Historical Geography of Ancient India c7.211

c7.211

According to the Mahāvastu (Vol. III, p. 361), Dantapura was the capital of the Kaliṅga kingdom, and it existed ages before the Buddha (Jāt., II, p. 367). Probably it was the Dantapura where the Kaliṅgas were destroyed by Kṛṣṇa (Mahābhārata, Udyogaparva, XLVII, 1883). Dandagula or Dandaguda, the capital of Calingoe, mentioned by Pliny, shows that the original form was Dantakura and not Dantapura (C.A.G.I., p. 735). According to the Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra (p. 50), the elephants of Kaliṅga and Aṅga were excellent. According to the Daśakumāracaritam, Mantragupta came to Kaliṅga. At a little distance from this city he sat on the slope of a hill in a wild forest adjoining a cemetery. The daughter of the king of Kaliṅga named Kanakalekhā was sent for (pp. 167-168). A Brahmin came from the Andhra capital, who told a story about Kardana, the king of Kaliṅga and the father of Kanakalekhā (Ibid., p. 172). Kālidāsa styles the king of Kaliṅga as the ‘Lord of the Mahendra’ (Raghu-vamśa, IV, 43; VI, 54). According to him Kaliṅga was extended up to the Godāvarī. For further details, vide S. K. Aiyangar’s Ancient India and South Indian History and Culture, Vol. I (1941), Ch. XIII, pp. 396ff.