Mahé Mayyazhi | |
|---|---|
Municipality in puducherry | |
  Mahé Location of Mahe surrounded by Kerala Show map of Kerala Mahé Mahé (India) Show map of India | |
| Coordinates:11°42′4″N75°32′12″E / 11.70111°N 75.53667°E /11.70111; 75.53667 | |
| Country | India |
| Region | Puducherry |
| District | Mahé |
| Government | |
| • Type | Municipality |
| • Body | Mahé Municipality (Mairie de Mahé) |
| Area | |
• Total | 10 km2 (3.9 sq mi) |
| Population (2011) | |
• Total | 41,816 (approx) |
| • Density | 4,646/km2 (12,030/sq mi) |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Malayalam |
| • Additional | English,French |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
| PIN | 673 310 |
| Telephone code | 91 (0) 490 |
| Vehicle registration | PY-03 |
| Sex ratio | 1,000♂/1,184♀ |
| Literacy | 97.87% |
| Vidhan Sabha constituency | 1 |
| Climate | Tropical monsoon climate(Köppen) |
| Website | mahe |
Mahé (English:/mɑːˈheɪ,ˈmɑːhiː/,French:[mɑˈe]), also known asMayyazhi (Malayalam:[mɐjːɐɻi]), is a municipality and small town in theMahe district of thePuducherry Union Territory. It is situated at the mouth of theMahe River and is surrounded by the State ofKerala.The district of Kannur surrounds Mahe on three sides andKozhikode district on one side.
Formerly part ofFrench India, Mahe now forms a municipality inMahe district, one of the four districts of theUnion Territory ofPuducherry. Mahe has onerepresentative in thePuducherry Legislative Assembly.
The nameMahe derives fromMayyazhi, the name given to the local river and region in theMalayalam language.[1] The original spelling found on French documents[which?] from the early 1720s isMayé, withMahe andMahie also found on documents, maps and geographical dictionaries until the early 19th century when the spellingMahe became the norm. Therefore, the belief that the name of the town was given in honour ofBertrand Francois Mahe de La Bourdonnais (1699–1753), whose later fame derived in good part from his association with India, including his capture of Maye in 1741, is incorrect.[2]
Another claim that the spellingMahe was officially adopted by the leader of the expedition that retook the city in 1726 in recognition of La Bourdonnais' role at the time is also unlikely.[3] It is probable that the resemblance of Maye not to mention Mahe, with La Bourdonnais' family name prompted later generations to assume that the famous Frenchman was somehow directly or indirectly associated with the name to the town or the spelling of the name.[citation needed]
Before the arrival of European trading companies to theIndian subcontinent, this area was part ofKolathu Nadu which comprisedTulu Nadu,Chirakkal andKadathanadu. TheFrench East India Company constructed a fort on the site of Mahe in 1724, in accordance with an accord concluded between André Mollandin and Raja Vazhunnavar ofVatakara three years earlier. In 1741, Mahe de La Bourdonnais retook the town after a short period of occupation by theMarathas.
In 1761, the British captured Mahe and the settlement was handed over to the Rajah of Kadathanadu. The British restored Mahe to the French as a part of the 1763 Treaty of Paris. In 1779, the Anglo-French war broke out, resulting in the French loss of Mahe. In 1783, the British agreed to restore to the French their settlements in India, and Mahe was handed over to the French in 1785.[4]
On the outbreak of theFrench Revolutionary Wars in 1793, a British force underJames Hartley captured Mahe. In 1816, the British restored Mahe to the French as a part of the 1814 Treaty of Paris, after the conclusion of theNapoleonic Wars. Mayyazhi remained under French jurisdiction as a small French colony, an enclave withinBritish India, during the long span that began in 1816. After theindependence of India the area continued to be French-ruled until 13 June 1954, when a long anti-colonial struggle culminated in its joining the Indian Union.
After the French left, Mahe became a district ofPuducherry Union Territory. The area of Mahe begins from Mayyazhi Puzha in the north to Azhiyoor at the south. Mahe consists of Mahe town and Naluthara, which includes four villages: Pandakkal, Pallur, Chalakara and Chembra. The ruler ofKingdom of Mysore from the 1760s,Hyder Ali (ca 1722–1782), gifted Naluthara to the French as a token of appreciation for the assistance they provided in the war.
Gandhians likeI. K. Kumaran led the struggle for union with India in Mahe after Indian independence in 1947. The municipal office of the French administration was attacked on 21 October 1948 at 9:00 PM. The French national flag was removed and the Indian national flag was hoisted on the municipal building (Mairie in French). On 26 October, a French navy ship anchored in Mahe and the French regained control of Mahe. The ship left Mahe on 31 October. Communists tried to capture Cherukallayi enclave in April 1954. Two Indians were killed during the struggle. The Indian flag was hoisted in the Naluthura enclave on 1 May. The freedom fighters conducted an embargo on Mahe from June that year. On 14 July 1954, the Mahajanasabha organized a march into Mahe, which was liberated on 16 July 1954.[5][6][7]
As of the 2011 India census,[8] Mahe had a population of 41,816, predominantlyMalayalis. Males constitute 46.5% of the population with Females constituting the remaining 54.5%. Mahe has an average literacy rate of 97.87%; male and female literacy were 98.63% and 97.25%, respectively. Both the Sex ratio (1184 females per 1000 male) and the literacy rates in Mahe are relatively higher compared to the rest of the nation. The national Sex ratio is 940 females per male and the literacy rate is at 74.04 per cent.
