Tamralipta

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Tamralipta is the name of an ancient city on the Bay of Bengal corresponding with Tamluk in modern-day India.

1 Background
2 Archaeological Excavations in Tamluk
3 Origin of the Name Tamluk
4 History of Tamluk
5 References

[edit] Background

Tamluk's strategic location as a sea port on the Bay of Bengal and at the crossroads of various trade routes to East Asia and South-East Asia like Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Java, Sumatra made it an important site for ancient commerce.

In addition to the long northwestern land route to Central Asia, China and Europe, the cities in the Ganges valley had river outlets to the east through the ports of Tamluk and others. The famous Silk Road was offered attractive trading possibilities with Tamluk in its early dates. From the ports in Bengal a seafaring route covered Bali, Java and the Far East.

Tamralipti's ancient settlement is mentioned in early Indian literature, in Ceylonese texts, and in accounts of Greek geographers and Chinese pilgrims. These texts indicate that Tamralipti was located on the eastern coast near the confluence of the Bay of Bengal and River Ganga. They also indicate that Tamralipti was related to trade routes and frequented by traders, travellers and pilgrims. From the texts, the chronology of this settlement will be roughly between fourth-third century BC to eighth century AD. The Dudhpani rock inscription of Udaymana, of the eighth century AD, contains the last record of Tamralipti as a port of ancient South Asia. In the map of the Greek geographer Ptolemy, Tamralipti appears as Tamalities. Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang calls the town Tan-mo-lih-ti (te).

These textual references have led scholars to identify Tamralipti as one of the most important centres of trade and commerce of early historic India. It has also led to the belief that Tamralipti had emerged as a thriving urban settlement in this period and had multidirectional links with different geographical regions of South Asia.

[edit] Archaeological Excavations in Tamluk

Tamluk has been subjected to archaeological excavation at least twice and has been explored frequently. ICS Gourdas Basak, a friend of the renowned Bengali poet Michael Madhusudan Dutt, was the first person to write on the antiquarian remains of Tamluk in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. He published a note on his findings in the Jan-Dec 1888 issue of Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Calcutta, 1889). Around the same time Umacharan Adhikari, a leading personality of Tamluk, wrote an account of the antiquity of the town in a book.

In 1920-21 the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) also produced a short report on Tamluk. Sir Gurusaday Dutt, T. N. Ramachandran, and K. N. Dikshit carried out the first archaeological diggings in 1940. Among the antiquities recovered through excavation were terracotta objects, pottery and coins. Some of these antiquities belong to the third century BC. ASI undertook the next excavation in 1954-55 under the supervision of M. N. Deshpande. As a result, a four fold cultural sequence was established. However, no structures could be unearthed in the excavation; only rammed floor levels and ring wells were encountered.

ASI undertook further excavation of the site in 1973-74 under the supervision of S. K. Mukherjee. This excavation revealed four successive occupational periods, the first of which (Period I) yielded an assemblage of Neolithic celts, ill-fired pottery, a large number of microlithic tools, bone awls and a small number of copper objects. Period II, dated to third-second century BC, yielded a few fragments of NBPW, a good number of beads of semi-precious stones, and a large number of punch marked and cast copper coins. One may link this period to the so-called Maurya-Shunga times. Evidence of a brick built tank and a few terracotta ring wells were also exposed. Period III, belonging to the Shunga-Kusana phase seems to have been the richest one and have yielded ceramics, and a very large collection of terracotta figurines, some with a definite hellenistic affiliation. The assemblage indicates a sophisticated urban life where citizens indulged in art. Period IV stratigraphically represents the so-called Gupta period. The yield of antiquities from this occupational level has not been impressive, certainly they do not match the evidence furnished by Chinese pilgrims.

Between 1954-55 and 1973-74, explorations by individual scholars brought to light rich antiquities from different regions in and around Tamluk. Professor P. C. Dasgupta was a pioneer researcher in this field. He recovered beautiful terracotta figurines from the site along with other important antiquities. After the 1973-74 season, the Tamralipta Research and Museum Centre has carried out independent research in the region. Explorations have brought to light early historic sites from the region.

