Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c9.s6.20

c9.s6.20

If the evidence of the *Kumbhakāra Jātaka* has any value, then Nimi, king of Videha, mentioned in the work, Nagnajit, king of Gandhāra, and Bhīma, king of Vidarbha, must be considered to have been contemporaries of Karaṇḍu of Kaliṅga. It follows from this that the kingdom of Kaliṅga, too, was in existence in the time of Nimi and his contemporaries of the *Brāhmaṇa* period. The evidence of the *Jātaka* is confirmed by that of the *Uttar-ādhyayana Sūtra*. The *Mahāgovinda Suttanta*,⁵ makes Sattabhu, king of Kaliṅga, a contemporary of Reṇu, king of Mithilā and of Dhataraṭṭha or Dhṛitarāshṭra, king of Kāsi, mentioned in the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa*.⁶ There can thus be no doubt that Kaliṅga existed as an independent kingdom in the time of which the Brāhmaṇas speak. It is mentioned both by Pāṇini¹ and Baudhāyana.² The latter regards it as an impure country but evidently not unfrequented by Aryans.³ According to epic tradition it comprised the whole coast from the river Vaitaraṇī⁴ in Orissa to the borders of the Andhra territory. The southern boundary of the *Janapada* was not well-defined. It reached Yellamanchili and Chipurupalle in the Vizagapatam district and at times even Pishṭapura or Pithapuram, north-east of the Godāvarī, but not the river itself which flowed through the Andhra country. Pargiter says that Kaliṅga as a settled kingdom appears to have consisted properly of the plain between the Eastern Ghats (*Mahendra range*) and the sea. But its kings seem to have exercised suzerainty over the Jungle tribes which inhabited the hills far inland, for the Amarakaṇṭaka range, in which the Narmadā rises, is said to be in the western part of Kaliṅga. That large tracts of the country were covered with forests appears from references to *Kaliṅgāraṇya* in Pāli texts. The windows of the capital city in the days of Kālidāsa looked out on the sea, and the deep roar of the waves drowned the sound of trumpets.⁵ In the days of Yuan Chwang Kaliṅga occupied a much smaller area. It is distinguished from Wu-t'u (Orissa) and Kung-yü-t'o (Koṅgoda in the Ganjam district) in the north, and An-to-lo (Andhra or Veṅgī) in the south, and seems to have embraced parts of the Ganjam and Vizagapatam districts. We learn from the Jātakas that an ancient capital of Kaliṅga was Dantapura-nagara.¹ The *Mahābhārata* mentions Rājapura as the metropolis.² The *Mahāvastu*³ refers to another city named Siṁhapura. The Jaina writers mention a fourth town called Kaṁchaṇapura⁴ .