the special provision, the government is permitted to make laws with respect to specific matters. In many cases, such legislations may require the ratification from the federal government or the assent of the
President of India.
The Centre is represented by the Lt. Governor, who resides at the Raj Nivas at the Park, the former palace of the French Governor. The Central government is more directly involved in the financial well-being of the territory, as against the states where financial administration, given a budgeted central grant is the responsibility to the state governments. Consequently, Pondicherry has at various times, enjoyed lower taxes, especially in the
indirect category.
Pondicherry was the setting for the first third of the Booker prize-winning novel
Life of Pi by
Yann Martel.
This is a chart of trend of gross state domestic product of Pondicherry at market prices
estimated by
Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation with figures in millions of Indian Rupees.
| Year ¦¦ Gross State Domestic Product |
|---|
| 1980 | 1,840 |
| 1985 | 3,420 |
| 1990 | 6,030 |
| 1995 | 13,200 |
| 2000 | 37,810 |
Pondicherry's gross state domestic product for 2004 is estimated at $2 billion in current prices.
*
French East India Company*
French colonial empire*
French India*
Life of Pi*
JIPMER*
Official website of the Government of the Union Territory of Pondicherry*
Freedom struggle in Pondicherry*
Indian Ministry for External Affaires - 1956 Treaty of Cession*
India Visa Information*
Amazing Pictures of Pondicherry*
Poduke or Arikamedu the most ancient Tamil city*
A Complete Guide To Pondicherry*
Pondicherry Flowers*
Karaikal Struggle Group (KSG)*
The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, transl. G.W.B. Huntingford (Hakluyt Society, 1980), p. 119.
