60th Independence Day Celebration - Pondicherry

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Monuments of Pondicherry

A wondrous history of this place is told by obliging Pondicherrians. As well as the striking grid-like street planning, buildings and monuments. About the arrival of the European maritime powers of the 16th century -the Portuguese, the Dutch, the Danes, the English and importantly, the French, setting foot first in 1670. About the transformation of a tiny fishing village into a grand port city by the 18th century. About fierce Anglo-French battles. Ravages. And sieges. About brave generals. Friendly maharajas. And even, philanthropic courtesans. And about an undisturbed French rule for 138 years till 1954.

Park Monuments (Aayi Mandapam)

The most beautiful public space in town is the green and shaded Government Park, in the heart of Pondicherry. Standing smack in its centre is Aayi Mandapam. Built in Greco-Roman architecture, unsinfully white, during the reign of Napoleon III- Emperor of France.
It bears the name of Aayi -a 16th century courtesan. Who razed down her home and replaced it with a reservoir. To appease a passing king, angry at having mistaken her candle-lit residence for a holy place. It was from this lake that Napoleon`s men quenched their thirst, some 300 years later. Napoleon, charmed by the story, ordered a monument to Aayi.

Arikamedu

A historical site, 4 kms south of Pondicherry, which revealed local trade with Romans as early as 2nd century B.C. Some even believe Roman settlements existed. Wine seems to have been a major import as excavated amphora jars suggest. In return, textiles, precious stones and shell-jewellery left these shores.Moreover, you`ll still find the amazing ruins of an 18th century French Jesuit Mission House here. It was abandoned in 1783.

Ananda Ranga Pillai Mansion

Ananda Ranga Pillai was the celebrated dubash of Dupleix, the governor of Pondicherry while it flourished under French glory. Pillai`s compilation of diaries serve as a storehouse of information on 18th century French India. His mansion, completed sometime in 1738, is one of the oldest surviving buildings on the west side- then known as "natives` quarters." Its architecture represents a curious mix of French and Indian styles.

The Statue of Dupleix

This is Pondicherry`s tribute to Francois Dupe ix whose able governorship came to an end in 1754. However, French recognition came about a century later, when, in 1870, they paid homage by commissioning two statues -one in France and the other in Pondicherry. The 2.88 m tall structure was erected over six carved ornamental granite pillars at the Place du Republique. It now stands restationed overlooking a children`s park at the southern end of the promenade, now named Goubert Avenue.

Place Du Gouvernement

The Place Du Gouvernement is a brilliant example of town planning in Pondicherry. Comprising the 18th century Palais Du Gouvernement -now the Raj Nivas (not open to the public) -and the old tribunals -now housing the Legislative Assembly -along with a neat three-sided line-up of other handsome buildings. At the centre, surrounded by a well-tended garden, stands the Water Monument, sculpted to commemorate the introduction of good drinking water for the population. Latin and Tamil inscriptions bear out the story. Some exquisitely carved monolithic pillars, brought to Pondicherry from the Gingee Fort after its capture in 1751 , adorn the place.

19th Century Light House

The early sea-farers to Pondicherry were guided by a beacon kept burning on the Red Hills (Gorimedu), about 5 kms west of the town. The now-abandoned light house standing on the edge of the sea near the Place Du Gouvernement was lighted for the first time on 1 July, 1836. The light was placed upon a masonry tower, 29 m above sea level and was visible upto a distance of 29 kms into the sea. In 1931, the fixed light was replaced by a revolving lantern. It fell into disuse with the commissioning of the new light house in 1979.

French War Memorial

No visit to Pondicherry is complete without a free-wheeling stroll down the peaceful promenade -Goubert Avenue (`Beach Road`, locally speaking) .Where you`ll find this elegant tribute to the uniform. It gets prettily illuminated during a solemn ceremony every 14 July, Bastille Day.

The Statue of Joan of Arc

A lasting, triumphant image of the heroic French damsel Jeanne d` Arc, is frozen in marble, within the garden laid out in front of L` Eglise de Notre Dame des Anges.

