எமது ஊர் என் மண் ( Part - 1 )
History of Puducherry
The History of Puducherry (formerly Pondicherry) can be traced back to 1st century.
Contents
- 1 Early period
- 2 European period
- 3 Separation from France
- 3.1 Cession of Pondicherry and Karaikal
- 3.2 Cession of Chandernagore
- 3.3 Cession of Yanam
- 3.4 Cession of Mahe
- 3.5 Date of Events
- 4 List of French Governors in India
- 5 Notes
- 6 External links
Early period
Puducherry, 2nd century BC. Musee
Guimet.
Child with bird, a classical Greco-Roman motif, Virampatnam, Arikamedu, 1st-2nd century. Musee Guimet.
The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea,
of the 1st century, mentions a marketplace named Poduke or Poduca (ch.
60) that G.W.B. Huntingford identified as possibly being Arikamedu (now part of Ariyankuppam), about 2 miles (3.2 km) from the modern city of Pondicherry. Puducherry was apparently an important element of Roman trade with India. 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".[1]
Little is known about the area's early history. The "Bahur Plates", issued in the 8th century speak of a Sanskrit
University that was here from an earlier period. Legend has it that the
sage Agastya established his great Ashram here and the place was known
as Agastiswaram. An inscription found near the Vedhapuriswara Temple
hints at the credibility of this legend.[original research?]
At the beginning of the 4th century AD the Puducherry area was part of the Pallava Kingdom of Kanchipuram. During the following centuries different southern dynasties controlled Puducherry: in the 10th century AD. the Cholas of Thanjavur took over, only to be replaced by the Pandya Kingdom in the 13th 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.
European period
The French East India Company set up a trading centre at Pondicherry in 1674. 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 Puducherry in 1693 but returned
it to France by the Treaty of Ryswick in 1699.
The French acquired Mahe in the 1720s, Yanam in 1731, and Karaikal in
1738. During the Anglo-French wars (1742–1763), Puducherry changed
hands frequently. On January 16, 1761, the British captured Puducherry from the French, but the Treaty of Paris (1763) returned the city to the French.[2]
The British took it again in 1793 amid the Wars of the French Revolution,
and then 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 that the
inhabitants of France's Indian possessions would 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 1 November 1954. It was organized as a Union
Territory in 1963.
Puducherry is now a part of India.
Separation from France
See also: Causes for Liberation of French colonies in India
Cession of Pondicherry and Karaikal
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 Puducherry 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 rebellion of 1857
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, Puducherry 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 to determine 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 Puducherry 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 Puducherry 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 Puducherry 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 charged by police using lathi 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
October 13, 1954 announcing a procedure for deciding the status of the
French settlements. Five days later, on 18 October 1954 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 Republic of India. 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 Puducherry from July 1, 1963.
Cession of Chandernagore
See also: Chandannagar
Under the Indo-French Agreement of June 1948, the first municipal elections were held in Chandernagore
in August, elections in which the Congress Karmaparishad won 22 of the
24 seats. The new municipal assembly overwhelmingly voted for merger
with the Indian Union but it took until June 9, 1952 before the
Government of India took control. Later, Chandernagore became part of
the Hoogly district of West Bengal.
Cession of Yanam
Main article: Coup d'État de Yanaon
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 vigilantes from Yanam assaulted
refugees on Indian soil. It was then that the refugees marched into
Yanam under the leadership of Dadala Raphael Ramanayya
and took over the administration. After hoisting the Indian National
Flag, they adopted a resolution declaring Yanam "liberated".
Cession of Mahe
Close on their heels in Yanam, 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.
Date of Events
| Colony | Liberation | de facto transfer | Treaty of Cession | de jure transfer | Merger | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chandernagore | 26 June 1949 | 28 February 1951 | 9 June 1952 | 1 October 1954 | ||||
| Pondichéry | 1 November 1954 | 28 May 1956 | 16 August 1962 | 1 July 1963 | ||||
| Karikal | 1 November 1954 | 28 May 1956 | 16 August 1962 | 1 July 1963 | ||||
| Yanam | 13 June 1954 | 1 November 1954 | 28 May 1956 | 16 August 1962 | 1 July 1963 | |||
| Mahé | 16 June 1954 | 1 November 1954 | 28 May 1956 | 16 August 1962 | 1 July 1963 |
cont.......part 2....
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