BnF INDIEN 445: Petition of the Potters of Pondicherry
A blogpost by Dr. G. Vijayavenugopal & Emmanuel Francis
The source of all the pictures of INDIEN 445 is BnF
BnF INDIEN 445 (ex- Tamoul 445) is a bundle of 5 palm-leaf folios (with various measurements and different hands) (Figs. 1‒2). The bundle is framed by two wooden planks, added in the BnF.

Fig. 1 — BnF INDIEN 445, tied bundle — Courtesy of BnF

Fig. 2 — BnF INDIEN 445, untied bundle — Courtesy of BnF
All the leaves are broken into two halves and this damage seems to have been done long ago as the leaves, which originally had one hole only for the thread, have been pierced with three more holes so as to accommodate two threads, also passing through the wooden planks (both pierced with four holes). The exact origin and provenance of the bundle is not known, beyond the fact that, from the content, it comes from Pondicherry.
The 5 folios of BnF INDIEN 445 are distributed as follows, in the order they were received when examined in 2019 :
- Item 1 = 1 front unfoliated folio (660 mm x 25 mm), from a first hand, unblackened, with verso blank.
It bears a date: 1000 7 100 9 10 3 āṇṭu piparēl {mācam} 3 {tēti} (front unfoliated folio, recto, column 1, Fig. 3), that is, April (?) 3rd, 1793 CE.

Fig. 3 — BnF INDIEN 445, Item 1, front unfoliated folio, recto, column 1, date — Courtesy of BnF
- Item 2 = 3 folios (705 x 24 mm), blackened, foliated in left margin (“piḷḷaiyār cuḻi” for folio 1, then figures “2” and “3”), written recto verso, except last folio, written on recto only. They are in the present state of conservation in disorder: the left half of f2 is joined with the right half of f3, while the left half of f3 is joined with the right half of f2.
It bears a date: 1000 7 100 9 10 3 āṇṭu ? cellum – parātapi [i.e. piratāpi] {varuṣam} taiyi {mācam} 2 10 5 {tēti} (Item 2, folio 1, recto, column 1, Fig. 4), that is, 25th day of Tai month, Pirātapi year (of the Jovian cycle), wich corresponds to the year 1793 (CE).1

Fig. 4 — BnF INDIEN 445, Item 2, folio 1, recto, column 1, date— Courtesy of BnF
- Item 3 = 1 unfoliated folio (560 mm x 24 mm), truncated, as approximately ten cm of the leaf is missing on the left edge (Fig. 5). The hand is similar to that of Item 1. It bears no date.

Fig. 5 — BnF INDIEN 445, from top to bottom: wooden plank; Item 3 (one single folio); folios 3 and 2 of Item 2 — Courtesy of BnF
Cabaton describes INDIEN 445 as a “Déclaration de la caste des potiers au gouvernement français.” The Tamil technical term ― used only once (Item 1, recto, column 3, line 3, Fig. 7) ― to designate the document is viṇṇappam, which has a long history going back to Pallava copper-plate grants of the 6th or 7th century. A viṇṇappam ― from Sanskrit vijñā-, see vijñapti ― is a request or sollicitation to an authority.
The request is here made by people describing themselves as people of the land (nāṭṭār) (from) the city of Putuvai (Pondicherry), who, by kin/relation tradition, are (of) the birth-group (cāti, Skt. jāti) of (i.e. associated with) the kucam, “the pot” (Item 1, recto, column 2, Fig. 6):
குசசாதியாகற னாட்டாற் [i.e. …யாகிற நாட்டார்]
உறவின் முறையாற்
னாங்கள் [i.e. நாங்கள்] புதுவை நகற் [i.e. நகர்]
kucacātiy ākaṟa ṉāṭṭāṟ [i.e. ākiṟa nāṭṭār]
uṟaviṉ muṟaiyāṟ
ṉāṅkaḷ [i.e. nāṅkaḷ] putuvai nakaṟ [i.e. nakar]

Fig. 6 — BnF INDIEN 445, Item 1, recto, column 2 — Courtesy of BnF
These Kocavars or Kucavars, as they call themselves in the document ― that is, “potters” ―, record a transaction they made in the presence (camukattukku) of a French civil servant, whose name is written twice (Item 1, recto, column 3, line 1, Fig. 7 and Item 3, recto, column 1, line 1, Fig. 8), but differently:
றா றா [சி]வியெல் முசியெ யெசக்காலியெ
ṟā ṟā [c]iviyel muciye yecakkāliye
The words [c]iviyel and muciye probably stand for French “civil” and “Monsieur.” On the honorific ௱௱ or றா றா, see here.

