Kalinga Ancient Trade Routes

Salihundam

Strongly Supported Archaeology

Salihundam is a hill covered in old Buddhist buildings, beside the Vamsadhara river in Andhra Pradesh. Monks lived there for a thousand years, and diggers found five monasteries, stupas and pottery that had travelled from far away.

Salihundam is a hill covered in old Buddhist buildings. It sits beside the Vamsadhara river in Andhra Pradesh. Monks lived here for about a thousand years. That was from around 200 BCE to the 700s or 800s CE [Subrahmanyam, 1964, pp.2-3, 9].

Diggers found five separate monasteries on the hill. Each one had its own kitchen and dining hall. This shows many monks lived and ate together here, for a long time [Subrahmanyam, 1964, pp.29-30].

Archaeologists also found rouletted ware. This is a fine pottery stamped with tiny rolled lines. It looks like ware found at Arikamedu and at Odisha’s own old ports. Historians agree this pottery ties Salihundam to a wide trading network around the Bay of Bengal [Subrahmanyam, 1964, pp.8-9; Patra, n.d., p.110].

Diggers also found two shells. Both were carved with a name close to “Salipataka” or “Salipedaka.” This may once have been an old name for the site itself [Subrahmanyam, 1964, p.4].

For scholars

The dot marking Salihundam on this atlas’s map is approximate. The excavation report’s own printed coordinates (18°13’ N, 84°15’ E) fall in the sea. So the position here is worked out a different way. It follows the report’s own words: on the Vamsadhara, about four miles from Kalingapatnam. That spot is then matched against a modern coastline map. The report also mentions small clay seals copying Roman style. It reports Roman coins found near Kalingapatnam too. But it names no emperor. The one sentence on these coins calls them only “issues of later emperors.” A popular claim that one coin belonged to the emperor Tiberius does not appear anywhere in this source [Subrahmanyam, 1964, p.iv, p.3, p.14].

Facts

Site type
Buddhist stupa and monastery complex on a hill above the Vamsadhara river
Coordinates
18.32°, 84.07°
[Natural Earth, 1, n.d.]
  1. *Natural Earth, 1:50m Physical and Cultural Vectors*. n.d. public domain
Modern name
Salihundam, Srikakulam district, Andhra Pradesh
Excavated by
A. H. Longhurst (1919-20) and T. N. Ramachandran (1943-47), summarised but not independently read; R. Subrahmanyam for the Government of Andhra Pradesh (from 1954)

Key finds

  • Five Buddhist monasteries with kitchens and dining halls

    Five separate monastery buildings, each with its own kitchen and dining hall, show a large community of monks lived and ate together on this hill for centuries.

    [Subrahmanyam, 1964, pp. 29-30]
    1. R. Subrahmanyam. *Salihundam: A Buddhist Site in Andhra Pradesh*. Hyderabad: Government of Andhra Pradesh. 1964. public domain , pp. 29-30

  • Rouletted ware resembling Arikamedu's

    A fine stamped pottery like the ware found at Arikamedu and Odisha's own ports, tying Salihundam into the same long-distance Bay of Bengal trading network.

    [Subrahmanyam, 1964, pp. 8-9]; [Patra, n.d., p. 110]
    1. R. Subrahmanyam. *Salihundam: A Buddhist Site in Andhra Pradesh*. Hyderabad: Government of Andhra Pradesh. 1964. public domain , pp. 8-9
    2. Sushanta Kumar Patra, Benudhar Patra. *Archaeology and the Maritime History of Ancient Orissa*. in Orissa Historical Research Journal XLVII. n.d. , p. 110

  • Two inscribed conch shells naming 'Salipedaka'/'Salipataka'

    Two shell objects carved with a name close to Salihundam's own, hinting that this may once have been called Salipataka or Salipedaka.

    [Subrahmanyam, 1964, p. 4]
    1. R. Subrahmanyam. *Salihundam: A Buddhist Site in Andhra Pradesh*. Hyderabad: Government of Andhra Pradesh. 1964. public domain , p. 4

  • Roman-style clay bullae, and Roman coins reported nearby

    Small clay seals copying a Roman style, plus Roman coins reported from the neighbouring port of Kalingapatnam, point to contact reaching the Mediterranean world - though the coins are described only as 'issues of later emperors', with no emperor named.

    [Subrahmanyam, 1964, p. iv (preface), p. 14]
    1. R. Subrahmanyam. *Salihundam: A Buddhist Site in Andhra Pradesh*. Hyderabad: Government of Andhra Pradesh. 1964. public domain , p. iv (preface), p. 14
Scholar notes

Coordinates are approximated from the report's own description - on the Vamsadhara's south bank, about four miles from Kalingapatnam and twelve miles from Srikakulam - plotted against Natural Earth's coastline, because the book's own printed figure (18 13' N, 84 15' E, p.3) falls in the sea. A popular claim of a Roman coin of Tiberius does not appear here: the one Roman-coin sentence (p.14) names no emperor. Four miles from published port kalingapatnam, kept separate as a monastic hill. Longhurst's and Ramachandran's digs are known only via Subrahmanyam's summary.

  1. R. Subrahmanyam. *Salihundam: A Buddhist Site in Andhra Pradesh*. Hyderabad: Government of Andhra Pradesh. 1964. public domain , pp. 2-3, 8-9, 29-30 (p.3: '18 13' North by 84' 15' East', four miles from Kalingapatnam, 'now a defunct sea-port town'. p.9: three phases, Early (2nd-3rd c. BC-1st c. AD), Middle (1st-3rd/4th c. AD), Late (4th/5th-7th/8th c. AD). pp.29-30: 'five monasteries with kitchens and dining halls' opened.)
  2. Sushanta Kumar Patra, Benudhar Patra. *Archaeology and the Maritime History of Ancient Orissa*. in Orissa Historical Research Journal XLVII. n.d. , p. 110 (Salihundam listed with Dharanikota (Andhra), Chandraketugarh and Tamluk (Bengal), and Sisupalgarh, Manikpatna and Radhanagara (Odisha) as a find-spot of the same rouletted ware distribution, read as evidence of a shared Bay of Bengal trading network.)