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History in a new light

Was Pondicherry once known as Vedapuri? Dr. Jean Deloche exploded some myths about this recently

PHOTO: T. SINGARAVELOU

UNDERSTANDING HISTORY Dr. Jean Deloche

Tales and stories are spun around someone or some place and sometimes are believed to be real. Like the story about how Pondicherry, a hamlet of fishermen and weavers, was converted into a centre of Vedic learning, which it wasn't.

"Until the arrival of the French in 1673, Pondicherry was a small weavers' centre. Because the great temple destroyed by Dupleix in 1748 was named Vedapuri Isvaran Kovil, it was inferred that the settlement found by the French was not a humble village but Vedapuri, a centre of Vedic learning. This is a story which was spun from certain facts stated in a few articles by Jouveau Dubreuil," said Jean Deloche, senior research scholar, French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP) and Ecole Francaise d'Extreme Orient (EFEO).

Not Vedapuri

Addressing members of the Historical Society of Pondicherry at the Alliance Francaise, Dr. Deloche, who spoke on "Old Pondicherry: New evidence, new interpretations", said, "Though it is an invented tradition, it is also believed that it was for this reason this place was selected by Sri Aurobindo to establish his ashram. The Vedapuri Isvaran temple was dedicated to Sri Agastisvaran between the 10th and the 15th Centuries. Neither Ananda Ranga Pillai nor Jouveau Dubreuil had suggested that Pondicherry was known as Vedapuri. Also, there are a number of Vedapuriswaran temples in Pondicherry and South Arcot and inscriptions indicate these were seats of learning. Bahour near present day Pondicherry was one," he said to substantiate the fact that Pondicherry was never Vedapuri.

On the urban development of Pondicherry, Dr. Deloche said recent evidence showed that it was a Dutch engineer who made plans for the grid iron pattern layout of Pondicherry. "At the time of the Dutch invasion of Pondicherry in 1693, there was no urbanisation, and streets and lanes were haphazardly laid out. There was no town planning in the native quarter. From 1693 to 1699, the Dutch planned a large new town, with a geometric layout with rectangular blocks of houses separated by straight streets intersecting at right angles," he explained.

"The Dutch wanted to make Pondicherry their main settlement on the Coromandel Coast and therefore, planned a large town. They had also planned a functional distribution of the different Indian communities. They planned to settle the weavers, craftsmen and Brahmins to the north of the Petit Canal and merchants and farmers to its south. This shows that they had some knowledge of the Indian social system. This is how the town was divided into the Ville Noire and Ville Blanche (black town and white town)."

Maps of Pondicherry as it was in 1693 and also of the town before and after the Dutch and British invasions, the Dutch plan and what they were able to achieve within six years, can be seen on panels at the French Institute in Pondicherry. The panels contain the story of the development of Pondicherry from 1673-1824 and are based on Dutch maps preserved in the National Archives at The Hague, Netherlands (Collection Leupe) and the unique collection of maps and plans preserved in the Centre des Archives d'Outre-Mer, Aix-en-Provence, France.

DEEPA H RAMAKRISHNAN

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