Tamralipta

Tamralipta
Tamralipti shown in eastern India, c. 375 CE
Tamralipti shown in eastern India, c. 375 CE
Historical eraAncient India
Today part ofIndia

Tamralipta or Tamralipti (Pali: Tāmaliti) was an ancient port city and capital of Suhma kingdom in ancient India, located on the coast of the Bay of Bengal.[1] The Tamluk town in present-day Purba Medinipur, West Bengal, is generally identified as the site of Tamralipti.[2]

It was located near the Rupnarayan river. It gets its name from the Sanskrit term "Tāmra," or copper, which was mined nearby at Ghatsila in the Singbhum region of the Chota Nagpur Plateau and traded through this port. During the Gupta dynasty, Tamralipta was the main emporium, serving as a point of departure for trade with Ceylon, Java, and China, as well as the west. It was linked by roads with the major cities of ancient India of that time, i.e., Rajagriha, Shravasti, Pataliputra, Varanasi, Champa, Kaushambi, and Taxila.[1][3][4]

  1. ^ a b Haraniya, Krutika (25 June 2017). "Tamralipti - The Ancient Copper Port". www.livehistoryindia.com. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  2. ^ Dilip K. Chakrabarti (2001). Archaeological Geography of the Ganga Plain: The Lower and the Middle Ganga. Orient Blackswan. p. 125. ISBN 978-81-7824-016-9.
  3. ^ Congress, Indian History (1988). Proceedings. Indian History Congress. p. 22.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).