- Arikamedu, about four kilometres south of Pondicherry on the Ariyankuppam river, is one of India’s best-known excavated ports with evidence of trade with the Roman world. This piece was inspired by Agni; the photographs are hers, from her visit on 17 October.
What is there
The site is a low mound on the right bank of the river, where it opens into a lagoon before the Bay of Bengal. It is widely identified with Poduke, a market town named in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a Greek sailing manual of the first century CE, and in Ptolemy’s Geography of the second century.
The brick pillars and arches that visitors photograph are not Roman. They are what is left of an eighteenth-century French missionary seminary and residence, usually dated 1771 to 1773 and abandoned in 1783, with some of the ancient bricks reused in its walls. The ancient remains, which the excavators read as warehouses, tanks and drains, lie in the trenches and under the ground.
How it was found
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1734 | French records describe villagers carrying off old bricks from the mound near Virampattinam |
| 1945 | Mortimer Wheeler and his team dig the site and find imported Italian red-gloss pottery, Arretine ware; report published 1946 |
| 1982 | The Archaeological Survey of India takes control of the site, 34.57 acres |
| 1989 to 1992 | Vimala Begley, K. V. Raman and their collaborators dig for three seasons and find occupation before and long after the main Roman trading period |
The finds include amphorae, Arretine ware, Roman lamps, glass, beads of glass and stone, gems, and the waste of a bead-making industry. Wheeler read them as a trading post opened under Augustus and closed within two centuries. The later digs showed a much longer settlement history, with Rome as one trading partner among several. Finds from Arikamedu are displayed in the Puducherry Museum.
What it looks like now
She found the site neglected: used for selfies, littered, loud. The mangroves along the lagoon were full of plastic, and the estuary too. I have been there myself; I went kayaking on that river.
The site is protected by the Archaeological Survey of India. The visible walls are eighteenth-century, the finds are in a museum, and the river that made the port is choked with rubbish. What should a site like this be for, and who should look after it?
so these pieces who attract little to no interest with the Commentariat do VERY well with online readership, who soak this up..
It may not generate a lot of ….comment froth because there isn’t something to ‘argue’ about. But this sort of stuff is right up my alley.
yes my writing is shifting quite dramatically as pre-redesign I was writing more for the Commentariat.. but what I love about BP is that we talk about the things that aren’t really news but much deeper/ space for all
Thank you XTM. Lovely piece and yes, I was absolutely horrified to see the littering and scant regard for an archaeological site. Nobody bothered to even read the ASI plaque.
A bizarre chowpatty like scene unfolded with vendors hawking food and plastic garbage collectibles. Mind you, the boat literally stops here to allow a brief island visit for atmost 30 minutes. Even in that small window, all people seemed to think about was food and drinks!
This is……disheartening. Reminds me of my visit to Lothal a couple of decades ago. They literally allowed a picnic bus load of school kids to run all over the site. And the ‘museum’ was such a sad little thing.
Very disheartening 🙁 I really want to visit Lothal too.
Visited the Puducherry museum as well and yes, it was a sad little thing too. Such priceless artifacts housed within, yet some of the older murtis were literally camping just outside the entrance in rain and shine!!
The upward mobility across the board has unfortunately not translated into better civic sense or appreciation for our ancient heritage.
India, that is Bharat, has so much culture and history and tradition that people take it for granted..
thank you Agni for being the inspiration behind this piece.
Thank you XTM 🙂