Kalinga Ancient Trade Routes

Balasore

Strongly Supported Scholars say

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.

Balasore sits on the Burhabalang river, near the coast of north Odisha. English traders built one of their first posts in Bengal here, in the 1630s or 1640s. They came for a stretch of water safe enough for ships to anchor. [Hunter, 1872, p.39; The Imperial Gazetteer of India, new edition (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1907-09), 1908, p.245]

Big merchant ships had to wait far out at sea. Smaller boats then carried goods up the winding river to the town and back again. [The Imperial Gazetteer of India, new edition (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1907-09), 1908, p.245]

For a time, Balasore was the only real port Odisha had. Ships came from Madras for rice, and traders from the Maldive and Laccadive islands brought cowrie shells, once used as money. [District Gazetteers (Cuttack, Puri, Ganjam, Balasore), British-era editions, n.d., p.144; Hunter, 1872, p.39]

Dutch, Danish and French traders also set up posts at Balasore. A colonial-era survey lists it among the Odisha ports that stayed in active trade with European merchants from the 1500s to the 1700s. [Dayalan, 2019, p.23]

For scholars

Sources do not agree on the year Balasore’s story began. Hunter says English trade started in 1642. Other British records say 1633, under a trader named Ralph Cartwright. [Hunter, 1872, p.39; The Imperial Gazetteer of India, new edition (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1907-09), 1908, p.245]

Facts

Coordinates
21.50°, 86.93°
[The Imperial Gazetteer of India, new edition (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1907-09), 1908]
  1. *The Imperial Gazetteer of India, new edition (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1907-09)*. 1908. public domain
Modern name
Baleswar (Balasore), Balasore district, Odisha
Also known as
Balasor, Baleswar
Region
kalinga

Routes through Balasore

  • 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'.)

  • The Orissa Trunk Road

    A great road was cut north from Puri through Cuttack to Balasore. Crowds of pilgrims walked it to see Jagannath, and carts carried paddy and salt.

    [District Gazetteers (Cuttack, Puri, Ganjam, Balasore), British-era editions, n.d., O'Malley, Bengal District Gazetteers: Balasore (1907), pp. 142, 146-147, 193]; [Patnaik, 2014a, p. 107]
    1. *District Gazetteers (Cuttack, Puri, Ganjam, Balasore), British-era editions*. n.d. public domain , O'Malley, Bengal District Gazetteers: Balasore (1907), pp. 142, 146-147, 193 (p. 146: 'The principal road is the Orissa Trunk Road, which runs for a length of 95 miles from end to end of the district', linking Midnapore and Calcutta on the north 'with Cuttack, Puri and Ganjam on the south'; built by Captain Sackville 1812-1820. p. 193: 'also called the Jagannath road'.)
    2. Sunil Kumar Patnaik. *Puri: A Study of Early Trade and Pilgrim Routes*. in Odisha Review. 2014a , p. 107 (Toynbee: 'The traffic from south to Cuttack passed along the eastern shore of the Chillika lake, between it and the sea, to Puri and thence followed exactly the line of the present great Jagannath road', and northwards from Puri through Cuttack and Jajpur to Bhadrak.)

  • Pipli to Balasore

    Pipli was once the busiest port on the Orissa coast. When sand blocked its river, traders and English merchants moved their business down the coast to Balasore instead.

    [Hunter, 1872, vol. ii, pp. 37-40]; [District Gazetteers (Cuttack, Puri, Ganjam, Balasore), British-era editions, n.d., O'Malley, Bengal District Gazetteers: Balasore (1907), pp. 9, 204]
    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, pp. 37-40 (p. 37: about 1514 the Portuguese founded a colony at 'Pippli, now a ruined and silt-locked village ... but then a fine harbour.' p. 40: silting of the Subarnarekha moved the Pippli factory to Balasore.)
    2. *District Gazetteers (Cuttack, Puri, Ganjam, Balasore), British-era editions*. n.d. public domain , O'Malley, Bengal District Gazetteers: Balasore (1907), pp. 9, 204 (p. 204: 'Pipli was once the most important port on the Orissa coast ... By the beginning of the 18th century the silting up of its mouth had ruined Pipli.' p. 9 ties this decline to Balasore's later rise as 'the only port of which Orissa could boast.')

Goods documented here

  • Cotton cloth and muslin

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

    [Kautilya, n.d., Book II, ch. 11]; [Hunter, 1872, vol. II, pp. 40, 247]; [Stirling, 1825, p. 194]
    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.)

  • Rice

    Ships from the Maldive Islands sailed all the way to Balasore just to fill up with rice and clay pots.

    [Stirling, 1825, p. 194]; [Hunter, 1872, vol. II Appendix I, p. 13; vol. II, pp. 159-162]; [Imperial Gazetteer of India (Orissa entries), n.d., vol. XXII, p. 13 (Sambalpur District)]
    1. 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'; Maldive vessels 'resort annually to Balasore and Dhamra, to take on board cargoes of rice and earthen pots'.)
    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 Appendix I, p. 13; vol. II, pp. 159-162 (Appendix I (Puri): at Machhagaon near the Devi river mouth 'a considerable export rice trade is done here'; Pipli and Bhubaneswar are 'seats of a considerable trade in rice and cloth'.)
    3. *Imperial Gazetteer of India (Orissa entries)*. n.d. public domain , vol. XXII, p. 13 (Sambalpur District) ('Rice is the staple export of Sambalpur, being sent principally to Calcutta, but also to Bombay and Berar.')

  • Cowrie shells

    In 1804 a silver rupee was officially worth 5,120 cowrie shells. By Hunter's day it bought only 3,584.

    [Xuanzang, 7th century CE, vol. II, p. 207]; [Stirling, 1825, p. 194]; [Hunter, 1872, vol. II, p. 167]
    1. Xuanzang. *Record of the Western Regions (Da Tang Xiyu Ji)*. 7th century CE. public domain , vol. II, p. 207 (Beal 1884, on Kongoda: 'They use cowrie shells and pearls in commercial transactions.')
    2. Andrew Stirling. *An Account, Geographical, Statistical, and Historical, of Orissa Proper or Cuttack*. in Asiatic Researches 15. 1825. public domain , p. 194 ('a small supply of couris, cocoanuts, coral, and dried fish is obtained from the few Maldive vessels, which resort annually to Balasore and Dhamra'.)
    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, p. 167 ('From time immemorial Orissa... has used a local currency of cowries'; the 1804 official rate of 5,120 cowries to the rupee and the 1872 rate of 3,584.)
Scholar notes

The founding date is disputed: Hunter 1872 p. 39 says 1642, while the Imperial Gazetteer vol. VI p. 245 and the Balasore District Gazetteer pp. 34-35 date the first English trade at Balasore to 1633, under Ralph Cartwright. Coordinates follow the Imperial Gazetteer; the OCR of the 1907 district gazetteer p. 186 prints '85 deg 56' E', which is impossible and was read as a scanning error. Dayalan's gloss 'Balasore (Kosambia)' is unexplained and is not adopted. Goods: the muslin link is Hunter vol. ii, p. 247 ('the Cattack and Balasor muslins'), a page not otherwise cited here.

  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.)