Mahe district

Mahé district (മയ്യഴി ജില്ല, mɐjːɐɻi dʒilːɐ) is one of the four districts of the union territory of Puducherry, India. It consists of the whole of the Mahé region. Mahé is the smallest district of India by size. The total area of Mahé district is surrounded on three sides by Kannur District and one side by Kozhikode District. Geographically Mahé district is part of North Malabar region. It is the sixth least populous district in the country (out of 773). The name Mahé derives from Mayyazhi, the name given to the local river and region in the Malayalam language.The original spelling found on French documents from the early 1720s is Mayé, with Mahé and Mahié also found on documents, maps and geographical dictionaries until the early 19th century when the spelling Mahé became the norm. Therefore, the belief that the name of the town was given in honour of Bertrand François Mahé de La Bourdonnais (1699–1753), whose later fame derived in good part from his association with India, including his capture of Mayé in 1741, is incorrect. Another claim that the spelling Mahé was officially adopted by the leader of the expedition that retook the city in 1726 in recognition of La Bourdonnais' role at the time is also unlikely. It is probable that the resemblance of Mayé, not to mention Mahé, with La Bourdonnais' family name prompted later generations to assume that the famous Frenchman was somehow directly or indirectly associated with the name to the town or the spelling of the name. Mahé district occupies an area of . According to the 2011 census Mahé district has a population of 41,816, roughly equal to the nation of Liechtenstein. This gives it a ranking of 635th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 13.86%. Mahé has a sex ratio of 1,176 females for every 1,000 males, and a literacy rate of 98.35%. Hinduism is the majority religion in Mahé district. Muslims form a significant minority. Sri Puthalam Bhagavathy Temple in Mahé is an ancient historic temple of Bhagavathi.