The early historic period of Tamluk is marked by the occurrence of pottery such as roulleted ware, grey ware, red ware, black polished ware and northern black polished ware. In addition to pottery, the site has also revealed terracotta objects of exceptional beauty. Terracotta figurines of yaksis, animals, and plaques depicting life of ordinary men and women are found in the collections of Tamluk Museum. The famous figurine of Yaksi at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford was recovered from Tamluk. Although the question of chalcolithic origin has not been properly resolved, the occurrence of Black and red ware along with numerous bone objects like harpoons have made the issue problematic.^[1]

[edit] Origin of the Name Tamluk

According to some scholers Tamluk derives its name from the Sanskrit word Tamra Lipta meaning "Full of Copper".

Tamralipta (Tamluk), lower down the river Hooghly and sea port, had been an important waterway for more than 3000 years. It gets its name from the copper which was mined, as it is even now, at Ghatsila, Jharkhand, Orissa areas which are not far from the city. Copper had been eclipsed by iron around 100 B.C., so the name must have originated during the Copper Age, when Tamralipti exported the ore and metal to peninsular India; the alternative was the less accessible Rajasthan area. The longer, original name of the port was in use till the third century B.C., when Ashoka's daughter and son sailed from it for Sri Lanka.

According to local folklore the name Tamralipta came from the King Tamradhwaja (which means The King with Copper Flag/symbol) of the Mayura-Dhwaja (Peacock) dynasty. If you go according to Mahabharat's description the ruling period of the King Tamradhwaja is nearer to the end of the Copper Age. Probably this ancient king had a huge base of copper, and the metal brought prosperity to the region at his time. Thus both of the names -- Tamralipta and Raja Tamradhawja -- might have been originated from it.

Some early Vaisnav religious texts tell a facinating story about the origin of the name of Tamralipta. Once, when Lord Krishna was playing Maharaas in Vraj at Vrindavan Surya (Sun God) Dev rose from the east and accidentally saw Lord Krishna in intimate situation with his Gopis and Sri Radhika. Immediately Surya Dev had felt ashamed, became embarrassed and blushed a reddish copper colour like Tamra. And then Surya Dev again returned to the same corner of the east coast of Bharata and did hide (Lipta) himself in the Bay of Bengal. Where Surya Dev went back and hid himself is the place called Tamralipti.

[edit] History of Tamluk

This ancient port city and kingdom was bounded by the Bay of Bengal in the south, river Rupnarayana in the east and Subarnarekha in the west. The Rupnarayana is the joint flow of the river Dwarkeshwar and the river Shilai. The Bay of Bengal and these great rivers and their numerous branches created a prosperous and easy water navigational system fostering commerce, culture and early contacts with the people outside the region. At the same time, these rivers helped to develop the agriculture in this region.

History tells us that the rivers have been central to urban settlement and development in the subcontinent from the ancient period. The Indus and the Ganges have been cradles of ancient civilization. Tamluk was a civilisation based on Bay of Bengal and river Rupnarayana. And the most important natural resource of this area was water from the rivers and sea.

Archaeological remains show continuous settlement from about 3rd century BC. It was known as Tramralipti (in the Purans and the Mahabharata) or Tamralipta (in Mahabharata) or Tamalika (in historical documents) or Tamalitti (in foreigners' descriptions) or Tamoluk (in the British Raj). It was a seaport, now buried under river silt. For this reason, Tamluk has many ponds and lakes remaining today.

In the Mahabharata (Bhishma Parba/Nabam Adhyay) while describing the names of the holiest rivers and kingdoms of India, Sanjay took the name of "Tramralipta" to Dhritarastra.

Tamluk was also known as Bhivas (in religious texts) and Madhya Desh (as the Middle State of Utkal/Kalinga and Banga).

According to Jain sources, Tamralipti was the capital of the kingdom of Venga and was long known as a port.