Historical Geography of Ancient India c8.495

c8.495

Fa-hien describes Tāmralipti as being situated on the seaside, 50 yojanas east from Campā (Cunningham, *A.G.I.*, ed. S. N. Majumdar, p. 732). In the 7th century A.D. I-tsing resided at Tāmralipti in a celebrated monastery called the Barāha. Traditionally Tāmralipti or Damalipti was the capital of Mayūradhvaja and his son Tāmradhvaja, who fought with Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa. According to the *Kathāsaritsāgara* (Ch. 14), Tāmralipti was a maritime port and an emporium of commerce from the 4th to the 12th century A.D. According to the *Vāyu Purāṇa* the Ganges passes through it. The temple of Bargabhīmā, mentioned in the *Brahma Purāṇa*, which was an ancient Vihāra, still exists at Tāmralipti (Tamluk). The Jaina canonical text *Prajñāpanā* refers to Tāmralipti. It is known from the *Mahāvaṃsa* (XI, 38; XIX, 6) that the mission of Aśoka started from this port for Ceylon. Tāmralipti, as known to the Chinese as *Tan-mo-li-ti*, was 14 or 15 hundred *li* in circuit. The ground was low and rich, which was regularly cultivated. The temperature was hot. The inhabitants were hardy and brave. There were some *saṅghārāmas* and deva temples (Beal, *Buddhist Records of the Western World*, II, 200). For further details, vide *Introducing India*, Pt. I, p. 73.