Kalinga Ancient Trade Routes

Cotton cloth and muslin

Strongly Supported Scholars say

An old Indian handbook lists Kalinga among the places that wove the best cotton cloth. Much later, English traders bought fine muslin at Cuttack and Balasore.

Kautilya's handbook put Kalinga on its short list of the seven best cotton-weaving lands in India.

Kautilya’s old handbook on government named the seven best cotton-weaving lands in India. Kalinga made that list [Kautilya, n.d., p.84].

English traders still wanted cloth from this coast much later. A report from 1872 describes buyers in the 1680s who bought “the fine muslins of Cattack” at the lowest price they could get [Hunter, 1872, p.40].

By the 1820s, cloth moved both ways. A British survey lists piece goods first among the taxed exports. It also names cloth as a good bought in from nearby Bengal [Stirling, 1825, p.194].

For scholars

Nothing links the ancient cotton to the later muslin trade. The two claims rest on separate sources, and almost 1,800 years lie silent between them [Kautilya, n.d., p.84; Hunter, 1872, p.40].

Facts

Category
Textile
Direction
Traded both ways

Carried on these routes

  • Balasore to Calcutta

    A 19th-century report said Balasore was the only sea port Orissa could boast of at that time. Ships took rice and fine cloth north to Calcutta.

    [District Gazetteers (Cuttack, Puri, Ganjam, Balasore), British-era editions, n.d., O'Malley, Bengal District Gazetteers: Balasore (1907), p. 144]; [Stirling, 1825, p. 194]; [Hunter, 1872, vol. ii, pp. 40, 247]
    1. *District Gazetteers (Cuttack, Puri, Ganjam, Balasore), British-era editions*. n.d. public domain , O'Malley, Bengal District Gazetteers: Balasore (1907), p. 144 ('At the commencement of the 19th century Balasore was the only port of which Orissa could boast.' Its trading partners are 'Calcutta, the coast ports from Bombay on the west to Arakan on the east, and foreign ports'. Trade was 'declining owing to the advent of the railway'.)
    2. Andrew Stirling. *An Account, Geographical, Statistical, and Historical, of Orissa Proper or Cuttack*. in Asiatic Researches 15. 1825. public domain , p. 194 ('A considerable exportation of rice takes place from the several small ports along the coast to Calcutta.' 'Piece goods' heads the list of exports liable to duty.)
    3. William Wilson Hunter. *Orissa: Or the Vicissitudes of an Indian Province under Native and British Rule*. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1872. public domain , vol. ii, pp. 40, 247 (Cited for the cargo: p. 40, the Orissa factors 'bought up at the lowest prices for ready money the fine muslins of Cattack'; p. 247, 'the Cattack and Balasor muslins formed an important item in the yearly Investments'.)

Documented at these ports

  • Cuttack

    Cuttack stands on a tongue of land where the Mahanadi river splits in two. Boats carried its fine cloth and silver work down the river and out to sea.

    [Imperial Gazetteer of India (Orissa entries), n.d., Imperial Gazetteer of India, vol. XI, pp. 92, 98]; [Hunter, 1872, vol. ii, p. 40]; [Patra, n.d., p. 111]
    1. *Imperial Gazetteer of India (Orissa entries)*. n.d. public domain , Imperial Gazetteer of India, vol. XI, pp. 92, 98 (p. 98: 'Cuttack City (Kataka, the fort) ... situated in 20 deg 29' N. and 85 deg 52' E., on the peninsula formed by the bifurcation of the Mahanadi'; 'connected by canal with Chandbali and False Point'. p. 92: chief trade centres are Cuttack city, False Point and Chandbali; weekly steamers.)
    2. William Wilson Hunter. *Orissa: Or the Vicissitudes of an Indian Province under Native and British Rule*. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1872. public domain , vol. ii, p. 40 ('the Orissa factors bought up at the lowest prices for ready money the fine muslins of Cattack' - Cuttack cloth reaching the sea through the English factories at Pippli and Balasore in the 17th century.)
    3. Sushanta Kumar Patra, Benudhar Patra. *Archaeology and the Maritime History of Ancient Orissa*. in Orissa Historical Research Journal XLVII. n.d. , p. 111 (Excavation at Barabati fort, on the right bank of the Mahanadi in Cuttack district, yielded 'a few sherds of Chinese ceramics'. The printed coordinate ('Lat 20 deg 29' N. and Long. 85 deg E') has a defective longitude.)

