Kalinga (India)

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Kalinga was an ancient empire in central-eastern India. Its territory comprised of most of the modern state of Orissa, as well as some northern areas of the bordering state of Andhra Pradesh.

Kalinga was a rich and fertile land that extended from the river Subarnarekha to Godavari and from Bay of Bengal to Amarkantak range in the West. The kingdom had a formidable maritime empire with trading routes linking Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Bali, Sumatra and Java.

Colonists from Kalinga settled in far away places such as Sri Lanka, Burma as well as the Indonesia archipelago. Even today Indians are referred to as Keling in Malaysia because of this. Many Sri Lankan kings both Sinhalese and Tamil claimed decent from Kalinga dynasties. (see Arya Chakaravarthi)

Kalinga is mentioned in the Adiparva, Bhismaparva, Sabhaparva, Banaprava of Mahabharat so also is the conquest of Karna. Kalinga King Srutayu stated to have fought the Mahabharat war for the Kauravas. Kalinga is also mentioned as Calingae in Megasthenes' book on India - Indica:

"The Prinas and the Cainas (a tributary of the Ganges) are both navigable rivers. The tribes which dwell by the Ganges are the Calingae, nearest the sea, and higher up the Mandei, also the Malli, among whom is Mount Mallus, the boundary of all that region being the Ganges." (Megasthenes fragm. XX.B. in Pliny. Hist. Nat. V1. 21.9-22. 1. ^[1])

"The royal city of the Calingae is called Parthalis. Over their king 60,000 foot-soldiers, 1,000 horsemen, 700 elephants keep watch and ward in "procinct of war." (Megasthenes fragm. LVI. in Plin. Hist. Nat. VI. 21. 8-23. 11. ^[2])

The Kalinga script (ref), derived from Brahmi, was used for writing. Among the offshoots, Kalinga script had the maximum resemblance with the parent script, Brahmi and later modified to Oriya script in the beginning of the second millennium. This makes the Oriya Script as the most unique and least distorted script among the Indic scripts. ([1])

This region was scene of the bloody war fought by the Mauryan king Asoka the Great of Magadha around 260 BCE.

Kharavela was a famous king of Kalinga during the 2nd century BCE, who, according to the Hathigumpha inscription near Bhubaneswar, Orissa, attacked Rajagriha in Magadha, thus inducing the Indo-Greek king Demetrius to retreat to Mathura.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Megasthenes Indica
2. ^ Megasthenes Indica

[edit] See also

• Kalinga Magha
• Jaffna Kingdom

• Orissan Culture
• Latest information about Orissa and Kalinga

Middle kingdoms of India
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