Kalinga Ancient Trade Routes

Anuradhapura

Probable Archaeology

Anuradhapura was the old capital city of Sri Lanka. Ships from Kalinga's ports reached the island, and a Sri Lankan coin turned up at Manikapatna.

Anuradhapura was the old capital city of Sri Lanka. It sits inland, away from the coast. It stands here for the island’s link to Kalinga’s ports. Ships would have reached it through harbours on Sri Lanka’s own coast. [Patra, 2014, p.120]

A coin of the Sri Lankan king Sahassamalla was found at Polonnaruva, an old Sri Lankan city. The same king’s coins turned up at Manikapatna in Kalinga too, and on the island of Sumatra. Historians think this shows a likely trade web joining all three places. [Patra, 2014, p.120]

Rouletted ware, a fine stamped pottery, has turned up at Anuradhapura too. So has pottery like that found in Bali and at Arikamedu. This places Sri Lanka’s old capital inside the same wide trade world as Kalinga. [Ardika, 1991, p.225]

An old Sri Lankan story tells of a prince and a princess. They sailed from the port of Dantapura, on the Kalinga coast. They carried a tooth said to be the Buddha’s, all the way to Sri Lanka. [Patra, n.d., p.114; Patra, 2014, p.120]

For scholars

Anuradhapura is not a harbour itself. Ships would have called at coast ports such as Mantai. No source read here ties Mantai to Kalinga directly. The tooth story comes from an old book called the Dathavamsa. It is a tradition, not a dig. [Patra, n.d., p.114; Patra, 2014, p.120]

Facts

Coordinates
8.35°, 80.40°
[Natural Earth, 1, n.d.]
  1. *Natural Earth, 1:50m Physical and Cultural Vectors*. n.d. public domain
Modern name
Anuradhapura, North Central Province, Sri Lanka
Also known as
Seng-ka-lo (Xuanzang, for Ceylon)
Region
sri-lanka

Routes through Anuradhapura

  • Chilika coast to Sri Lanka

    Ships left the Chilika coast for Sri Lanka. A Chinese monk wrote that on a still night you could see a light shining over the island from here.

    [Xuanzang, 7th century CE, Beal 1884, vol. II, pp. 205-206]; [Patra, 2014, p. 120]; [Patra, n.d., pp. 112, 114]; [Ardika, 1991, pp. 225-226]
    1. Xuanzang. *Record of the Western Regions (Da Tang Xiyu Ji)*. 7th century CE. public domain , Beal 1884, vol. II, pp. 205-206 (p. 205, Charitra (Che-li-ta-lo) 'on the borders of the ocean ... Here it is merchants depart for distant countries'. p. 206: 'Going south 20,000 li or so is the country of Simhala (Seng-kia-lo). In the still night ... we see the surmounting precious stone of the tooth-stupa of Buddha.')
    2. Benudhar Patra. *Ports in Ancient Odisha: Historical Perspective*. in Odisha Review. 2014 , p. 120 ('The discovery of Shahasamalla's coin from Manikpatna in Odisha, Polonaruva in Sri Lanka and Kotchina in Indonesia testify to a maritime network linking coastal Odisha, Sri Lanka and Sumatra.' Manikpatna is Patra's preferred identification of Che-li-ta-lo.)
    3. Sushanta Kumar Patra, Benudhar Patra. *Archaeology and the Maritime History of Ancient Orissa*. in Orissa Historical Research Journal XLVII. n.d. , pp. 112, 114 (p. 114: 'in ancient times prince Dantakumara and princess Hemamala had sailed to Ceylon with the Buddha's tooth relic from the port of Dantapura/Palur'. p. 112: excavation at Anuradhapura shows Indian cultural elements reaching Sri Lanka before Ashoka.)
    4. I. Wayan Ardika, Peter Bellwood. *Sembiran: the beginnings of Indian contact with Bali*. in Antiquity 65. 1991 , pp. 225-226 (Rouletted Ware from Anuradhapura was analysed alongside the Sembiran and Arikamedu material, placing the Sri Lankan capital inside the same Bay of Bengal ceramic network as Kalinga's ports.)
Scholar notes

Anuradhapura is an inland royal city, not a harbour: it stands here for the Sri Lankan end of the route, reached through north-western ports such as Mantai, for which no source connecting it to Kalinga was found in this session. No published coordinate was located, so the position is read off a modern map and is approximate. The Dantapura tooth-relic voyage is a traditional narrative from the Dathavamsa, not archaeology.

  1. Sushanta Kumar Patra, Benudhar Patra. *Archaeology and the Maritime History of Ancient Orissa*. in Orissa Historical Research Journal XLVII. n.d. , pp. 112, 114 (p. 112: 'An archaeological excavation at Anuradhapura in Ceylon proves the introduction of Indian cultural elements including Buddhism into Sri Lanka even before the days of Asoka.' p. 114: the tradition of Dantakumara and Hemamala sailing to Ceylon with the tooth relic from Dantapura/Palur.)
  2. Benudhar Patra. *Ports in Ancient Odisha: Historical Perspective*. in Odisha Review. 2014 , p. 120 ('The discovery of Shahasamalla's coin from Manikpatna in Odisha, Polonaruva in Sri Lanka and Kotchina in Indonesia testify to a maritime network linking coastal Odisha, Sri Lanka and Sumatra.' Also Xuanzang on seeing the light over the Buddha's tooth relic in Sri Lanka from Che-li-ta-lo.)
  3. I. Wayan Ardika, Peter Bellwood. *Sembiran: the beginnings of Indian contact with Bali*. in Antiquity 65. 1991 , pp. 225-226 (Rouletted Ware sherds from Anuradhapura were analysed alongside those from Sembiran (Bali) and Arikamedu; Arikamedu type-10 pottery is also reported from Anuradhapura, placing the Sri Lankan capital inside the same Bay of Bengal ceramic network as Kalinga's ports.)