Kalinga

Kalinga, an ancient kingdom on the east coast of India, championed the over-seas trade in the early years of history and built-up commercial contact with the island countries of Indian Ocean, known as Dvipantara in Sanskrit literature. Along with merchandise they carried the Indian cultural element, Hindu-Buddhist religious doctrines and statecraft that culminated in founding prominent Indianised states throughout Southeast Asia. Some of the modern scholars are attempting to exaggerate the local factor for embracing the Indian cultural and religious element with the intention to denigrate the Kalinga legacy of Southeast Asia. After reading an article of M. Damais in EFEO, 52,1, (1964), pp. 93- 141, O.W. Wolters made an astounding statement in his “Early Indonesian Commerce”, 1967, p. 337 note 110, that henceforth “Kalinga will disappear from the legends of South-East Asia”. Such tentative theories are put forward without substantive evidences and lacks historical basis; but if repeated without challenge, they are likely to be gradually regarded as historical truths. In spite of such superfluous statements, the historicity of Indianised states reveal certain elements which carry the indelible marks of their ancient links with Kalinga.