  • Balasore

    Balasore was the first place in Bengal where English traders built a factory. Big ships waited far out at sea while small boats carried goods up the winding river.

    [The Imperial Gazetteer of India, new edition (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1907-09), 1908, vol. VI, pp. 245-246, 'Balasore Town']; [Hunter, 1872, vol. ii, pp. 39-40, 196-197]; [District Gazetteers (Cuttack, Puri, Ganjam, Balasore), British-era editions, n.d., O'Malley, Bengal District Gazetteers: Balasore (1907), pp. 9, 34-37, 144, 186]; [Dayalan, 2019, offprint p. 23]
    1. *The Imperial Gazetteer of India, new edition (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1907-09)*. 1908. public domain , vol. VI, pp. 245-246, 'Balasore Town' ('situated in 21 deg 30' N. and 86 deg 56' E., on the right bank of the Burhabalang river'. 'Balasore was the first place occupied by the English in Bengal. It owed its importance ... to the safety of its roadstead.' Earliest mention in the English records is 1633.)
    2. William Wilson Hunter. *Orissa: Or the Vicissitudes of an Indian Province under Native and British Rule*. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1872. public domain , vol. ii, pp. 39-40, 196-197 (p. 39: 'These two Orissa harbours - Pippli, founded in 1635, and Balasor, founded in 1642 - formed the basis of our future greatness in Bengal.' p. 40: silting of the Subarnarekha moved the Pippli factory to Balasore. p. 197: in 1688 Captain Heath attacks and plunders the town.)
    3. *District Gazetteers (Cuttack, Puri, Ganjam, Balasore), British-era editions*. n.d. public domain , O'Malley, Bengal District Gazetteers: Balasore (1907), pp. 9, 34-37, 144, 186 (p. 144: 'At the commencement of the 19th century Balasore was the only port of which Orissa could boast, and it was frequented chiefly by vessels from Madras, which put in for cargoes of rice, and by the Laccadive and Maldive islanders.' pp. 34-37: Cartwright, the Dutch, Danes and French.)
    4. Duraiswamy Dayalan. *Ancient Seaports on the Eastern Coast of India: The Hub of the Maritime Silk Route Network*. in Acta Via Serica 4. 2019 , offprint p. 23 (Lists Balasore among the Odisha seaports with active British, Danish, Dutch, French and Portuguese contacts in the 16th-18th centuries. Journal pagination not verified.)

  • Gopalpur

    Gopalpur was the main port of the Ganjam coast in south Odisha. Ships had to anchor out in the open sea because there is no shelter from the waves.

    [The Imperial Gazetteer of India, new edition (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1907-09), 1908, vol. XII, pp. 152, 329-330]; [Patra, 2014, p. 121]; [Dayalan, 2019, offprint p. 21, section 'Palur']
    1. *The Imperial Gazetteer of India, new edition (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1907-09)*. 1908. public domain , vol. XII, pp. 152, 329-330 (p. 329: 'Gopalpur - Chief port of Ganjam District, Madras, situated in 19 deg 16' N. and 84 deg 53' E.' A call for British India Steam Navigation coasting steamers; in 1903-4, 7,400 passengers went to and 8,300 returned from Burma. p. 330: 'an open roadstead with no shelter whatever'.)
    2. Benudhar Patra. *Ports in Ancient Odisha: Historical Perspective*. in Odisha Review. 2014 , p. 121 (Gerini identified Ptolemy's apheterion, where ships bound for Khryse left the coast, with modern Gopalpur below the Rushikulya mouth; Patra argues instead for Mansurkota near Gopalpur, citing Maltby, The Ganjam District Manual, p. 31.)
    3. Duraiswamy Dayalan. *Ancient Seaports on the Eastern Coast of India: The Hub of the Maritime Silk Route Network*. in Acta Via Serica 4. 2019 , offprint p. 21, section 'Palur' (Repeats Gerini's identification of Ptolemy's apheterion with modern Gopalpur. Journal pagination not verified.)

