Pondicherry
| Puducherry புதுச்சேரி |
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| State : |
 India
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| Union Territory : | Pondicherry | ||
| District : | Pondicherry | ||
| Location : | 11 ° 56 ′ N , 79 ° 50 ′ E | ||
| Area : | 19.46 km² | ||
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Inhabitants : - Agglomeration : |
244,377 (2011) 657,209 (2011) |
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| Population density : | 12,558 inhabitants / km² | ||
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Puducherry ( Tamil : புதுச்சேரி Putuccēri [ ˈpud̪ɯʧeːɾi ]) or Pondicherry (Tamil: பாண்டிச்சேரி Pāṇṭiccēri [ ˈpaːɳɖiʧeːɾi ]) is a city in southern India with around 245,000 inhabitants in the actual city and around 660,000 in the agglomeration (2011 census). It is located on the coast of the Bay of Bengal 135 kilometers south of Chennai (Madras). Puducherry is the capital of the Union territory of the same name and forms an enclave in the area of the state of Tamil Nadu . The city came under French rule in 1673 and remained the capital of French India until 1954 . The French influence can still be felt today. Puducherry is known for its European-style cityscape and the Sri Aurobindo Ashram .
Surname
The name Puducherry ( புதுச்சேரி ) means "new village" in the local Tamil language . During the colonial period, this name changed to Pondicherry ( English ) or Pondichéry ( French ). This name was also adopted in Tamil ( பாண்டிச்சேரி ). With the Pondicherry (Alteration Of Name) Act of September 13, 2006, the city and union territory were officially renamed Puducherry (English) and Poudouchéry (French), respectively. This name change is related to a series of renaming of Indian cities, in which the colonial-era name forms were replaced (see the renaming of Bombay in Mumbai or Madras in Chennai ). The new name has so far hardly been able to establish itself in common parlance. In Tamil, the short form Puduvai ( புதுவை ) is also used as an alternative . Colloquially, the city is often called Pondy for short .
geography
location
Puducherry is located in southern India about 135 kilometers south of Chennai on the Coromandel Coast on the Bay of Bengal . The closest cities are Cuddalore approx. 20 kilometers south and Viluppuram approx. 35 kilometers inland. Puducherry lies at sea level in the flat alluvial land of the coastal plain. South of the city, the Gingee River flows into the sea with the Ariankuppam and Chunnambar estuaries.
The city of Puducherry has an area of 19.46 square kilometers. The metropolitan area, however, extends beyond the boundaries of the administrative urban area of Puducherry. It has an area of 85 square kilometers and also includes the city of Ozhukarai (Oulgaret) and parts of the municipalities of Ariankuppam and Villiannur . Together with these and other more rural areas in the surrounding area, the city belongs to the Puducherry district . This has an area of 290 square kilometers.
The district of Puducherry is next to Karaikal , Mahe and Yanam one of four spatially separated districts of the union territory of Puducherry . It forms an enclave in the area of the state of Tamil Nadu and is surrounded by the area of the districts of Viluppuram and Cuddalore . The demarcation with Tamil Nadu is extremely complex: the Puducherry district consists of numerous fragmented enclaves, some of which in turn include enclaves belonging to Tamil Nadu.
topography
The core city of Puducherry has approximately the shape of an oval on the map with a maximum extension of approx. 1.9 kilometers in north-south and 1.2 kilometers in east-west direction. It is surrounded by a ring road formed by Subbaiah Salai (South Boulevard) , Anna Salai (West Boulevard) , Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Road (North Boulevard) and Goubert Salai (Beach Road) and is bordered by the sea to the east. Towards the lake, the city is protected by a two-kilometer-long embankment reinforced on the lake side by granite blocks. The inner city area enclosed by the ring road is widely known as Boulevard Town . Within the ring road, the streets follow a regular checkerboard pattern. A canal running in north-south direction along Gingy Salai (Canal Road) divides Puducherry into two parts, which were considered the “white” and “black” city in the colonial era. The eastern part, known as the French Quarter , between the canal and the sea, has a distinctly European feel with its colonial buildings and quiet, tree-lined streets. The western part of the city with the main shopping streets Mission Street (also: Cathedral Street ), Mahatma Gandhi Road and Nehru Street hardly differs from other Indian cities.
