Kalinga Ancient Trade Routes

Sisupalgarh

Strongly Supported Archaeology

Sisupalgarh is a big walled city near Bhubaneswar, with an earth wall and moat around more than a square kilometre of land. Inside, people found pottery and clay seals copied from Roman coins.

Near Bhubaneswar stands a huge walled city called Sisupalgarh. It has an earth wall and moat around more than a square kilometre of land. People lived here from about the 3rd century BCE to the mid-4th century CE [Patra, n.d., p.110; Mohanty, 2009, pp.47-49].

Archaeologists found pottery styles that travelled far. One kind, rouletted ware, has a stamped pattern. It turns up from Tamil Nadu all the way to Bali. Diggers also found small clay seals copied from Roman coin pictures [Patra, n.d., p.110].

In 2008, a team from Pune and California dug into the north wall. They found eighteen huge stone pillars, never seen before. They may be part of a large public building. Its full shape is still unclear [Mohanty, 2009, pp.50-52].

Scholars think this city was not the end of the story. A paper’s summary says a new settlement grew up two kilometres away, starting around the 6th century CE, after Sisupalgarh itself was left behind [Smith, 2025, abstract].

For scholars

Some scholars link Sisupalgarh to Tosali, the capital Ashoka set up here. But this is a proposal, not a proven fact. The Dhauli edicts are the usual anchor for that name instead. The clay seals with Roman coin designs are local copies. They are not Roman objects themselves. They show contact with a wide trading world, not a Roman visit. The first dig report, from 1949, was not read directly for this entry [Patra, n.d., p.110; Mohanty, 2009, pp.47-48].

Facts

Site type
fortified early historic urban centre
Coordinates
20.23°, 85.86°
[Patra, n.d.]
  1. Sushanta Kumar Patra, Benudhar Patra. *Archaeology and the Maritime History of Ancient Orissa*. in Orissa Historical Research Journal XLVII. n.d.
Modern name
Sisupalgarh, Bhubaneswar, Khordha district, Odisha
Excavated by
B. B. Lal for the Archaeological Survey of India (1948); later the Odisha State Department of Archaeology; Deccan College Pune and UCLA (R. K. Mohanty and Monica L. Smith) from 2005

Key finds

  • Rouletted ware

    A fine wheel-made pottery found from Tamil Nadu to Bali. Its presence here places Sisupalgarh inside a long-distance Bay of Bengal trade network.

    [Patra, n.d., p. 110]
    1. Sushanta Kumar Patra, Benudhar Patra. *Archaeology and the Maritime History of Ancient Orissa*. in Orissa Historical Research Journal XLVII. n.d. , p. 110

  • Clay bullae imitating Roman coins

    Small clay seals showing a Silenus head copied from Roman coin designs, and a medallion with a Kushana-style king on one side and a Roman head and legend on the other.

    [Patra, n.d., p. 110]
    1. Sushanta Kumar Patra, Benudhar Patra. *Archaeology and the Maritime History of Ancient Orissa*. in Orissa Historical Research Journal XLVII. n.d. , p. 110

  • Knobbed ware

    First identified at Sisupalgarh and later found across eastern India and at Ban Don Ta Phet in Thailand, so it links the city to Buddhist ritual networks reaching Southeast Asia.

    [Patra, n.d., pp. 110, 112]
    1. Sushanta Kumar Patra, Benudhar Patra. *Archaeology and the Maritime History of Ancient Orissa*. in Orissa Historical Research Journal XLVII. n.d. , pp. 110, 112

  • Monolithic laterite pillars

    Eighteen previously unknown stone pillars exposed in 2008 at the central mound, part of what may be a large apsidal public building - evidence of organised civic works.

    [Mohanty, 2009, pp. 47, 50-52]
    1. R. K. Mohanty, Monica L. Smith. *Excavations at Sisupalgarh, 2008*. in Man and Environment XXXIV. 2009 , pp. 47, 50-52

  • Rampart and moat over 1 sq km

    The earthwork defences, raised in many successive stages, enclose more than a square kilometre of houses - one of the largest early historic cities in eastern India.

    [Mohanty, 2009, pp. 47-49]
    1. R. K. Mohanty, Monica L. Smith. *Excavations at Sisupalgarh, 2008*. in Man and Environment XXXIV. 2009 , pp. 47-49
Scholar notes

The identification of Sisupalgarh with Ashoka's provincial capital Tosali and with Kharavela's Kalinganagari is a scholarly proposal reported by OHRJ p. 110, not a demonstrated fact; the Dhauli edicts are the usual anchor for Tosali. B. B. Lal's report (Ancient India 5, 1949) was not read. The 'Roman' clay bullae are local imitations of Roman coin imagery, evidence of contact with a trade network rather than of Roman ships. Mohanty and Smith p. 47 give the enclosed area as 'over 1 km2' and print no side length.

  1. Sushanta Kumar Patra, Benudhar Patra. *Archaeology and the Maritime History of Ancient Orissa*. in Orissa Historical Research Journal XLVII. n.d. , p. 110 ('The systematic excavation at Sisupalagarh (Lat. 20 deg 13' 30" N. and Long. 85 deg 51' 30" E.) near Bhubaneswar by B.B. Lal of ASI and subsequently by the State Department of Archaeology'. Occupied 3rd c. BCE to mid-4th c. CE; knobbed and rouletted ware, Roman-derived clay bullae.)
  2. R. K. Mohanty, Monica L. Smith. *Excavations at Sisupalgarh, 2008*. in Man and Environment XXXIV. 2009 , pp. 47-48 ('Sisupalgarh is a fortified Early Historic city ... Initially investigated by Lal (1949, 1991), the site is formally delineated by a rampart and moat enclosing over 1 km2 of ancient habitation.' The 2008 Deccan College/UCLA season cut the northern rampart and exposed 18 monolithic laterite pillars.)
  3. Monica L. Smith, Rabindra Kumar Mohanty. *Deurbanization as lateral stratigraphy: Three thousand years of settlement relocation at Sisupalgarh/Bhubaneswar, India*. in World Archaeology 57. 2025 , abstract (Abstract: 'the Early Historic city of Sisupalgarh (c. 3rd c. BCE-4th century CE), which was replaced by a new settlement 2 km away in the early Medieval period (starting c. 6th century CE), which was in turn superseded by ... Bhubaneswar 2.5 km further north in the 20th century.')