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 (7^th 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.