Early History of Orissa

SR No.: 006922
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Amarchand Mittal
Publisher: Jain Cultural Research Society
Publication Year: 1957
Total Pages: 506
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 9 MB

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AN EARLY HISTORY OF ORISSA
is thrown by Pliny,' the classical Greek writer. From the accounts of Diodoros, Curtius and Plutarch, we know that, at the time of Alexandra's invasion, there were two very powerful peoples in the lower Gangetic valley—the Prasii (Braisioi) and the Gangaridae whose king was Xandrammes or Agrammes. The capital city of the Prasii was Palibothra or modern Patliputra, while that of the Gangaridae was Gange (?) at the mouth of the Ganges, according to the author of the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, or at the junction of the Ganges leading to the Maga and Kambirikhon mouths respectively." Pliny adds a third important people in Eastern India at that time, namely, the Kalingas. He says :- "The tribe called the Kalingas are nearest the sea and higher up are the Mandaei and the Malli whose country is mount Mallus, boundary of all that district being the Ganges.....the final part of its course is through the country of the Gangaridae. The royal city of Kalinga is called Parthalis. Over their king, 60,000 foot soldiers, 1,000 horsemen and 7,000 elephants keep watch and ward.” An alternative reading of Pliny's text makes Gangaridae-Kalinga one people having a king, a capital city and an army of their own. Pliny, further, mentions two more tribes which must have been allied with the Kalinga people proper, viz. the Macco-Kalingae (may be Mukhalingam or Mukhya Kalinga - the Main Kalinga) and the Modo-Kalingae, (may indicate the Madhya Kalinga--the Central Kalinga), both inhabiting an island in the Ganges. The capital city Parthlis of the Kalingae has been identified with Puryasthali, a big village about 20 miles from the modern Burdwan town, which is not above criticism
1. Natural History. (English trans : Philemon Holland). 2. Qtd. Law-Tribes in Ancient India, Poona, 1943, p. 100. 3. IHQ, Vol. IV, p. 35.