Most of the outer areas of the city did not emerge until the second half of the 20th century. Most of them grew unplanned and therefore do not have the same regular urban layout as the core city.
City structure
Puducherry is divided into 42 districts (wards) . These are identical to the statistical census tracts . Districts 1–10 are in the north of the city, 11–19 form the city center (Boulevard Town) and the remaining districts are west or south of the city center.
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climate
In Puducherry there is an alternately humid tropical climate . The climate is hot and humid all year round and only becomes more bearable with occasional sea breezes. The annual mean temperature is 28.3 ° C. The temperatures are subject to only minor fluctuations over the course of the year: the warmest month is June with an average temperature of 32.1 ° C, the coolest is January with 24.5 ° C. The rainfall in Puducherry as in all of India is significantly influenced by the monsoon . In contrast to most of the country, the main rainy season on the south-east coast is the winter or north-east monsoon, which brings heavy rainfall from October to December. In these three months more than half of the annual precipitation of 1,171 millimeters falls . Rainfalls also occur during the summer monsoon from July to September, but the amount of rainfall is lower. During the dry season between January and June it hardly rains.
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Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Puducherry
Source: WMO
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history
antiquity
The history of Puducherry goes back to antiquity: At the site of the village Arikamedu, a little south of today's Puducherry, was between the 2nd century BC. BC and the 2nd century AD an important port, from which there was brisk trade with the Roman Empire . During excavations in the 1940s, large amounts of Roman pottery were found in Arikamedu. The site Arikamedu is identified with the place called Poduke or Poduca , which is mentioned in ancient sources (the Periplus Maris Erythraei and the geography of Claudius Ptolemy ).
Little is known about the further history of Puducherry until the beginning of the colonial era. Reports of the mythical sage Agastya , who is said to have founded an ashram in Puducherry, are in any case purely legendary. Also that Puducherry, as is often rumored, was supposed to have been a center of Vedic learning under the name Vedapuri , cannot be historically proven. What is certain is that the Puducherry area was under the rule of changing dynasties: by the 6th century at the latest, it came under the control of the Pallava dynasty, which ruled from Kanchipuram over northern Tamil Nadu. From the 10th century the area was ruled by the Cholas and from the 13th century by the Pandyas . After the turmoil that followed a Muslim invasion from the north and the establishment of the short-lived Sultanate of Madurai , the Puducherry area came under the control of the Vijayanagar Empire, which ruled over large parts of southern India, in the 14th century . The Vijayanagar rulers installed military governors ( nayaks ) in Gingee , who also controlled the area of Puducherry. In 1649 Gingee was taken by the Sultanate of Bijapur .
Colonial times
The French colonial era in Puducherry began in 1673 when the French East India Company bought the small coastal village from the Sultan of Bijapur. As a result, Puducherry became a bridgehead for France's economic interests in India. The up-and-coming trade is closely linked to the name François Martin , who from 1685 as "Director of the Coromandel Coast " ran the business of the French colony. Development was hampered by disputes with the Dutch and Martin's untimely death in 1706. The Dutch, who already had several branches on the Coromandel coast, conquered Puducherry in 1693, but ceded the city to the French again in the Peace of Rijswijk .
After the end of the wars of Louis XIV , the fate of the city was determined by Pierre Lenoir (from 1726) and Benoit Dumas (from 1735). Under the mandate of Joseph François Dupleix (from 1742) and his military successes against the British troops, the colony was expanded to the area around the city and southern India. The influence on the principalities of the region also grew. Puducherry soon developed into a thriving colony. To protect their settlement, the French expanded the defenses. Between 1702 and 1704 they tore down the old fortress and built a new one. 1724–1747 the whole city was secured by a rampart. In 1748, during the War of the Austrian Succession , the city was defended by French troops under Dupleix and was able to withstand a siege by the British.
Since the shareholders of the Franco-Indian company wanted to avoid further disputes with Great Britain, Dupleix was dismissed from his post and his successor, Godeheu, assigned to lead peace negotiations with the British. The peace did not last long, however, and on January 16, 1761, Puducherry was captured by the British and almost completely destroyed. General Lally-Tollendal , who was responsible on the French side, was then accused of treason and executed in France, but was rehabilitated in 1778 by the king overturning the sentence. After the Peace of Paris in 1763 , the British returned Puducherry to France in 1765. After the city had been occupied by the British two more times, 1778–1781 and during the coalition wars 1793–1814, France did not regain full control of Puducherry until 1816. However, France was forbidden to build military fortifications or maintain a garrison.
