History of Puducherry

The History of Puducherry can be traced back to 1st century.

Early period

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 from the modern Pondicherry. Pondicherry 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".The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, transl. G.W.B. Huntingford (Hakluyt Society, 1980), p. 119.

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.

At the beginning of the 4th century AD the Pondicherry area was part of the Pallava Kingdom of Kanchipuram. During the following centuries different southern dynasties controlled Pondicherry: 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...
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