The UnionTerritory of Pondicherry comprises of 4 coastal regions viz. Pondicherry, Karaikal, Yanam and Mahe situated on the East Coasts in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and West Coast in Kerala. Pondicherry is the Capital of this Union Territory. It is on the east coast about 162 kms. south of Chennai located in the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. Like most ancient cities, the orgin of Pondicherry lies buried in legends. It could, have been the mythical "Podhigai" said to have been the sacred abode of the legendary Sage Agastya or and it could be the now forgotten "Vedhapuri"a settlement of scholars well-versed in the vedas. Excavations in the Arikameduarea near Pondicherry have brought to light the remains of a trading port which had connections with the Greeko-Roman world more than a century before the down of the Christian Era. You will be bound to see the glorious remains of Arikamedu excavations in the Archaeology section of the Pondicherry Museum. Having remained the capital of the erstwhile French India, the legacies in Pondicherry have a special flavour not found anywhere in the Indian sub continent. The French town-sense, neatly laid roads, wide and vibrant beach promenade French colonial history, the eventfull life of Joseph Francois Dupleix, the Manson of Ananda Ranga Pillai "the Diarist", architecturally handsome churches and public buildings of a bygone era, all add up to the French connection package.