Kalinga (India)
Kalinga was an ancient kingdom of central-eastern
India, in the province of
Orissa and
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.
[Megasthenes Indica])
"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.
[Megasthenes Indica])
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, and whose death and destruction later served as a precursor as one of the main centers of Buddhism.
Kharavela was a famous king of Kalinga during the
2nd century BCE, who, according to the
Hathigumpha inscription, attacked
Rajagriha in
Magadha, thus inducing the
Indo-Greek king
Demetrius to retreat to
Mathura.
*
Kalinga Magha*
Jaffna Kingdom *
Orissan Culture
