Kalinga Ancient Trade Routes

Turmeric

Probable Scholars say

Boats brought turmeric down the Mahanadi river from Sambalpur to the coast, swapping it for salt, spices, coconuts and brass utensils carried the other way. An 1872 book says turmeric was one of the everyday goods the inland Tributary States traded.

Bright yellow turmeric floated down the Mahanadi on boats, headed for the coast.

River boats carried bright yellow turmeric down the Mahanadi river. They went from Sambalpur to the coast. Traders swapped it there for salt, spices and brass pots. [Hunter, 1872, vol. II Appendix III, p. 74]

An 1872 book lists turmeric too. It names turmeric among everyday goods. Rice, sugar-cane and cotton went along with it. Historians think turmeric was a normal trade good inland. [Hunter, 1872, vol. II, p. 102]

For scholars

Both passages come from the same book, by Hunter. So only one source supports this entry. That keeps the tier at Probable. Neither passage says the turmeric reached the sea. Neither says it left India. [Hunter, 1872, vol. II Appendix III, p. 74; Hunter, 1872, vol. II, p. 102]

Facts

Category
Other
Direction
Exported from Kalinga
Scholar notes

Both references are from the same book (Hunter 1872), so only one distinct source supports this entry and the tier stops at Probable. Neither passage says turmeric reached the sea or left India; both describe river and inland trade only.

  1. 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 Appendix III, p. 74 (Mahanadi river towns carry goods up to Sambalpur, 'bringing thence, in exchange, cotton, wheat, oil-seeds, clarified butter, oil, molasses, iron, turmeric, tasar cloth, rice'.)
  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. 102 ('The trade of the Tributary States consists of rice, sugar-cane, oil seeds, clarified butter, cotton, coarse cereals, timber, lac, turmeric, beeswax, and other jungle products.')