Sunday, May 1, 2011

Maritime Trade of ancient Kalinga and its Ports


Early kingdoms of Eastern India had their own port towns. Among the ports of ancient Orissa/Kalinga are Palura and Chelitalo, mentioned respectively by Ptolemy and Xuan Xang in the second century A.D. and seventh century A.D.

Palura, mentioned by the Greek geographer Ptolemy in the second century A.D. and in a South Indian inscription of the third century, was an internationally important emporium further to the Southwest, most likely at the Rishikulya  estuary or nearby, on the Southern elongation of Chilika Lake, whereas village known as Palur still exists today. According to Ptolemy, there was a place near Palur, called Apheterion, the “point of  departure” for ships bound to Chryse,  the “Golden Land”, the “ Suvarnabhumi” of South East Asia. It is quite likely that the prominent hillock South of the present village Palur, which in fact, is the highest peak on the coast up to the mouth of the Ganges, and which was known to the Portuguese of the sixteenth century as Serra de Palura served as a landmark for early seafarers in the Bay of Bengal.

About Chelitalo in U-cha (Central Orissa) Xuan Xang writes, “Here it is merchants depart for distant countries, and strangers come and go and stop here on their way. The walls of the city are strong and lofty. Here are found all sorts of rare and precious articles.”

During these early centuries A.D., Kalinga’s importance for trans-Asian maritime trade seems to have been strengthened by the fact that in the early centuries A.D. even large vessels usually did not yet cross the Bay of Bengal directly from Sri Lanka to Southeast Asia. Instead, they proceeded up to Palura and Chelitalo from which points they crossed the ocean for Survarnabhumi.

Kalinga’s importance and association with the Bay of Bengal is confirmed by Kalidasa (C. 400 A.D.) who praised the King of Kalinga as “ Lord of the Ocean” (Mahodadhipati) in Raghuvamsa and in the late eighth century by the Buddhist text Manjusrimulakalpa, which refers to all the islands in the “Kalinga Sea” (Kalingodra).

During these centuries, traders, Buddhist monks and Brahmins of Kalinga traveled to, and sometimes settled in the countries of Southeast Asia. An inscription from East Java even mentioned Kalinganagara, indicating perhaps a “colony” of traders from Kalinga. Similarly, Southeast Asian traders and the fame of their merchandise had an impact on Orissa as well. A portrayal of an Indonesian dagger (kris) on the Parasuramesvara temple in Bhubaneswar (7th Century AD) is a testimony to such relations between Orissa and Indonesia. Harbours and early kingdoms of Orissa and Kalinga may have derived considerable income from these trade relations. Thus, an early tenth century inscription of Bhaumakara dynasty of Orissa contains interesting information about the existence of Samudrakarabandha on the shore of Chilika lake, most likely meaning an embankment (bandha) on the shore of the (Samudra) where taxes (kara) were collected.

6 comments:

  1. Great Work! Please try posting more information on PanchaSakha's Works! Jay Sree Jagannath!

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  2. Such a great state kalinga. Even britannica saya that when the history of india starts written, kalinga was already a formidable and wealthy state.

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  3. Excellent write up.
    Its a pity that Kalinga Empire has not been given its due credit despite its achievements. Please visit http://kalingamalaysia.webs.com/

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  4. So proud of Kalinga in those days

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  5. So proud of Kalinga in those days till now.

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  6. According to a DNA study ( 2013 ) seafaring migrants from India reached Australia by around 4000 BC, where they left up to 11 % of their DNA in some Australian aboriginals. They also introduced the ancestor of the dingo , the Indian pariah dog, as well as different tool -making techniques . Furthermore, Polynesian DNA has been located in Brazil, and, not surprising to me, it isnÕt DNA from Madagascar slaves as Þrst speculated.

    Name by which the Polynesians remembered their homeland :
    SANSKRIT :
    kAliGga , kaliGga , KaliGgA : the KaliGgas , man, inhabitant of kaliGga, prince of the kaliGgas, beautiful woman , clever, cunning, country of the KaliGgas, produced in or belonging to the kaliGga country ; elephant, snake; kind of gourd, water melon , white fruited wavy leaf Þg tree, species of cucumber.

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