The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c8.s1.4

c8.s1.4

The *Calingæ* are mentioned by Pliny,* as occupying the eastern coast of India below the Mandei and Malli, and the famous Mount Maleus. This mountain may perhaps be identified with the high range at the head of the Rishikulya river, in Ganjam, which is still called *Mahendra Malé*, or the “Mahendra mountain.” To the south, the territory of the *Calingæ* extended as far as the promontory of Calingon and the town of Dandaguda, or Dandagula,† which is said to be 625 Roman miles, or 574 British miles, from the mouth of the Ganges. Both the distance and the name point to the great port-town of Coringa, as the promontory of *Coringon*, which is situated on a projecting point of land, at the mouth of the Godâvari river. The town of *Dandaguda*, or *Dandagula*, I take to be the *Dántapura* of the Buddhist chronicles, which, as the capital of Kalinga, may with much probability be identified with Raja Mahendri, which is only 30 miles to the north-east of Coringa. From the great similarity of the Greek *Γ* and *Π*, I think it not improbable that the Greek name may have been *Dandapula*, which is almost the same as *Dántapura*. But in this case, the *Dánta*, or “tooth relic,” of Buddha must have been enshrined in Kalinga as early as the time of Pliny, which is confirmed by the statement of the Buddhist chronicles, that the "left canine tooth" of Buddha was brought to Kalinga immediately after his death, where it was enshrined by the reigning sovereign, Brahmadatta.* Dântapura, also, is said to have been situated on the northern bank of a great river, which can only be the Godâvari, as the Kistna was not in Kalinga. This fact alone would be sufficient to fix the position of Dântapura at the old capital of Rajama-hendri, which is situated on the north-eastern bank of the Godâvari. The name of Mahendri is perhaps preserved in the Pitundra Metropolis of Ptolemy, which he places close to the Maisólos, or Godâvari, that is, to the river of Masuli-patam.