Kalinga Ancient Trade Routes

Jaugada to Palur

Probable Scholars say

Jaugada was a walled town up the Rushikulya river with Ashoka's orders carved on a rock. Scholars think its harbour was Palur, down at the river mouth.

Palur may mean 'tooth city', and one scholar thought the tooth in the name was an elephant tusk waiting to be shipped.

Jaugada was a walled town on the Rushikulya river, in south Odisha. The ancient emperor Ashoka had thirteen of his orders carved into a rock here. [Imperial Gazetteer of India, new edition (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1907-09), 1908, p.72]

A historian thinks Jaugada’s edicts stand here because of a port nearby. That port was Palur, down near the mouth of the same river. Palur was known well beyond Kalinga. [Patra, n.d., p.113]

One scholar traced the old name Palura back to words meaning “tooth city.” He guessed this pointed to elephant tusks. Tusks were probably an important export from here. Kongoda, the land around Chilika, was known for breeding good elephants. [Patra, 2014, p.122]

For scholars

No source read here truly describes a road between Jaugada and Palur. The link is one historian’s own idea, based on where the edicts happen to sit. The “tooth city” and ivory idea is also just one scholar’s guess about the name. It is not a proven fact. [Patra, n.d., p.113; Patra, 2014, p.122]

Facts

Mode
Overland
From
Jaugada
To
Palur

Ports on this route

  • Palur

    Palur is an old port village near the mouth of the Rushikulya river in south Odisha. People found bits of Chinese and Mediterranean pots there, which shows traders came from far away.

    [Patra, n.d., p. 109]; [Patra, 2014, p. 121]; [Dayalan, 2019, offprint pp. 20-21, section 'Palur']; [Sahu, 2026, Times of India, 1 August 2026]
    1. Sushanta Kumar Patra, Benudhar Patra. *Archaeology and the Maritime History of Ancient Orissa*. in Orissa Historical Research Journal XLVII. n.d. , p. 109 (Prints 'Palur (Lat 19 deg 27' E. and Long 85 deg 11' N.)' with the labels reversed. Exploration by A. Nath (ASI) and K. S. Behera at Palur (Kantigarh) found Chinese celadon, rouletted ware and amphora pieces; K. K. Basa's survey found a possible lighthouse pillar and a stamped boat motif nearby.)
    2. Benudhar Patra. *Ports in Ancient Odisha: Historical Perspective*. in Odisha Review. 2014 , p. 121 (Gerini: Ptolemy's Paloura = modern Palur, 'at Lat. 19 deg 27' N and Long. 85 deg 11' E, just above the mouth of Rushikulya'. Same page: 'On linguistic grounds, S. Levi identifies Dantapura ... and Dandagula of Pliny with Paloura of Ptolemy', citing Indian Antiquary LV (1926), pp. 98-99.)
    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 pp. 20-21, section 'Palur' ('Palur (19 deg 27' N; 85 deg 11' E), situated in the Ganjam district of Odisha, was mentioned as an important port on the eastern coast of India.' Kantigarh explorations yielded Chinese celadon, rouletted ware and Mediterranean amphora. Journal pagination not verified.)
    4. Diana Sahu. *Digging at Palur reveals thriving maritime hub from pre-Mauryan era*. in The Times of India. 2026 , Times of India, 1 August 2026 ('Nine cultural layers ... nearly three metres ... from the pre-Mauryan period through the Early Historic and Early Medieval phases.' NBPW, knobbed and red polished ware; 363 graffiti sherds; beads. A conference report on the 2023-25 dig, not yet published; 'lends strong support' to Palur=Paloura.)

Goods carried on this route

  • Ivory

    Greek sailors had a special name for elephant tusks from this coast: Dosarenic ivory.