  • Calcutta

    Calcutta was the capital of British India, standing on the bank of the Hooghly river. Steamers carried rice and passengers there from the Odisha coast every week.

    [The Imperial Gazetteer of India, new edition (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1907-09), 1908, vol. IX, p. 260, 'Calcutta']; [District Gazetteers (Cuttack, Puri, Ganjam, Balasore), British-era editions, n.d., O'Malley, Bengal District Gazetteers: Balasore (1907), p. 144]; [Imperial Gazetteer of India (Orissa entries), n.d., Imperial Gazetteer of India, vol. XI, pp. 92, 98]
    1. *The Imperial Gazetteer of India, new edition (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1907-09)*. 1908. public domain , vol. IX, p. 260, 'Calcutta' ('Capital of the Indian Empire and the official residence of the Viceroy and Governor-General, situated in 22 deg 34' N. and 88 deg 22' E., on the east or left bank of the Hooghly river ... The city lies about 86 miles from the sea.')
    2. *District Gazetteers (Cuttack, Puri, Ganjam, Balasore), British-era editions*. n.d. public domain , O'Malley, Bengal District Gazetteers: Balasore (1907), p. 144 ('The ports which trade with Chandbali and Balasore are Calcutta, the coast ports from Bombay on the west to Arakan on the east, and foreign ports, such as the Maldive islands, Ceylon, and occasionally Mauritius.' Steamers ran three times a week between Chandbali and Calcutta.)
    3. *Imperial Gazetteer of India (Orissa entries)*. n.d. public domain , Imperial Gazetteer of India, vol. XI, pp. 92, 98 (p. 92: steamers ply from Cuttack city to Chandbali by canal and from Chandbali to Calcutta by sea; the chief imports of Cuttack district - piece-goods, kerosene, metals, yarn, spices - come from Calcutta. p. 98: Cuttack is connected by canal with Chandbali and False Point.)
Scholar notes

Nothing links the cotton of the Arthashastra to the muslin the East India Company bought some 1,800 years later; they are two separate claims with separate sources, and the centuries between are deliberately untagged. The famous muslins of Periplus section 62 belong to Masalia, usually identified with Machilipatnam in Andhra, NOT to Kalinga. Direction is 'both' because Stirling lists piece goods as an import from Bengal as well as a dutiable export.

  1. Kautilya. *Arthashastra*. n.d. public domain , Book II, ch. 11 ('Of cotton fabrics, those of Madhura, of Aparanta, of Kalinga, of Kasi, of Vanga, of Vatsa, and of Mahisha are the best.' Read in Shamasastry's translation, p. 84.)
  2. William Wilson Hunter. *Orissa: Or the Vicissitudes of an Indian Province under Native and British Rule*. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1872. public domain , vol. II, pp. 40, 247 (p. 40: the Orissa factors 'bought up at the lowest prices for ready money the fine muslins of Cattack'. p. 247: 'the Cattack and Balasor muslins formed an important item in the yearly Investments'.)
  3. Andrew Stirling. *An Account, Geographical, Statistical, and Historical, of Orissa Proper or Cuttack*. in Asiatic Researches 15. 1825. public domain , p. 194 ('Piece goods' heads both the list of exports liable to duty and the list of goods imported from the adjoining districts of Bengal.)