Kalinga Ancient Trade Routes

Barua to Kalingapatnam

Probable Scholars say

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'.

Kalingapatnam's own name means 'town of the Kalinga people' - a reminder of how far this coast carried the Kalinga name.

Barua and Kalingapatnam both sat where small rivers meet the sea. Kalingapatnam sits at the mouth of the Vamsadhara river. It was the bigger of the two ports. Historians think ships probably moved between these two neighbours, along the same coast. [Patra, 2014, pp. 118, 123]

For scholars

No voyage or record between these two ports was found. The route is inferred, from how close they sit, about 75 km apart, and from a general model of coastal hopping. The line shown is schematic, drawn along the modern coast. [Patra, 2014, pp. 118, 123]

Facts

Mode
Coastal
From
Barua
To
Kalingapatnam

Ports on this route

  • Kalingapatnam

    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.

    [The Imperial Gazetteer of India, new edition (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1907-09), 1908, vol. IX, pp. 291-292, 'Calingapatam']; [Patra, 2014, pp. 122-123]; [Dayalan, 2019, offprint p. 20, section 'Kalingapatnam']; [Patra, n.d., p. 107]
    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.)

  • Barua

    Barua was a port the Greek geographer Ptolemy wrote about long ago. It stood where a small river reaches the sea, in what is now Andhra Pradesh.

    [Patra, 2014, p. 123]
    1. Benudhar Patra. *Ports in Ancient Odisha: Historical Perspective*. in Odisha Review. 2014 , p. 123 ('Barua or Barwah ... lies in Lat. 18 deg 51' N and Long. 84 deg 35' E ... 33 miles south of Berhampur ... now in Andhra Pradesh, 6 km from Sompeta.' 'From the accounts of Ptolemy ... the port-town of Barua was one of the important trade centres ... during the ancient period.')
Scholar notes

No voyage or record between these two ports was found; inferred from proximity (about 75 km) and Patra's coastal-hop model. Line schematic, drawn along the modern coast.

  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.)