Kalinga Ancient Trade Routes

Kalingapatnam

Strongly Supported Archaeology

Kalingapatnam sits where the Vamsadhara river meets the sea. Its name means the town of the Kalinga people, and ships used it for a very long time.

Kalingapatnam sits where the Vamsadhara river meets the sea. Today this spot is in Andhra Pradesh. Its name means “the town of the Kalinga people.” Ships used this coast for over two thousand years. [Dayalan, 2019, p.20]

Diggers worked here in 1928, and again in the 1970s. They found thick brick walls, glazed tiles and old pots. The finds show a walled town. It stood from about the 200s BCE into later times. Roman coins turned up in the same soil. That is a sign of trade reaching far across the sea. [Patra, 2014, p.122]

Historians call Kalingapatnam an ancient port city and a notable centre of Buddhism. Under the Eastern Ganga kings, ships sailed from here to Sri Lanka, Java, Sumatra and other lands across the sea. [Dayalan, 2019, p.20]

For scholars

Kalingapatnam lies in modern Andhra Pradesh. That is on the old Kalinga coast, not in today’s Odisha. British records also tell of ruined mosques and old gold coins found on the site. A lighthouse once stood there too, to guide ships to the river mouth. [The Imperial Gazetteer of India, new edition (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1907-09), 1908, p.291; Dayalan, 2019, p.20]

Facts

Coordinates
18.33°, 84.13°
[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
Kalingapatnam, Srikakulam district, Andhra Pradesh
Also known as
Calingapatam
Region
kalinga

Routes through Kalingapatnam

  • Barua to Kalingapatnam

    Barua and Kalingapatnam both sat where small rivers meet the sea. Kalingapatnam was the bigger of the two, and its name means 'town of the Kalinga people'.

    [Patra, 2014, pp. 118, 123]
    1. Benudhar Patra. *Ports in Ancient Odisha: Historical Perspective*. in Odisha Review. 2014 , pp. 118, 123 (p. 118 sets out the general model of short coastal hops. Barua ('now in Andhra Pradesh, 6 km from Sompeta', p. 123) and Kalingapatnam, at the Vamsadhara mouth, are discussed together as neighbouring ancient ports on the same stretch of coast.)

Goods documented here

  • Salt

    Boats carried salt upriver to Sambalpur and came back loaded with cotton, wheat, oil-seeds and rice.

    [Stirling, 1825, pp. 194, 218]; [Hunter, 1872, vol. I, p. 41; vol. II, pp. 159-162; vol. II Appendix III, p. 74]; [Imperial Gazetteer of India (Orissa entries), n.d., vol. XXII, p. 13 (Sambalpur District)]; [Patnaik, 2014a, p. 104]
    1. Andrew Stirling. *An Account, Geographical, Statistical, and Historical, of Orissa Proper or Cuttack*. in Asiatic Researches 15. 1825. public domain , pp. 194, 218 (p. 194: 'formerly salt was an important article of export by way of the great road leading along the Mahanadi to Sembelpur and Berar... more than three lacs of maunds being exported annually'. p. 218: the salt monopoly's revenue exceeds all the land rents.)
    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. I, p. 41; vol. II, pp. 159-162; vol. II Appendix III, p. 74 (vol. I p. 41: 'The only manufacture of Parikud is salt', solar and boiled processes. vol. II: the Tributary States and Central Provinces send rice, grain, oil-seeds and cotton to the coast 'in exchange for salt' (page not isolable: between the running heads for pp. 159 and 162).)
    3. *Imperial Gazetteer of India (Orissa entries)*. n.d. public domain , vol. XXII, p. 13 (Sambalpur District) ('Salt comes principally from Ganjam, and is now brought by rail instead of river as formerly.')
    4. Sunil Kumar Patnaik. *Puri: A Study of Early Trade and Pilgrim Routes*. in Odisha Review. 2014a , p. 104 (Abul Fazl described Manikapatna as a sea port where taxes were collected; reported here as a salt-tax centre.)
Scholar notes

Kalingapatnam is in Srikakulam district, Andhra Pradesh, on the north-Andhra stretch of the historic Kalinga coast, not in modern Odisha. Coordinates follow the Imperial Gazetteer (18 deg 20' N, 84 deg 8' E); Dayalan gives 18 deg 19' N, 84 deg 06' E, and the figures printed in Patra 2014 p. 122 ('18 deg 0' 20" N ... 84 deg 0' 7" E') look like a typesetting error and were rejected. The 1928 and 1977-79 excavation reports were not read. Goods: salt follows Imperial Gazetteer vol. IX, p. 292, which puts a salt factory at the port - a manufacture, not a shipment record.

  1. *The Imperial Gazetteer of India, new edition (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1907-09)*. 1908. public domain , vol. IX, pp. 291-292, 'Calingapatam' ('Port in the Chicacole taluk of Ganjam District, Madras, situated in 18 deg 20' N. and 84 deg 8' E., at the mouth of the Vamsadhara river.' Ruins of many mosques; small gold coins of great age found on the old city site. Open roadstead with a lighthouse; exports 6 lakhs in 1903-4.)
  2. Benudhar Patra. *Ports in Ancient Odisha: Historical Perspective*. in Odisha Review. 2014 , pp. 122-123 (At the Vamsadhara mouth, Srikakulam district. An excavation in 1928 found pottery, large brick walls and glazed tiles showing a fortified city from c. 2nd century BCE to early medieval times; ASI work of 1977-79 in the stupa mound dated settlement to 300 BCE. Roman coins from the site.)
  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. 20, section 'Kalingapatnam' ('Kalingapatnam (18 deg 19' N; 84 deg 06' E), an ancient port city as well as a notable Buddhist centre ... a flourishing port under the Ganga rulers, and during ancient times, vessels from here sailed to Sri Lanka, Java, Sumatra, Malaysia and other countries.' Journal pagination not verified.)
  4. Sushanta Kumar Patra, Benudhar Patra. *Archaeology and the Maritime History of Ancient Orissa*. in Orissa Historical Research Journal XLVII. n.d. , p. 107 (Lists Kalingapatnam among the ports of ancient Orissa brought to light by archaeological excavation.)