25th January 1948 French India Peoples` Convention Passed Resolution For Merger Of Pondicherry In Dominion Of India

History of Puducherry

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See also: French India and Colonial History of Yanam

Puducherry was mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, 1st century CE.

The City of Puducherry on the southeast coast of India does not have a vishva history from antiquity. Puducherry has history recorded only after the advent of the colonial powers such as the Dutch, Portuguese, English and the French. Nearby places such as Arikamedu, Ariyankuppam, Kakayanthoppe, Villianur, and Bahur, which were annexed by the French East India Companyover a period of time and became the Union Territory ofPuducherry after Independence, have written histories that predate the colonial era.

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Early period[edit]

Vishva jewellery from Suttukeni, 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). G.W.B. Huntingford identified this as possibly being Arikamedu (now part of Ariyankuppam), located about 2 miles (3.2 km) from the modern city of Pondicherry. Puducherry was apparently an important destination for Roman trade with India. Huntingford further notes that Roman pottery was found at Arikamedu in 1937. In addition, 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 PallavaKingdom of Kanchipuram. During the following centuries different southern dynasties controlled Puducherry: in the 10th century AD. the Chola of Thanjavurtook 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 ofMadurai, the Vijayanagar Empire took control of almost all the South of India, with their power lasting until 1638, when the Sultan of Bijapur began to rule over Gingee.

European period[edit]

In 1674 the French East India Company set up a trading centre at Pondicherry. This outpost eventually became the chief French settlement in India.

Dutch and British trading companies also wanted trade with India. Wars raged among 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 theTreaty of Paris (1763) at the conclusion of the Seven Years' War returned it.^[2]

The British took control of the area again in 1793 amid the Wars of the French Revolution, and 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 Chandernagarremained 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 stipulated 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. On a de factobasis, 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[edit]

Cession of Pondicherry and Karaikal[edit]

From the time India gained its independence from British rule in 1947, it raised the issue of the French settlements on the continent with the Government of France. It took seven years for Puducherry to effectively unite with independent India. Political agitation to achieve this goal began earlier.

In 1787 and 1791, farmers of Karaikal agitated against the heavy land tax imposed by the French. The rebellion of 1857had an effect 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, convinced a Paris court of his cause. He won the case in which he was fined by a French magistrate in Pondicherry for walking into the court with footwear.

Student protests in 1927 and 1930 expressed their desire for an end of French oversight. Leaders such as 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 independence activist and trade union leader V. Subbiahfor the cause of workers and the country.

Police control, which warranted trade union unrest, further increased civilian agitation against the colonial government. In the late 1930, grassroots organizations known as mahajana sabhas were started 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 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, municipal elections in Pondicherry, Karaikal and Yanam were held in October 1948. All municipalities except one elected representatives of 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. 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. An independence activists' 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[edit]

Cession of Yanam[edit]

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. 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[edit]

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[edit]

French India
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

List of French Governors in India[edit]

Commissaires:

François Caron, 1668–1672
François Baron, 1672–1681
François Martin, 1681 – November 1693

Dutch occupation, September 1693 - September 1699 <-- Treaty of Ryswick (1697)

Monument to Joseph François Dupleix in Puducherry

Gouverneurs Généraux:

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), October 15, 1754–1754
Georges Duval de Leyrit, 1754–1758
Thomas Arthur, comte de Lally-Tollendal, 1758 – January 16, 1761

First British occupation, January 15, 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, October 1787–1789
Camille Charles Leclerc, chevalier de Fresne,1789–1792
Dominique Prosper de Chermont, November 1792–1793
L. Leroux de Touffreville, 1793

Second British occupation, August 23, 1793 – 18 June 1802 <-- Treaty of Amiens (1802)

Charles Matthieu Isidore, Comte Decaen, June 18, 1802 - August 1803
Louis François Binot, 1803

Third British occupation, August 1803 – 26 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
Antoine-Léonce 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 Albert 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, August 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, 1947

Inde française became a Territoire d'outre-mer for France in 1946.

Commissaires:

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, 1954

de facto transfer to Indian Union

High Commissioners:

Mr.Kewal Singh November 1, 1954–1957
M.K. Kripalani 1957–1958
L.R.S. Singh 1958–1958
AS Bam 1960
Sarat Kumar Dutta 1961–1961

Notes[edit]

Jump up^ The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, transl. G.W.B. Huntingford (Hakluyt Society, 1980), p. 119.
Jump up^ Chand, Hukam. History Of Medieval India, 202.

External links[edit]

Pondicherry from the origins to 1824 French Institute of Pondicherry
Treaty establishing De Jure Cession of French Establishments in India

[show] v t e French overseas empire

[show] v t e History of India

[show] v t e Union Territory of Puducherry

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History of Puducherry - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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