In the 19th century, the importance of Puducherry declined as French colonial interests turned to Indochina . After the February Revolution of 1848 , all residents of Pondicherry were declared French citizens. In the Third Republic , Puducherry and the other French colonies in India received representation in the French parliament. At the beginning of the 20th century, some Indian nationalists went into exile in Puducherry because they were threatened with arrest in British India . So Aurobindo Ghose (Sri Aurobindo) came to Puducherry in 1910, where he founded the Sri Aurobindo Ashram . The nationalist poet Subramaniya Bharati , who is considered the founder of modern Tamil literature, lived in exile in Puducherry from 1908 to 1918.
Since independence
After India gained independence in 1947, a year later a referendum was held in French India to remain with France or join India. The inhabitants of Puducherry decided, as in all other French possessions except Chandannagar , to stay with France. In the years that followed, however, the pro-Indian movement gained ground, so that on November 1, 1954, Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam de facto joined India. The treaty in which France ceded its colonies to India was signed in 1956, but only came into force de jure in 1962 after ratification by the French parliament . The following year, the Union Territory of Puducherry was founded and Puducherry was designated its capital. A central role in the transition came to Édouard Goubert , who had represented French India in the French National Assembly from 1951 to 1954 and acted as the first Chief Minister of the Union territory of Puducherry from 1963 to 1964 .
The first elections to the 30-member legislative assembly in Pondicherry took place in 1964. With the 70th Amendment to the Indian Constitution, which came into force on December 21, 1991, elected members of the Pondicherry Legislative Assembly were given the right to vote on the electoral college in presidential elections. In addition, since 1964 the Union territory has also been represented by a member of the Rajya Sabha , the state house of the Indian parliament. Thus, the status of Puducherry corresponds to a relatively large extent that of a small federal state. However, important competencies in the area of financial autonomy are still lacking, so that there are repeated calls for full federal statehood.
After the earthquake in the Indian Ocean in 2004 , Puducherry was also affected by the devastating tsunami , which claimed a total of around 165,000 lives in South and Southeast Asia. The city itself was spared major damage, as it was protected from the nine-meter-high tidal wave by the embankment; 25 people died on the beach promenade. The fishing villages in the area were much more severely affected. A total of 107 dead were recovered in the Puducherry district.
population
Population structure
According to the 2011 census, Puducherry has 244,377 inhabitants in the city proper and 657,209 in the agglomeration . Of the Pondicherry population, 9.7 percent are six years old or younger. The gender distribution is balanced: for every 1,000 men there are 1,046 women. The literacy rate in Pondicherry is 89 percent, above the national average of 74 percent for all of India and 85 percent for the urban population (2011 census). 11 percent of the population are members of the lower castes ( Scheduled Castes ). In general, the social indicators are quite positive, but poverty and precarious living conditions are also a problem in Puducherry. One sixth of the city's residents live in slums .
Since France gave residents the option to retain or acquire French citizenship when it returned its colony to India, there are now around 7,000 locals who are French citizens. Another 20,000 people from Puducherry live in France. There are also numerous Indians in Puducherry who come from other Indian states. Most of them came to Puducherry as migrant workers, many also because of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram.
Population development
In 1948 the population of Pondicherry was just under 60,000. After joining India, the city grew rapidly. Population growth has decreased in recent years, as there is hardly any room for further growth in the already densely populated urban area. In contrast, growth is concentrated in the suburbs. Between 2001 and 2011, the population of the city of Puducherry stagnated, while the entire metropolitan area saw its population increase by 30 percent over the same period. Above all, immigration to urban centers contributes to this.
| year | 1961 | 1971 | 1981 | 1991 | 2001 | 2011 |
| Inhabitants (city) | 51,762 | 133,570 | 162,639 | 203.065 | 241,773 | 244,377 |
| Inhabitants (agglomeration) | 51,762 | 154,945 | 251.420 | 401,437 | 505,959 | 657.209 |
language
As in surrounding Tamil Nadu, Tamil is the predominant language in Puducherry. According to the 2001 census, it is spoken as the mother tongue of 92 percent of the population of the city of Puducherry. In addition, as in many places in neighboring Tamil Nadu, there is a long - established Telugu - speaking minority that makes up a good 3 percent of the population. Some of the Muslims in Pondicherry, around 1.5 percent of the total population, speak Urdu as their mother tongue. The remainder are in various languages common to the immigrant population from other parts of India.
