Trade and Trade Routes in Ancient India c8.26

c8.26

The capital of Aṅga at Champā remained but the capital of Vaṅga at Tāmralipti shows that it became a very important city as the Grand Route terminated there and its port became important because of its international trade. Kāñchanapura, the capital of Kaliṅga, conquered by Aśoka, cannot be identified but it was a port which had trade relations with Sri Lanka.¹⁵ It is also possible that by Kāñchanapura may be meant Dantapura the capital of Kaliṅga, which is called Palour by Ptolemy which according to Professor Levi is only a Tamil equivalent of Dantapura. Vārāṇasī continued to be the capital of Kāsī. It seems that the ancient Kosala was divided into three provinces. The capital of the main Kosala was Sāketa, the capital of Kuṇālā (perhaps Gonda) was Śrāvastī and Nandipura was the capital of Saṇḍilla (perhaps Sandila near Lucknow). The capital of Kurudeśa remained as previously at Hastināpura. The capital of Kuśāvartta or Kānyakubja was Soriya, the modern Soron. The capital of Dakshinapāñchāla was Kampillapura or modern Kampil and the capital of northern Pāñchāla was Ahichhattra near Ramnagar in Bareilly district, Uttar Pradesh.