Kalinga Ancient Trade Routes

Ivory

Probable Scholars say

A Greek sailing guide written about 1,900 years ago says a land on this coast gave its name to a kind of ivory. Scholars think that land may be the Odisha coast.

Greek sailors had a special name for elephant tusks from this coast: Dosarenic ivory.

Long ago, an unknown Greek writer wrote a guide for sailors. He named a coast Dosarene. He said it gave its name to a fine ivory: “Dosarenic ivory,” cut from elephant tusks [Anonymous, 1989, section 62].

Historians think Dosarene lay on the Odisha coast. It may be near Chilika lake. No dig has found the town yet. The name is still a puzzle [Patra, 2014, p.122].

Traders across the ancient world wanted ivory. This coast became known for its ivory. But no ivory workshop has ever been found here [Patra, 2014, p.122].

For scholars

No dig has found a worked tusk here. “Dosarene” is not the same word as “Kalinga.” Three scholars have placed it in three different spots: near Toshali, near Palur, and near Chilika lake. Until a dig finds ivory, this stays a probable link. It is not a proven one [Patra, 2014, p.122].

Facts

Category
Animal product
Direction
Exported from Kalinga

Carried on these routes

  • Jaugada to Palur

    Jaugada was a walled town up the Rushikulya river with Ashoka's orders carved on a rock. Scholars think its harbour was Palur, down at the river mouth.

    [Patra, n.d., pp. 109, 113]; [The Imperial Gazetteer of India, new edition (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1907-09), 1908, vol. XIV, pp. 72-73, 'Jaugada']; [Patra, 2014, pp. 121-122]
    1. Sushanta Kumar Patra, Benudhar Patra. *Archaeology and the Maritime History of Ancient Orissa*. in Orissa Historical Research Journal XLVII. n.d. , pp. 109, 113 (p. 113: 'The very location of the Asokan Edicts at Jaugarh, a place far away from the actual scene of the war i.e. Dhauli is an indication of its association with the port of Palur, a well known ancient port of Kalinga.' p. 109: Palur, near the Rushikulya, was a port of international repute.)
    2. *The Imperial Gazetteer of India, new edition (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1907-09)*. 1908. public domain , vol. XIV, pp. 72-73, 'Jaugada' ('Ruined fort in Ganjam District, Madras, situated in 19 deg 31' N. and 84 deg 50' E., about 18 miles west of Ganjam town, on the north bank of the Rushikulya', carrying thirteen edicts of Ashoka on a granite mass.)
    3. Benudhar Patra. *Ports in Ancient Odisha: Historical Perspective*. in Odisha Review. 2014 , pp. 121-122 (Palur is placed 'just above the mouth of Rushikulya'. Przyluski derived Palura from Dravidian words meaning 'tooth city' and linked the name to elephant tusks, 'probably one of the important items of export'; Kongoda bred elephants of good quality.)
Scholar notes

The Periplus names Dosarene, not Kalinga, and Dosarene is an unidentified region, not a proven port. Moti Chandra placed it at Toshali; B. Srivastava made it a janapada with Palur as its capital; Patra 2014 argues for the Chilika coast, near Xuanzang's Kongoda. No worked-ivory find or workshop from Odisha was reported in anything I read. Do not raise this tier without an excavation report.

  1. Anonymous. *The Periplus Maris Erythraei: Text with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary*. trans. Lionel Casson. Princeton University Press. 1989 , section 62 ('Dosarene, yielding the ivory known as Dosarenic'. Section number is standard across editions. Casson's page NOT verified: the 1989 Princeton edition is lending-restricted on archive.org, so the wording was read in W. H. Schoff's 1912 translation via ToposText.)
  2. Benudhar Patra. *Ports in Ancient Odisha: Historical Perspective*. in Odisha Review. 2014 , p. 122 ('The ivory yielded in Dosarene was known as dosarenic'; also summarises the rival identifications of Dosarene.)