As in all of India, English is now the most important language of education and communication . But French too , as a relic of the colonial era, still has a strong position in Puducherry. Only a tiny minority speaks as their mother tongue - around 200 locals with French citizenship and 600 people from mainland France who live in Puducherry. French foreign language skills are quite widespread. In addition, French is the official language alongside Tamil and English, and street signs and the like are often still labeled in French.
religion
According to the 2011 census, Hindus make up the majority of the population of the city of Pondicherry with 83 percent. As a result of the French colonial era, there is a larger minority of Christians , mostly Roman Catholic . Their share has declined due to immigration from other parts of India, today they make up 11 percent of the city's population. Puducherry is the seat of the Archdiocese of Pondicherry-Cuddalore of the Roman Catholic Church in India. The archbishopric includes Puducherry and the districts of Cuddalore and Viluppuram . Furthermore, the suffragan dioceses Dharmapuri , Kumbakonam , Salem and Tanjore are subordinate to him. Muslims make up a smaller minority of 5 percent in the city of Pondicherry. Most of the Muslims in Puducherry are Sunnis from the Hanafi school of law. Other religions account for 0.7 percent.
Economy and Infrastructure
Economic structure
The textile industry is one of the traditional industries in Puducherry. The high quality products are also exported to the world market. The manufacture and export of high quality leather products has meanwhile become the main export item. There is also considerable fishing off the coast with an annual amount of 40,000 tons. In agriculture, flowers, medicinal and aromatic plants are grown and marketed in addition to traditional products. The importance of the IT industry has increased continuously in recent years.
Tourism is important to Pondicherry's economy. The number of overnight stays has risen continuously in recent years. In 2007 just under 800,000 local and around 58,000 foreign tourists visited Puducherry. This meant an increase of almost a quarter compared to the previous year. In addition, there are 25,000–30,000 daily visitors. While Puducherry is attractive to international tourists because of the beautiful cityscape, the Aurobindo Ashram and the good range of hotels and restaurants, for day visitors from neighboring Tamil Nadu, shopping tourism plays a role, not least because of the lower alcohol taxes.
traffic
The National Highway 45A and the East Coast Road (ECR) run through Puducherry . National Highway 45A branches off from National Highway 45 in inland Viluppuram , leads to Puducherry and then parallel to the coast south to Nagapattinam . The ECR also runs parallel to the coast northwards towards Chennai. It was created in 1998 by connecting and expanding several smaller roads along the coast and is best known for its scenic beauty. In the medium term, there are plans to expand the road to four lanes. An alternative route to Chennai is via the inland Tindivanam on National Highway 45. Places in the near and central area are connected to Puducherry by intercity buses. The buses depart from the central bus station west of the city center.
Puducherry train station is on the southern edge of downtown. Since Puducherry is off the main lines at the end of a branch line that branches off from the Viluppuram railway junction, the city does not have particularly good rail connections.
Puducherry has its own airport five kilometers north of the center, which currently (May 2015) has scheduled flights to and from Bangalore. The nearest major airport is Chennai International Airport . The port of Puducherry is only of minor importance. In recent years, a maximum of 45 ships docked per year, the trade volume fluctuated between approx. 20,000 and 100,000 tons (for comparison: in Chennai, India's second largest port, 57 million tons of cargo are handled annually).
education
Puducherry is home to several educational institutions. The University of Pondicherry ( Pondicherry University ) is a so-called "central university", i. H. one of 25 Indian colleges run by the central government. The University of Pondicherry was founded in 1985. Its three square kilometer campus is located around eleven kilometers north of the city. The medical research institute Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER) goes back to the École de Médecine de Pondichéry founded by the French in 1823 . In 1956 it was taken over by the Indian government, the JIPMER has had its current name since 1964. The linguistic and cultural research institute Puducherry Institute of Linguistics and Culture (PILC) is subordinate to the government of the Union territory of Puducherry.
