The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c7.s5.5

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.