Kalinga Ancient Trade Routes

Ujjayini (Ujjain)

Strongly Supported Scholars say

Ujjayini was one of the four great capitals of Ashoka's empire, far to the west of Kalinga. Ashoka's own rock-carved orders say officers travelled between it and Kalinga to check his laws were followed.

Ujjayini was one of four great capitals in Ashoka’s empire. It stood far to the west of Kalinga. A prince ruled there as governor. Other governors sat at Taxila, in the northwest, and at Tosali, in Kalinga. [Kulke, 1998, 3rd edn (Routledge, 1998), p. 67]

Ashoka’s own rock-carved orders name Ujjayini too. They say the governor sent out an officer every three years. This officer checked that Ashoka’s laws were followed. [Hultzsch, 1925, Hultzsch, CII I (1925), First Separate Rock Edict, clause AA, p. 97; identification pp. xxxvii-xxxviii]

For scholars

Ujjayini is not a Kalinga site. It appears here for one reason. Ashoka’s own edicts name it as the western capital. They link it to Kalinga through this touring-officer rule. Scholars have long matched Ujjayini to the modern city of Ujjain. No other guess was found. Neither source prints a coordinate. The position given is modern Ujjain, read from a map. [Hultzsch, 1925, Hultzsch, CII I (1925), First Separate Rock Edict, clause AA, p. 97; identification pp. xxxvii-xxxviii]

Facts

Site type
Mauryan provincial capital (viceroyalty of the west)
Coordinates
23.18°, 75.79°
[Natural Earth, 1, n.d.]
  1. *Natural Earth, 1:50m Physical and Cultural Vectors*. n.d. public domain
Modern name
Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh
Scholar notes

Included as the western administrative anchor named in the Dhauli/Jaugada Separate Rock Edict I, not as a Kalinga site. The identification of Ujjayini with modern Ujjain is the standard, long-unchallenged one (Hultzsch, Cunningham); no rival identification was found. No coordinate is printed in either source; position is the modern city of Ujjain, read from a map.

  1. *Separate Rock Edicts of Ashoka at Dhauli and Jaugada*. ed. Eugen Hultzsch. 1925. public domain , Hultzsch, CII I (1925), First Separate Rock Edict, clause AA, p. 97; identification pp. xxxvii-xxxviii ('But from Ujjayini also the prince (governor) will send out for the same purpose a person of the same description ... not (more than) three years.' p. xxxvii: 'Ujjayini, the capital of Avanti ... is the modern Ujjain.')
  2. Hermann Kulke, Dietmar Rothermund. *A History of India*. Routledge. 1998 , 3rd edn (Routledge, 1998), p. 67 ('Then there were four large provinces governed by princes ... as governors or viceroys ... the viceroy of the west at Ujjain', alongside Taxila (northwest) and Tosali in Kalinga (east).)