Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c13.s3.t2.53

v2.c13.s3.t2.53

Tamralipta was located in the Ganges River delta in western Bengal, in the area of present-day Tamluk on the right bank of the mouth of the Hooghly river as mentioned in the ancient epic *Mahabharata*. As a centre of land and water transportation, it had commercial intercourse with Rome from the 1st and 2nd century CE and also with southern India and countries in Southeast Asia. During the Maurya era (about 321 BC – 185 BC), this place was a part of Magadha. Shortly after 250 BC, Sanghamitta, the daughter of Asoka, at the invitation of Simhala (now Sri Lanka), initiated the queen Anulo and the concubines in the palace into nunhood and established the Bhiksuni Sangha. It is said that to escort her and the Bodhi tree branch she carried, Asoka personally led the troops to Tamralipta and watched her ship sail away.