Formarly a French colony which has settled in the early part of the 18th century. Places of interest are Sri Aurobindo Ashram Auroville - the brain child of the mother and designed by French Architect roger Anger, AuroVille was meant to be an experiment in international living where man and women could live in peace and progress harmony with each other above all creeds.

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".1

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.

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).

Aurobindo Ashram

The main building encompasses the houses of Shri Aurobindo and The Mother (Mirra Alfassa, a French woman who accepted Aurobindo as her spiritual mentor and guide and later became his most important disciple). In the courtyard are the samadhis of Aurobindo and The Mother where their mortal remains have been enshrined. The worth visiting at the Ashram complex are the International Education Centre, guest houses, libraries and the cottage industries.

Pondicherry Beach

The beaches are the best place to relax in Pondicherry.The 1500 metre long beach that borders the town on the eastern side is clean and is an ideal place for swimming and sun bathing. There are two monuments of historical significance on the beach. One is the 4m. tall statue of Mahatma Gandhi and the other is the War Memorial, built by the French in commemoration of the soldiers who died in the First World War. The Light House which stands 29m. high is further down the beach and is over 150 years old.

Churches in Podicherry

There are several of churches that are worthy of a visit. One of the most beautiful is the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus located on South Boulevard. It is built in the Gothic style and has three stained glass panels in a corridor behind the altar which exhibits the life of Christ. The Eglise de Notre Dame des Anges on Rue Dumas was built in 1865. The church has an oil painting of Our Lady of Assumption that was donated by Napoleon III. The Eglise de Notre Dame de Lourdes situated in Villiyanur on the outskirts of Pondicherry is built on the same pattern as the Basilica at Lourdes in France.

Temples in Podicherry

There are many temples in Pondicherry that were erected by the Cholas between the 10th and 12th centuries. Most of them are dedicated to the local goddesses of the villages where they were built. There are also quite a few temples dedicated to Lord Vinayaka or Ganapathy.

Auroville

It is about 10 km from the city centre. The place has been converted into a lush green cover from a highly eroded area, by 25 years of sheer hard work. Auroville, at the moment, is formed of several communities, scattered along the border of Pondicherry and Tamil Nadu.

By Air

Nearest Airport - Madurai and Chennai.

By Rail

nearest railhead are at Madras, Villupuram. Another way is to take a train from Bangalore to Cuddalore.

By Road

Cane be easily reach from any of the neighbouring states. Pondicherry is best accessible by road from Chennai, Bangalore and even from Kerala.

Pondicherry is a good place for shopping. Shopping at Pondicherry is very rewarding with low taxes or non-existent. It is known for its traditional doll-making and textiles and silks. Pondicherry is also the birthplace of several world class brands in leather, pottery, aromatics, fashion and handmade paper, which could be your best buys.