Kalinga Ancient Trade Routes

Ganjam to Puri through Chilika

Strongly Supported Scholars say

Boats from Ganjam came north through a canal and across Chilika lake. They brought bamboo and carried away the spare rice of the southern villages.

Flat-bottomed patwa boats crossed Chilika all year round, bringing bamboo north and taking rice back south.

Boats from the Ganjam coast went north to Puri. They used a canal, then crossed Chilika lake. A colonial report says Ganjam traders used this canal and lake all year round. [District Gazetteers (Cuttack, Puri, Ganjam, Balasore), British-era editions, n.d., p.196; Patnaik, 2014a, p.106]

These boats brought bamboo north. They carried spare rice back south. The rice came from villages near the lake. [Patnaik, 2014a, p.106]

One historian says that pilgrims went to Puri in 1810. Some crossed Chilika by boat. Most walked instead, along the strip of land beside the lake. [Patnaik, 2014a, p.108]

For scholars

Old Kushana coins found near the lake hint at a much older trade route. So does a mention of Chilika in the Brahmanda Purana. But the boat trips named in these sources are from British times. So only that later time is shown here. Gopalpur stands in for the wider Ganjam coast. The report names Ganjam traders and the Ganjam canal, not Gopalpur itself. [Patnaik, 2014a, p.106; District Gazetteers (Cuttack, Puri, Ganjam, Balasore), British-era editions, n.d., p.196]

Facts

Mode
River
From
Gopalpur
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.')

  • Gopalpur

    Gopalpur was the main port of the Ganjam coast in south Odisha. Ships had to anchor out in the open sea because there is no shelter from the waves.

    [The Imperial Gazetteer of India, new edition (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1907-09), 1908, vol. XII, pp. 152, 329-330]; [Patra, 2014, p. 121]; [Dayalan, 2019, offprint p. 21, section 'Palur']
    1. *The Imperial Gazetteer of India, new edition (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1907-09)*. 1908. public domain , vol. XII, pp. 152, 329-330 (p. 329: 'Gopalpur - Chief port of Ganjam District, Madras, situated in 19 deg 16' N. and 84 deg 53' E.' A call for British India Steam Navigation coasting steamers; in 1903-4, 7,400 passengers went to and 8,300 returned from Burma. p. 330: 'an open roadstead with no shelter whatever'.)
    2. Benudhar Patra. *Ports in Ancient Odisha: Historical Perspective*. in Odisha Review. 2014 , p. 121 (Gerini identified Ptolemy's apheterion, where ships bound for Khryse left the coast, with modern Gopalpur below the Rushikulya mouth; Patra argues instead for Mansurkota near Gopalpur, citing Maltby, The Ganjam District Manual, p. 31.)
    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. 21, section 'Palur' (Repeats Gerini's identification of Ptolemy's apheterion with modern Gopalpur. Journal pagination not verified.)

Goods carried on this route

  • 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.')
Scholar notes

The gazetteer names 'Ganjam traders' and the Ganjam canal, not Gopalpur itself; Gopalpur stands in as the Ganjam anchor because the same gazetteer series calls it the district's chief port. The canal and lake line is schematic. Patnaik's Kushana coins and his Brahmanda Purana reference point to a much older Chilika route, but the boat traffic actually described is colonial, so only the British period is listed.

  1. *District Gazetteers (Cuttack, Puri, Ganjam, Balasore), British-era editions*. n.d. public domain , O'Malley, Bengal District Gazetteers: Puri (1908), p. 196 (Ganjam traders used the Ganjam canal and Chilika lake for boat traffic all year, bringing bamboo and taking away surplus rice.)
  2. Sunil Kumar Patnaik. *Puri: A Study of Early Trade and Pilgrim Routes*. in Odisha Review. 2014a , pp. 106, 108 (p. 106: the Brahmanda Purana treats Chilika as a trade route, and Kushana coins at Gurubai on the strip between the lake and the sea 'suggests a trade route in the area'. p. 108: in 1810 pilgrims from the south came by road along the strip 'or in few cases by boats across the Chilika Lake'.)