Early History of Orissa

Author(s): Amarchand Mittal
Publisher: Jain Cultural Research Society

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GEOGRAPHICAL FACTOR
plateau of the Deccan than any other part of Kalinga. In this area the network of rivers in the deltas of the Krishnā and the Godavari have rendered it extremely fertile and it is very densely populated.
The general characteristics of the entire coast-land are somewhat different from those of the southern portion of Bengal. The soil is either alluvial or a reddish laterite, cut up by low hills, which yields a poor harvest even in the best of seasons. Irrigation is possible on account of the existence of a number of rivers. In early days irrigation was in vogue in this country, as there is a reference to the extension of an acqueduct in the Hāthigumphā Inscription of Khāravela. The lower parts of many great rivers intersect the coast-land, and their deltas spread fan-wise in the flat plains near the sea. Fishing and salt-making are the principal industries along the sea-coast.
RIVERS
"It is the devastating rivers, and not foreign invasion or domestic tumult, which the Oriyas have chiefly to fear”, remarked Sir W. W. Hunter. The water supply, which pours down from the interior table-land upon the Orissadelta, has hitherto defied control. Three great rivers collect the drainage of 75,000 Sq. miles of Madhya Pradeśa, and gradually converging the coast, dash down their accumulated waters within 30 miles of each other upon the Cuttack district. The velocity, which they had obtained in descending from the inner table-land, finds itself suddenly
1. L. 6. "Parichame cha dani vase nandaraja ti-vasa-sata Oghā.
titar tanasuliya vaļa pavadin nagaram pavesayati”. 2. Orissa. Vol. II, 1880, p. 175. 3. The account and figures are based on the data collected in 1880
by Sir W. W. Hunter and incorporated in his work entitled Orissa" in two volumes.