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CHAPTER XXXII
THE KALINGAS The Kalingas as a tribe are almost always associated with the Argas and Vargas in ancient Indian literature. These three tribes along with the Pundras and Suhmas are said to have been named after the five sons of Bali, Anga, Vanga, Kalinga, Pundra and Suhma who were called Bāleya Kşatra and also Bāleya Brāhmaṇas.1 These five tribes evidently then lived conterminously and had their distinct entities within respective geographical boundaries to which they gave the names of their respective tribes. The tradition referred to above is contained in the Purānas and the Great Epic, according to which, the sage Dirghatamas had married King Bali's Śūdra nurse and had Kaksivant and other sons; and at Bali's desire begot on the queen Sudesņā the aforesaid five sons. According to the Great Epic again, King Jarāsandha is said to have extended his supremacy over the Angas, Vangas, Kalingas and the Puņdras. In the Dronaparvan, Vāsudeva is said to have once routed in battle the Angas, Vargas, Kalingas and the Pauņdras along with other peoples. A town named Kalinganagara, evidently one of the cities of the Kalinga people, is mentioned in the Rāmāyana, on the west of the Gomati and not far from it. A Kalinga tribe is also referred to in the Mārkandeya Purāna 5 as having their settlement on the Satadru. Pargiter suggests that the reading is erroneous, for there seems to be no ground for thinking that the Kalingas lived in N. India.6 Moreover, the Vāyupurāna' in the same context reads Kulindas instead, which seems to be the correct reading. The Mārkandeya Purāna 8 mentions another people named the Arkalingas along with the Kuntalas, Kāśīs, Kośalas, Atharvas and the Malakas. Pargiter doubts this reading as well, because of the Vāyupurāna reading which is different in the same context.' The Matsyapurāna reads Avantas and Kalingas instead, 10 but this is also hardly satisfactory in view of the fact that the Kalingas are hardly known to have been associated with the Avantas and moreover that the Kalingas are elsewhere
1 Puranic tradition as contained in a number of Purānas, the Mahābhārata and the Harivamśa. See the Dirghatamasa story and its sequel. Compare Pargiter, A.I.H.T., p. 158. 2 Mahābhārata, XII, Chap. 5, 6607.
3 Ibid., Chap. 10, 15. 4 Ayodhyā K., LXXIII, 14, 15.
5 LVII, 37. 6 Märkandeya Purana, p. 316 n.
7 XLV, 116. 8 LVII, 33. 9 Mārkandeya Purāna, p. 308 n. 10 CXIII, 36.