Fig. 7 — BnF INDIEN 445, Item 1, recto, column 3 — Courtesy of BnF
///மாகாறாசர் றா ஶ்ரீமுசெ யெ[ஸ/ஸ்]கலியெ
///கொமிசெற் அவற்கள் சமுகத்துக்கி
///mākāṟācā ṟā śrīmuce ye[sa/s]kaliye
///komiceṟ avaṟkaḷ camukattukki
The word muce probably stands for French “Monsieur,” while komiceṟ stands for French “commissaire.”

Fig. 8 — BnF INDIEN 445, Item 3, recto, column 1 — Courtesy of BnF
This French civil servant appears to be Daniel Lescallier, “commissaire civil”, author of several letters dated 1792 and 1793, mentioned in Gaudart (Catalogue des manuscrits des anciennes archives de l’Inde française, Tome II, Pondichéry, 1789-1815, Paris: Leroux & Pondichéry: Bibliothèque Coloniale, 1924).2
The middle 3 folios (Item 2) contains a list (kaṇakku) of names of family elder males and the composition of their respective houses (colloquial vūṭu or ūṭu for standard form vīṭu), with a count of the number of males and females. The total count is given at the end of Item 2 (folio 3, recto, columns 4 and 5, Figs. 9‒10) and matches the total of figures given above: 39 houses (ūṭu), 63 males (āṉpiḷḷaikaḷ), 67 females (peṇpiḷḷaikaḷ) and 47 sons (piḷḷaikaḷ) (Fig. 9), for a total of 177 people (ciṉaṅkaḷ, < Skt. jana) (Fig. 10).

Fig. 9 — BnF INDIEN 445, Item 2, folio 3, recto, column 4 — Courtesy of BnF

Fig. 10 — BnF INDIEN 445, Item 2, folio 3, recto, column 5 — Courtesy of BnF
Most of these people were from Nellittōppu (Item 2, folio 1, recto, column 2, line 1, Fig. 11), some others from what seems to be Piḷḷaicāvaṭi and Reṭṭipāḷaiyam (today Reddiyarpalaiyam?) (Item 2, folio 3, recto, column 1, Fig. 12), placenames found in and around Pondicherry today itself.

Fig. 11 — BnF INDIEN 445, Item 2, folio 1, recto, column 2 — Courtesy of BnF

Fig. 12 — BnF INDIEN 445, Item 2, folio 3, recto, column 1 — Courtesy of BnF
The Item 3 seems to state the position of the potters. They explain that they have been considered as Valaṅkai (a right-hand group, by opposition to left-hand groups) in the Pondy and surrounding region. They remit, it seems, the judgement about their group belonging (Valaṅkai or commonness) to the above-mentioned Frenchman. Four Mestiri (மேஸ்திரி mēstiri , n. < Portuguese mēstre. 1. Overseer; superintendent …) are designated and the list of their names is given (Item 3, folio 1, verso, column 2, Fig. 13). The potters seem finally to declare that they will do whatever the toraikaḷ (i.e. tuṟaikaḷ (?), “the lord” or the “lords”), that is, Lescallier or the Mestiris (?), order them or decide (?).

Fig. 13 — BnF INDIEN 445, Item 3, folio 1, verso, column 2 — Courtesy of BnF
BnF INDIEN 445 catalogue entry on BAM: HERE.
BnF INDIEN XML-TEI catalogue entry: in preparation.
- Between °āṇṭu and cellum is a letter that can be interpreted as kki (°āṇṭukki, i.e. °āṇṭukku) or, alternatively, as an abbreviation for varuṣam, “year.” [↩]
- Many thanks to Julie Marquet for letting me know about this publication. See s.v. “LESCALLIER” in the “Index alphabétique”. See also Daniel Lescallier, https://fr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Daniel_Lescallier&oldid=162586752, consulted October 10, 2019. [↩]
OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Emmanuel Francis (October 5, 2019). BnF INDIEN 445: Petition of the Potters of Pondicherry. Texts Surrounding Texts. Retrieved April 23, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/uxye