KENDRAPARA: The ancient literary texts reveal a number of flourishing ports of Kalinga which served the seafaring people of the country, said Dr Sila Tripati, a noted marine archaeologist of Marine Archaeology Centre in National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa.
The people of Kalinga dominated the overseas trade and maintained contacts with far off countries. Kalinga was so prominent in maritime trade that Kalidas referred the King of Kalinga as Mahodadhipati, the Lord of Ocean.
Brahmanda Purana describes that Chilika was an important centre of trade and commerce. Thousands of ships were sheltered in the lake.
Some of the ships had towers with three to five storeys. Ships used to go to Java, Malaya and Ceylon from Chilika. Chilika lake was very deep and was connected to the sea through a wide mouth, which provided easy berthing for the ships.
The people of Kalinga had established their colonies in Java and Bali islands and ships sailed to these far off places from Chilika port. The mariners of Kalinga had close relations with the people of South-East Asia. The people adopted surnames like Rana, Singha, Naik and Bandarnayak, which are popular in South Asian countries. People with similar surnames are living around Chilika lake at present and this is probably the outcome of prolonged maritime contact, said Dr Tripati, author of “Maritime Archaeology Historical Descriptions of the Seafaring of the Kalingas”.
It is mentioned in the Jain text Naya Dharma Kaha that Hatthasis city once was the main trade centre of Kalinga. The mariners used to go Java from this city. Hatthasis was the port town of Kalinga.