Churches

French missionary zeal in the 17th and 18th centuries saw a number of imposing churches built here. The Eglise de Sacre Coeur de Jesus, situated on the south boulevard, stands out as an oriental specimen of Gothic splendour. It contains rare and beautiful stained glass panels depicting events from the life of Christ. The Eglise de Notre Dame de la Conception Immaculee, on Cathedral Street, was first built in 1692. It took its present shape in 1791.

The Eglise de Notre Dame des Anges, in Rue Dumas, is notable for its masonry -which uses the finest of limestone mixed with white of the egg -making for a texture identical to that of white marble. It is modelled on the Basilica at Lourdes, in southern France.

The Pondicherry Museum

On the ground floor, the major attraction is the central space with 3 curious transport mechanisms -a coach, a palanquin (sedan chair) and a pousse-pousse which required two attendants, one to steer and one to push. The bronze gallery displays the images of gods and goddesses together with a wide collection of temple lamps; used across different dynasties down centuries.

Pre-Christian relics which you will find here, such as remnants` of Greek and Roman amphora jars, pieces from the Tsung Periods in China and beads made from glass and precious stones were dug out from the Arikamedu site, just south of Pondicherry.

The French Cemetery at Karaikal

For a look-see into a veritable who`s who of 19th century Karaikal, wander through the French cemetery on Rue de Marche (Market Street). Administrators, landlords, port officials, women and children lie buried under curious headstones with interest-evoking inscriptions. You will also find an aged, tiny chapel within the walls.

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History of Pondicherry

The 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.

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Geography of Pondicherry

Pondicherry consists of four small unconnected districts: Pondicherry, Karaikal, and Yanam on the Bay of Bengal and Mahe on the Arabian Sea. Pondicherry and Karaikal are by far the larger ones, and are both enclaves of Tamil Nadu. Yanam is an enclave of Andhra Pradesh, and Mahe is an enclave of Kerala. The territory has a total area of 492 km²: Pondicherry (city) 293 km², Karaikal 160 km², Mahe 9 km² and Yanam 30 km². It has 900 000 inhabitants (2001).

The Union territory of Pondicherry encompasses an area of only 480 sq km with Pondicherry town and its villages covering 290 sq.km surrounded by the south Arcot District, Karaikal town and its villages covering 161 sq.km surrounded by Tanjavur district, Mahe and its villages covering 9 sq km surrounded by the Kerala state, and Yanam covering 20 sq.km within the East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh.

While Pondicherry, the head quarters of the union territory, lies 162 km south of Madras and 22 km north of Cuddalore, Karaikal is about 150 km south of Pondicherry and Yanam about 840 km north-east of Pondicherry on the Andhra Coast. Mahe lies almost parallel to Pondicherry, 653 km away on the west coast.

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Introduction of Pondicherry

Pondicherry is a Union Territory of India. It was formerly ruled by the French. It consists of four non-contiguous districts or enclaves. It is currently undergoing a name change to Puduchery. The name “puduchery” means “new village” in Tamil. The French spelt it “Poudichery”, 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.

Pondicherry’s ancient history dates back to the Vedic era; the Romans traded here 2 millennia ago, and the Portuguese arrived in 1521. Dutch and Danish traders followed, but it was the French - who purchased the town in the late 17th century, only relinquishing their hold in 1954 - who left the most enduring legacy. Now a Union Territory, with its own local government, this seaside colony retains its French elan, tempered by South Indian warmth, making it one of India’s most relaxing destinations.

Besides hanging out in your antiques-filled colonial hotel or sauntering around the oceanfront French Quarter (where you’ll see old men in thick-rimmed spectacles under the apparent illusion that they’re in a Parisian arrondissement), you can visit Auroville, an interesting experiment in alternative living, also optimistically known as the City of Dawn, or join the New Age travelers here to visit the ashram of Sri Aurobindo. Ashramic allure and Aurovillian aura aside, Pondy is the type of charming seaside town where you arrive for a quick overnighter and end up staying; like Goa, it has a number of exacts to prove it. And, yes, it’s far friendlier than Bordeaux.

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