Kalinga Ancient Trade Routes

Balugaon to Puri across Chilika

Probable Scholars say

Balugaon was a fishing and grain town on the edge of Chilika lake. Boats and, later, trains carried its fish and grain on towards Puri and beyond.

Fishing boats at Balugaon brought in the day's catch, and grain from the villages went out the same way.

Balugaon was a fishing and grain town on the edge of Chilika lake. A 1929 gazetteer says most of the lake’s fish and grain traffic passed through Balugaon and a nearby spot, Kalupara Ghat. [District Gazetteers (Cuttack, Puri, Ganjam, Balasore), British-era editions, n.d., O’Malley & Mansfield, Bihar and Orissa District Gazetteers: Puri (1929), pp. 204-205, 212-213]

For scholars

Only one source was read here. So the tier stops at Probable. This gazetteer records Balugaon’s fish and grain trade, and its later rail link. It does not describe a specific boat route to Puri. The line shown across Chilika lake is schematic. [District Gazetteers (Cuttack, Puri, Ganjam, Balasore), British-era editions, n.d., O’Malley & Mansfield, Bihar and Orissa District Gazetteers: Puri (1929), pp. 204-205, 212-213]

Facts

Mode
River
From
Balugaon
To
Puri

Ports on this route

  • Puri

    Puri is the town of the great Jagannath temple, right beside the sea. Sailors steered by its tall temple, but the open beach made a poor harbour.

    [District Gazetteers (Cuttack, Puri, Ganjam, Balasore), British-era editions, n.d., O'Malley, Bengal District Gazetteers: Puri (1908), p. 15]; [Patnaik, 2014a, p. 107]; [Imperial Gazetteer of India (Orissa entries), n.d., Imperial Gazetteer of India, vol. XX, p. 411, 'Puri Town']
    1. *District Gazetteers (Cuttack, Puri, Ganjam, Balasore), British-era editions*. n.d. public domain , O'Malley, Bengal District Gazetteers: Puri (1908), p. 15 ('The only port in the district is Puri, and this is nothing but an unprotected roadstead. It is open for import and export trade from the middle of October to the middle of March, but during the rest of the year, the surf does not allow of ships being laden or unladen.')
    2. Sunil Kumar Patnaik. *Puri: A Study of Early Trade and Pilgrim Routes*. in Odisha Review. 2014a , p. 107 (Kempthorn's sailing directions of 1679, folio 136-68: 'from Maneclapatam to Jauggernaut course is East-North East and distance is 10 miles.' Ship logs of Capt. Talbot (1680), Hide (1681) and Lake (1683). The author concludes Puri 'was used as a Port from Arab period (10th Century A.D)'.)
    3. *Imperial Gazetteer of India (Orissa entries)*. n.d. public domain , Imperial Gazetteer of India, vol. XX, p. 411, 'Puri Town' ('situated in 19 deg 48' N. and 85 deg 49' E., on the coast', population 49,334 in 1901; 'Puri is a city of lodging-houses, being destitute alike of manufactures or commerce on any considerable scale.')

  • Balugaon

    Balugaon is a town on the shore of Chilika lake where boats brought in fish and grain. A train station here let goods travel on to faraway markets.

    [District Gazetteers (Cuttack, Puri, Ganjam, Balasore), British-era editions, n.d., O'Malley & Mansfield, Bihar and Orissa District Gazetteers: Puri (1929), pp. 204-205, 212-213]; [District Gazetteers (Cuttack, Puri, Ganjam, Balasore), British-era editions, n.d., same, p. 220]
    1. *District Gazetteers (Cuttack, Puri, Ganjam, Balasore), British-era editions*. n.d. public domain , O'Malley & Mansfield, Bihar and Orissa District Gazetteers: Puri (1929), pp. 204-205, 212-213 (The District Fishery Officer's headquarters 'were at Puri, but were recently shifted to Balugaon on the Chilka lake.' 'From Balugaon and Kalupara Ghat the greater part of the traffic is the export of fish and grain.')
    2. *District Gazetteers (Cuttack, Puri, Ganjam, Balasore), British-era editions*. n.d. public domain , same, p. 220 (On the Bengal-Nagpur Railway main line: stations 'most important ... in point of passenger traffic' include Balugaon, and it is also named among the busiest 'in point of goods traffic'.)
Scholar notes

Only one source was read, so the tier stops at Probable. The gazetteer documents Balugaon's fish and grain traffic and its later rail link, not a specific boat route to Puri; the line across Chilika and along the coastal strip is schematic, following the same lake-and-strip corridor as the existing Gopalpur-Puri-Chilika entry. No specific good in goods.json matches 'fish', and 'grain' is not tied to a named good in the source, so goods is left empty.

  1. *District Gazetteers (Cuttack, Puri, Ganjam, Balasore), British-era editions*. n.d. public domain , O'Malley & Mansfield, Bihar and Orissa District Gazetteers: Puri (1929), pp. 204-205, 212-213 ('From Balugaon and Kalupara Ghat the greater part of the traffic is the export of fish and grain'; the District Fishery Officer's headquarters were 'shifted to Balugaon on the Chilka lake.')