    [Anonymous, 1989, section 62]; [Patra, 2014, p. 122]
    1. Anonymous. *The Periplus Maris Erythraei: Text with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary*. trans. Lionel Casson. Princeton University Press. 1989 , section 62 ('Dosarene, yielding the ivory known as Dosarenic'. Section number is standard across editions. Casson's page NOT verified: the 1989 Princeton edition is lending-restricted on archive.org, so the wording was read in W. H. Schoff's 1912 translation via ToposText.)
    2. Benudhar Patra. *Ports in Ancient Odisha: Historical Perspective*. in Odisha Review. 2014 , p. 122 ('The ivory yielded in Dosarene was known as dosarenic'; also summarises the rival identifications of Dosarene.)

  • Elephants

    A stone carving at Bhubaneswar shows an elephant standing on the deck of a ship, ready to sail away.

    [Kautilya, n.d., Book II, ch. 2]; [Xuanzang, 7th century CE, vol. II, p. 207]; [Patra, n.d., p. 114]; [Stirling, 1825, p. 182]
    1. Kautilya. *Arthashastra*. n.d. public domain , Book II, ch. 2 ('Elephants bred in countries, such as Kalinga, Anga, Karusa, and the East are the best.' Read in R. Shamasastry's translation, Mysore Printing and Publishing House, p. 49 (archive.org in.ernet.dli.2015.102722). Kangle's numbering not verified.)
    2. Xuanzang. *Record of the Western Regions (Da Tang Xiyu Ji)*. 7th century CE. public domain , vol. II, p. 207 (Beal 1884: Kalinga 'produces the great tawny wild elephant, which are much prized by neighbouring provinces'; neighbouring Kongoda has 'the great greenish-blue elephant'.)
    3. Sushanta Kumar Patra, Benudhar Patra. *Archaeology and the Maritime History of Ancient Orissa*. in Orissa Historical Research Journal XLVII. n.d. , p. 114 (Brahmeswar temple ship frieze, c. 9th century CE: 'elephant was an item of export among many other items'.)
    4. Andrew Stirling. *An Account, Geographical, Statistical, and Historical, of Orissa Proper or Cuttack*. in Asiatic Researches 15. 1825. public domain , p. 182 (On wild elephants poisoned near Mayurbhanj: 'it seems highly probable that the Elephant is not indigenous to the province, and it is said that the breed had its origin in the escape of some of the tame animals from their keepers in former ages.')
Scholar notes

No source read here describes a road between the two places. OHRJ p. 113 argues only that the position of the Ashokan edicts at Jaugada implies an association with the port of Palur, and that argument stands in one work. Ivory and elephants are listed because the Periplus and Xuanzang place both in this Ganjam and Chilika region, not because any source puts them on this road. The line follows the Rushikulya schematically.

  1. Sushanta Kumar Patra, Benudhar Patra. *Archaeology and the Maritime History of Ancient Orissa*. in Orissa Historical Research Journal XLVII. n.d. , pp. 109, 113 (p. 113: 'The very location of the Asokan Edicts at Jaugarh, a place far away from the actual scene of the war i.e. Dhauli is an indication of its association with the port of Palur, a well known ancient port of Kalinga.' p. 109: Palur, near the Rushikulya, was a port of international repute.)
  2. *The Imperial Gazetteer of India, new edition (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1907-09)*. 1908. public domain , vol. XIV, pp. 72-73, 'Jaugada' ('Ruined fort in Ganjam District, Madras, situated in 19 deg 31' N. and 84 deg 50' E., about 18 miles west of Ganjam town, on the north bank of the Rushikulya', carrying thirteen edicts of Ashoka on a granite mass.)
  3. Benudhar Patra. *Ports in Ancient Odisha: Historical Perspective*. in Odisha Review. 2014 , pp. 121-122 (Palur is placed 'just above the mouth of Rushikulya'. Przyluski derived Palura from Dravidian words meaning 'tooth city' and linked the name to elephant tusks, 'probably one of the important items of export'; Kongoda bred elephants of good quality.)