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Tamralipta
Tamralipta or Tamralipti (Pali: Tāmaliti) was a city in ancient Bengal, located on the Bay of Bengal[1] in Midnapore district of modern-day India in West Bengal. The Tamluk town in present-day West Bengal is identified as the site of Tamralipti.[2]
It is believed that Tamralipti was the exit point of the Mauryan trade route for the south and south-east.[3] Excavations at Moghalmari confirmed the presence of Buddhist vihars in the area which was mentioned by Chinese travelers Fa Hien and Xuanzang.[4] It was located near Rupnarayana river. This place has been mentioned in Mahabharata as a place which Bhima acquired. It was linked by roads with the major towns of that time, i.e. Rajagriha, Shravasti, Pataliputra, Varanasi, Champa, Kaushambi and Taxila.[5]
History
In the early fifth century CE, Chinese Buddhist monk Fa Hien reported seeing twenty Buddhist monasteries in Tamralipta.[6] Circa 675 CE, Chinese Buddhist Monk Yi Jing reached the east coast of India. In his memoirs, he speaks of the Buddhists of Tamralipta:
When I for the first time visited Tāmralipti, I saw in a square outside the monastery some of its tenants who, having entered there, divided some vegetables into three portions, and having presented one of the three to the priests, retired from thence, taking the other portions with them...
The priests in this monastery are mostly observers of the precepts. As cultivation by the priests themselves is prohibited by the great Sage, they offer their taxable lands to be cultivated by others freely, and partake of only a portion of the products. Thus they live their just life, avoiding worldly affairs, and free from the faults of destroying lives by ploughing and watering fields.[7]
See also
References
- ↑ Haraniya, Krutika (26 June 2017). "Tamralipti, The Copper Port of Ancient Bengal". Live History India. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ "Purba (East) Medinipur". Calcutta High Court. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
- ↑ Shankar Chattopadhay, Suhrid (22 February 2013). "Unearthing a culture". Frontline. Retrieved 2 November 2013.
- ↑ Haraniya, Krutika (26 June 2017). "Tamralipti, The Copper Port of Ancient Bengal". Live History India. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ↑ "New twist from excavations". Deccan Herald. 2 April 2016.
- ↑ Schmiedchen, Annette (2019). "Medieval Endowment Cultures in Western India: Buddhist and Muslim Encounters – Some Preliminary Observations". Mondes de l'Asie du Sud et de l'Asie Centrale: 7.
Sources
- Manoranjan Bhaumick, History, Culture and Antiquities of Tamralipta, Kolkata, Punthi Pustak (2001) ISBN 81-86791-27-2.
- T. N. Ramachandran, "Tamralipti (Tamluk)", Artibus Asiae, Vol. 14, No. 3 (1951), pp. 226–239
External links
- Archaeological Museum, Tamluk (West Bengal)
- Tamralipti in Banglapedia