In Mahe, 10.89% of the population consists of children under six years of age. In the 2011 census, the overall child sex ratio was 978 girls per 1000 boys compared to the previous figure of 910 girls per 1000 boys in the 2001 census data. In 2011, children under 6 formed 10.89 percent of Mahe District compared to 11.34 percent in 2001. There was an overall net decrease of 0.45 percent between 2001 and 2011.
The share ofHindus in the population is 66.8% (27,940) andMuslims are 30.7% (12,856) as per the2011 census of India. Christians account for 2.29% (958) of the population.
The culture and geography of this area are like almost all of those in the Malabar Coast ofKerala. There are only very fewFrench language speakers in the town (fewer than 100). Only a few influences of French remain in the area. These are mostly reflected in architecture and a few old buildings.[citation needed]
The major festivals of this region areVishu,Onam and Eid. The major language isMalayalam. The population also includesArabic speakers. The major religion isHinduism, practised by 66.8% of the populace.
The few places that upheld the rich French culture once prevalent in the area are:[9]
Mahe has atropical monsoon climate (KöppenAm), typical for the Kerala and Karnataka coast. There is a dry season from December to March, but the location on the windward side of the Western Ghats means that during the westerly monsoon season the region receives exceedingly heavy rainfall, reaching up to 1,080 millimetres or 43 inches in July.
| Climate data for Mahe, Puducherry, India | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 31.6 (88.9) | 32.0 (89.6) | 33.0 (91.4) | 33.2 (91.8) | 32.7 (90.9) | 29.6 (85.3) | 28.3 (82.9) | 28.7 (83.7) | 29.5 (85.1) | 30.4 (86.7) | 31.0 (87.8) | 31.4 (88.5) | 31.0 (87.8) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 21.8 (71.2) | 22.9 (73.2) | 24.6 (76.3) | 25.8 (78.4) | 25.7 (78.3) | 23.9 (75.0) | 23.4 (74.1) | 23.6 (74.5) | 23.7 (74.7) | 23.8 (74.8) | 23.3 (73.9) | 22.0 (71.6) | 23.7 (74.7) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 3 (0.1) | 4 (0.2) | 13 (0.5) | 76 (3.0) | 295 (11.6) | 905 (35.6) | 1,083 (42.6) | 539 (21.2) | 274 (10.8) | 237 (9.3) | 106 (4.2) | 22 (0.9) | 3,557 (140) |
| Source: Climate-Data.org[10] | |||||||||||||
Mahe’s nearest airport is the recently commencedKannur International Airport,Mattanur, at a distance of 40 kilometres (25 miles). The next nearest airport is theKozhikode International Airport,Karipur, at a distance of 85 kilometres (53 miles).
The nearest Railway Station isMahe railway station, where a few local and express trains stop. The nearest major railway stations, where several long-distance trains stop, areThalassery,Kannur,Mangalore andVatakara.
There are a fewPuducherry Road Transport Corporation buses that operate in Mahe. Otherwise, the bulk ofpublic transport, including private buses based inMalabar andauto rickshaws, is managed by theKerala State Road Transport Corporation.
Mahe municipality is the seat of the local administration of Mahe. The Mahe municipal area comprises 9 square kilometres (3.5 square miles) with one Assembly Constituency, i.e. Mahe. The municipal council was established in 1978. The Regional Administrator or Regional Executive Officer is used to exercise the power of the chairman andVice-Chairman in the capacity of Special Officer of Mahe Municipal Council. Civic elections were held during 2006 after nearly 30 years. Based on the elections, the chairman and 15 councillors of Mahe Municipality were sworn in.
Mahe Pocket
Cherukallayi Pocket
Naluthara Pocket
Mahe Municipality consists of 15 wards.
Mahe Pocket
Cherukallayi Pocket
Naluthara Pocket
Mahatma Gandhi Government Arts College, Mahe, was established in 1970 byI. K. Kumaran. The Mahe Co-operative College of Teacher Education was established in 2005 and is part of the Mahe Co-operative Centre for Information Technology Ltd.[11][12] Other institutions include Mahe Co-operative College of Higher Education & Technology, Mahe Institute of Dental Sciences & Hospital, Rajiv Gandhi Government Ayurveda College,Indira Gandhi Polytechnic College, Mahe and Rajiv Gandhi Govt Industrial Training Institute, Mahe.
The Pondicherry University Community College has a regional centre in Mahe.[13]
There is aJawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV Mahe) at Pandakkal.There are four higher secondary schools, three high schools, two middle schools and eight lower primary schools functioning in Mahe. The higher secondary schools are affiliated with the Board of Higher Secondary Education in Kerala and the high schools are affiliated with the state’s Board of Secondary Education. Out of the three high schools, one is a French Medium, the examinations of which are conducted by the Deputy Director of French Education, Govt. of Puducherry.
The following banks provide banking facilities in Mahe.
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