Karikal
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Karikal
(Karaikkal, ' fish pass ' ; the Carical Cariukalla of Barto- lomeo).— French Settlement and town on the Coromandel coast, lying between the taluks of Mayavaram, Nannilam, and Xegapatam in the Tanjore District of Madras and the Bay of Bengal. The town is situated in 1o° 55' X. and 79 degree 50' E. The Settlement is divided into three communes, containing no villages in all, and covering an area of 53 square miles, and is governed by an Administrator subordinate to the Governor at Pondicherry. The population has been rapidly decreasing. In 1883 it was 93,055; in 1891, 70,526; and in 1901, 56,595 ; but the density is still very high, being 1,068 persons per square mile. Kumbakonam is the only taluk in Tanjore District which has a higher density. Each of the three communes — namely, Karikal, La Grande Aldee, and Xedungadu — possesses a mayor and council. The members are all elected by universal suffrage, but in the municipality of Karikal half the number of seats is reserved for Europeans or their descendants. The country is very fertile, being irrigated by seven branches of the Cauvery : namely, the Xandalar, Nattar, Arasalar, Tirumalarajanar, Mudikondanar, Vanjiar, and Nular, besides many smaller channels.
The capital of the Settlement is situated on the north bank of the Arasalar, about 1 ½ miles from its mouth. It has a brisk trade in rice with Ceylon and to a less extent with the Straits Settlements. In 1 904 it had no commerce whatever with France, and very little with other French colonies. The total imports amounted to £49,000, of which £1,600 came from the French colonies. The total exports were valued at £106,000, out of which only £600 went to the French colonies. The port is merely an open roadstead, provided with a lighthouse 142 feet high, the light in which has a range of from 8 to 10 miles. Indian labourers emigrate from Karikal to the French colonies in large numbers. Inland customs are governed by a convention with the Madras Government, and all salt consumed in French territory is by treaty purchased from the British on payment of an annual indemnity of Rs. 20,748. In 1899 Karikal was connected with Peralam on the Tanjore District Board Railway. The line is i4§ miles long and is owned by the French Government, but worked by the South Indian Railway.
Karikal was promised to the French in 1738, in return for their assis- tance, by Sayaji, the exiled Raja of Tanjore. He did not, however, keep his promise ; and it was only by the assistance of Chanda Sahib, then at war with Sayaji, that a grant of the town was obtained in the following year. An additional cession of 81 villages was obtained in 1749 under a like pressure and with the same assistance, when the French and Chanda Sahib were besieging Tanjore. The latter grant was confirmed by treaty in 1754. The town and fort were besieged by an English force under Major Monson in 1760, and, after a gallant defence of ten days, surrendered on April 15. They came into British possession again on three subsequent occasions (see French Posses- sions), and were finally restored to the French on January 14, 181 7.
