 Nearby places such as Arikanmedu (Now Ariyankuppam), Kakayanthoppe, Villianur, and Bahur, which were annexed by the French East India Company over a period of time and became the Union Territory of Puducherry after Independence, have written histories that predate the colonial era.The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, of the 1st century, mentions a marketplace named Poduke or Poduca (ch.60).