Puducherry is also the location of several French research and cultural institutions: With the Institut Français de Pondichéry (IFP), which is maintained by the French state, and a branch of the École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO), the city has two research institutes that deal with the disciplines Dedicate to indology , social sciences and ecology . Since 2005, the Shivaite manuscripts of Pondicherry stored in the IFP and EFEO have been part of the UNESCO World Document Heritage. The Alliance française also has a branch in Puducherry, which offers French language courses and a cultural program.
Culture and sights
Cityscape and architecture
In the eastern part of Puducherry facing the sea between the canal and the beach promenade is the so-called French Quarter . This part of Puducherry is strongly influenced by the city's colonial past. In the French Quarter, numerous buildings, both public buildings and private houses, have been preserved in the French colonial style of the 18th and 19th centuries. With its historic architecture and tree-lined streets, the French Quarter exudes a calm and at the same time sophisticated atmosphere. Thanks to numerous hotels, cafes and European restaurants, it is particularly popular with tourists and Westerners living in Puducherry.
The colonial buildings in the French Quarter are based on the model of French townhouses, but are adapted to local conditions. The houses are usually built according to a similar scheme. The main facade usually opens to a garden laid out at right angles to the street, a high wall with a carefully executed entrance gate separates the private area from the public street space. The houses have flat roofs with roof terraces, the facades are structured by vertical pilasters and horizontal cornices. The most architecturally significant public buildings from the colonial period include the Hôtel de ville (town hall) and the Raj Niwas (former residence of the governor of French India) , built between 1766 and 1769 . Also in the French Quarter is the Pondicherry Museum , which exhibits ancient archaeological finds from Arikamedu, a collection of sculptures and exhibits from the colonial era, and the Romain Rolland Library , one of the oldest public libraries in India.
In the “Indian” part of Puducherry there are also many well-preserved old residential buildings in the traditional Tamil architectural style in addition to modern functional buildings. In contrast to the French houses, these open onto the street. In front of the house, a veranda (talvaram) , the roof of which is supported by wooden pillars, and a raised platform with stone benches (tinnai) form a semi-public space in which visitors can be received. Inside the house, the rooms are arranged around an open courtyard. A specialty of Puducherry are the buildings that combine elements of Tamil and French architecture. Most of them are two-story buildings, the basement of which corresponds to the Tamil type with talvaram and tinnai , while the upper floor has French style elements. The most important example of this French-Tamil mixed style is the house of Ananda Rangapillais , built in 1735 , a Tamil civil servant in the French service, who was best known to posterity as a diary author .
Promenade
Goubert Salai (formerly Beach Road ) runs along the Puducherry seashore with an almost two-kilometer-long beach promenade facing the lake. The beach promenade is Puducherry's most popular promenade and, especially on weekends when the Goubert Salai is closed to traffic, it is populated by residents of the city and tourists alike.
In the middle of the promenade is a monument to Mahatma Gandhi . The four meter high statue of Gandhi stands under a pavilion and is surrounded by eight granite pillars that come from the fortress city of Gingee . Originally there was a monument to the French governor Joseph François Dupleix on the site of the Gandhi statue . The Dupleix statue was erected in 1870 and relocated to a less representative location at the southern end of the beach promenade after Indian independence. Not far from the Gandhi statue is a monument to Jawaharlal Nehru , which is also surrounded by granite pillars. Cultural, musical and commercial events are held in the square in front of this statue throughout the year. The old lighthouse from 1836 is also on the beach promenade.
Sri Aurobindo Ashram and Auroville
Puducherry is the location of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, founded in 1926 . Because of his activities in the Indian independence movement, the British colonial rulers disliked the Bengali philosopher and mystic Aurobindo Ghose (Sri Aurobindo) was banished to the French-administered Pondicherry in 1910 . Here Aurobindo pursued spiritual inclinations. He developed the teaching of Integral Yoga and founded an ashram with the French woman Mirra Alfassa . Aurobindo and Alfassa that its adherents "The Mother" ( The Mother is called), accumulated a growing group of disciples, including many Europeans around. Among them was Fritz Winkelstroeter alias Medhananda , who lived in Puducherry for 42 years.
