The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c7.s5: 5. Odra, or Orissa.
The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c7.s5
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5. Odra, or Orissa.
c7.s5.1
The kingdom of *U-cha*, or *Oḍa*, corresponds exactly with the modern province of *Odra*, or Orissa. By a reference to the ‘Biography of Hiouen Thsang,’* it would appear that the capital of Odra was 700 *li* to the south-west of Tâmralipti, and as this bearing and distance agree with the position of *Jâjipura*, I think that the pilgrim must have returned to Tamluk from *Kiraṇa Suvarṇa* before proceeding to Odra. In the travels of the pilgrim† the bearing and distance are taken from *Kiraṇa Suvarṇa*; but this is perhaps a mistake, as they are usually referred to the capital, which, whether we place it at Jâjipur or at Katak, is due south of *Kiraṇa Suvarṇa*.
c7.s5.2
† Julien, iii. 88.
c7.s5.3
The province was 7000 *li*, or 1167 miles, in circuit, and was bounded by the great sea on the south-east, where there was a famous seaport town named *Che-li-ta-lo-ching*, or *Charitrapura*, that is, the “town of embarkation” or “departure.” This was probably the present town of *Puri*, or “the city,” near which stands the famous temple of Jagannâth. Outside the town there were five contiguous stupas with towers and pavilions of great height. I presume that it is one of these which is now dedicated to Jagannâth. The three shapeless figures of this god and his brother and sister, Baladeva and Subhadrâ, are simple copies of the symbolical figures of the Buddhist triad, Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, of which the second is always represented as a female. The Buddhist origin of the Jagannâth figures is proved beyond all doubt by their adoption as the representative of the Brahmanical Avatâr of Buddha in the annual almanacs of Mathura and Banâras.
c7.s5.4
∗ Julien, i. 184. See Map No. I.
c7.s5.5
The political limits of Orissa, under its most powerful kings, are said to have extended to the Hûghli and Damuda rivers on the north, and to the Godâvari on the south. But the ancient province of Odra-desa, or Or-desa, was limited to the valley of the Mahânadi and to the lower course of the Suvarna-riksha river. It comprised the whole of the present districts of Katak (Cuttack) and Sambhalpur, and a portion of Medinipur. It was bounded on the west by Gondwâna, on the north by the wild hill-states of Jashpur and Singhbhûm, on the east by the sea, and on the south by Ganjam. These also must have been the limits in the time of Hwen Thsang, as the measured circuit agrees with his estimate.
c7.s5.6
Pliny mentions the Oretes as a people of India in whose country stood Mount Maleus ;* but in another passage he locates this mountain amongst the Monedes and Suari; and in a third passage he places Mount Mallus amongst the Malli. As the last people were to the north of the Calingæ, and as the Monedes and Suari were to the south of the Palibothri, we must look for the Oretes somewhere about the Mahânadi river and its tributaries. The Monedes and Suari must therefore be the Mûndas and Suars, as already noticed, and the Oretes must be the people of Orissa. *Malê* is one of the Dravidian terms for a mountain; and as the Uraons, or people of west Orissa, still speak a Dravidian dialect, it is probable that *Mallus* was not the actual name of the mountain. May not this have been the famous *Sri-Parvat* of Telingâna, which gave its name to the *Sri-Parvatiya* Andhras?
c7.s5.7
∗ Hist. Nat. ii. 75. “In Indiæ gente Oretum, mons est Maleus nomine.” See also vi. 22, “Monedes et Suari, quorum mons Mallus;” and vi. 21, “Malli, quorum mons Mallus.”
c7.s5.8
The ancient metropolis of the country was *Katak* on the Mahânadi river, but in the early part of the sixth century Raja Jajâti Kesari established a new capital at *Jajâtipura* on the Vaitarani river, which still exists under the abbreviated name of *Jájipura*. The same king also began some of the great temples at Bhuvâneswara; but the city of that name was founded by Lalitendra Kesari. The language and pronunciation of the people is said to have differed from those of central India, which is still true at the present day.
c7.s5.9
To the south-west there were two hills, on one of which, called *Pushpagiri*, or the "hill of flowers," there was a monastery of the same name and a stupa of stone, and on the other to the north-west only a stupa. These hills I take to be the famous *Udayagiri* and *Khandagiri*, in which many Buddhist caves and inscriptions have been discovered. These hills are situated 20 miles to the south of *Katak*, and 5 miles to the west of the grand group of temples at Bhuva-neswara. The stupas were said to have been built by demons; from which I infer that the origin of the great caves, and other Buddhist works on these hills was quite unknown at the period of Hwen Thsang's visit.