In 1968 members of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram under the leadership of Mira Alfassa founded the model city Auroville as a utopian experiment in living, living and consciousness. Auroville is 8 km north of Puducherry and today has around 2000 inhabitants. The design for the city comes from the French architect Roger Anger . It was designed for 50,000 residents and has only been partially implemented. At the center of Auroville is the Matrimandir (“Mother's Temple”), a futuristic-looking building in the form of a golden, spherically flattened ball that serves as a place for meditation and contemplation. A visitor center shows the history and philosophy of the settlement in a permanent exhibition and provides information about current projects and activities of the residents.
Today the Sri Aurobindo Ashram is not only an attraction for numerous spiritually interested travelers, but also an important economic factor in Puducherry. In addition to schools, libraries and hospitals, the ashram also owns numerous workshops, shops and real estate. The main building of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram is located on Rue de la Marine and is open to the public. In the central courtyard is the samadhi or mausoleum of Aurobindo and "The Mother".
Sacred buildings
Several important Catholic churches bear witness to Puducherry's colonial past. Located in the city center on Mission Street, the Immaculate Conception Cathedral (Notre Dame de la Conception Immaculée) is the bishopric of the Archdiocese of Pondicherry and Cuddalore. The baroque church is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of Mary and was built in 1791 on the site of a previous building that was destroyed in the wars against the British. The largest church in Puducherry is the Basilica of the Sacred Heart (Sacré Cœur) built in the neo-Gothic style in 1902-07 on the southern edge of the city center. Our Lady of Angels (Notre Dame des Anges) church on Dumas Street, not far from the seafront, was built in 1855 and represents the neo -Renaissance style .
Compared to the temple cities of Tamil Nadu, the Hindu temples of Puducherry neither stand out in terms of their religious significance nor in terms of architecture. The oldest Hindu temple in the city is the Varadaraja Perumal Temple at the north end of Mahatma Gandhi Road. It is dedicated to the god Vishnu and dates back to the 12th century. In the immediate vicinity is the Vedapureeswarar temple , which is dedicated to Shiva . In the city center north of the park of the God is Ganesha consecrated Manakula-Vinayagar Temple . The main mosque in the city is the Jamai Mosque on Mulla Street in the Muslim Quarter in the south of the city center.
Parks and green spaces
The spacious Bharati Park (formerly Government Park) is located in the center of Puducherry. The park monument (Aayi Mandapam) forms the center of the park. The gleaming white monument in the classicism style was built during the reign of Emperor Napoléon III. (1852–70) and is considered a landmark in Puducherry. A legend has grown up around the Park Monument, according to which Krishnadevaraya , the king of Vijayanagar, stayed near Puducherry in the 16th century and passed a brightly lit house. Because he thought it was a temple, the king went to the building. But when he found out that it was in fact the house of a courtesan named Aayi, he was very embarrassed and upset. To appease the king, Aayi tore down her house and built a water reservoir in its place. This is said to have served the French in the 19th century to solve the drinking water problems of Puducherry. Allegedly, Napoleon III. heard of the history of the reservoir and ordered a memorial to be erected in Aayi's honor.
On the southwest edge of the city center there is a second large green area, the Botanical Garden. It was laid out by the French in 1826 and is around nine hectares in size. In addition to numerous exotic plants, the botanical garden also houses an aquarium and a park railway . The botanical garden also served as the filming location for the fictional Puducherry zoo in the Hollywood film Life of Pi: Shipwreck with Tiger (2011).
Museums
The Government Museum, not far from Bharati Park, houses a collection of historical objects from the history of Puducherry, from Roman ceramics from the Arikamedu excavation site to sculptures from the Pallava , Chola and Vijayanagar times to furnishings from the French colonial era.
The house on Eswaran Dharamaraja Koil Street, where the poet Subramaniya Bharati lived during his exile in Puducherry from 1908 to 1918, now houses a museum that provides information about the life of Bharati.
Celebrations and events
In addition to the all-India holidays such as Independence Day and Tamil festivals such as Pongal , Puducherry also celebrates the anniversary of the storm on the Bastille on July 14th as a reminder of the city's French past . In August, three important anniversaries for Puducherry fall in a short period of time: August 15 is both Indian Independence Day and Sri Aurobindo's birthday, which attracts many Aurobindo followers to Puducherry. On August 16, the final annexation of Puducherry to India in 1962 is remembered. This holiday season is celebrated with the three-day Fête de Pondicherry . Since 1993, the city of Puducherry has also organized an international yoga festival that lasts several days every year in January, with participants from all over the world.
Sons and daughters
- Yvon Ambrose (* 1942), Catholic clergyman, Bishop of Tuticorin
- Louis-François de Bausset-Roquefort (1748–1824), Catholic clergyman, cardinal
- Édouard Goubert (1894–1979), politician
- Kalki Koechlin (* 1984), actress
- N. Rangasamy (born 1950), politician
literature
- SA Rahman (Ed.): Pondicherry. Reference Press, New Delhi 2006, ISBN 81-8405-028-3 ( The Beautiful India ).
- Jacques Weber: Pondichéry et les comptoirs de l'Inde après Dupleix. La democratie au pays des castes. Denöel, Paris 1996, ISBN 2-207-24208-0 ( Destins croisés - L'aventure coloniale de la France ).
Web links
- ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: without page title )
- ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: Actupondy: the Pondicherry Guide (French / English) )
- Pondicherry Past and Present. (Online publication of the Institut Français de Pondichéry, English / French)
- Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage Pondicherry (INTACH) (Information on the architectural heritage of Pondicherry, Tamil / French)
Individual evidence
- ^ Census of India 2011.
- ^ Census of India 2011: A -4 Towns And Urban Agglomerations Classified By Population Size Class In 2011 With Variation Since 1901. Class - I Population of 100,000 and Above.
- ^ Henry Yule: Hobson-Jobson. A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases. ( Memento of July 8, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) London 1903, keyword: Pondicherry .
- ^ The Pondicherry (Alteration Of Name) Act, 2006. indiankanoon.org, September 13, 2006, accessed on February 26, 2015 (English, text of the Pondicherry (Alteration Of Name) Act, 2006).
- ↑ BBC News: New name for old French territory , September 20, 2006.
- ^ Governement of Pondicherry: Pondicherry Municipality . ( Memento from August 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Puducherry City Development Plan ( memento from 20090410021613)
- ↑ Climate data from climate-data.org .
- ↑ On Arikamedu see Vimala Begley: Arikamedu Reconsidered. In: American Journal of Archeology. 87, 1983, pp. 461-481.
- ^ History in a new light. What Pondicherry once known as Vedapuri? Dr. Jean Deloche exploded some myths about this recently. In: The Hindu . April 15, 2006.
- ^ Election Results - Full Statistical Reports. Indian Election Commission, accessed on December 22, 2018 (English, election results of all Indian elections to the Lok Sabha and the parliaments of the states since independence).
- ^ The Constitution (Amendment) Acts: The Constitution (Seventieth Amendment Act, 1992). Ministry of Justice of India, accessed April 22, 2019 .
- ^ V Narayanasamy, Sanjay Dutt: Statehood for Puducherry - Highlights of the press briefing by Shri V. Narayanasamy, Shri A. Namachivayam and Shri Sanjay Dutt in Parliament House. All Indie Congress Committee, January 4, 2019 (Congress party's press conference).
- ↑ Alpa Sheth, Snigdha Sanyal, Arvind Jaiswal, Prathibha Gandhi: Effects of the December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami on the Indian Mainland. (PDF; 4.5 MB). In: Earthquake Spectra. Volume 22, 2006, p. 461.
- ^ Census of India 2011.
- ↑ ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: Town and Country Planning Department, Puducherry, India: City Development Plan - Puducherry, Final Report, March 2007, p. 57 )
- ^ Census of India 2011: A -4 Towns And Urban Agglomerations Classified By Population Size Class In 2011 With Variation Since 1901. Class - I Population of 100,000 and Above.
- ↑ Jacques Chaumont: L'Inde en mouvement: Unce chance à saisir pour la France (French)
- ^ Census of India 2011: C-1 Population By Religious Community. Pondicherry.
- ^ Puducherry Tourism: Statistics .
- ^ Port Department, Government of Puducherry: Traffic handled at Puducherry port. ( Memento of December 2, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
