Early Maritime Contacts of Odisha with Indonesia and Sri Lanka

About the Book

The present monograph “Early Maritime Contacts of Odisha with Indonesia and Sri Lanka” is a sincere Endeavour to trace out and critically analyze the maritime trade and overseas contacts of ancient Odisha with the islands of Indonesia and Sri Lanka in a historical perspective. The work throws light on various aspects of the maritime history of ancient Odisha such as its maritime favorable geography and adventurous mariners; its brisk and multifaceted contacts with Sri Lanka and the Indonesian islands of Java, Bali, Sumatra and Borneo; the question of colonization by the early Odishan merchants in the South-East Asian countries; flourishing ports, port towns and trade emporiums of ancient Odisha; and overseas trade and maritime activities as reflected in the art, architecture, sculptures, paintings, fairs, festivals, customs, traditions and contemporary foreign accounts and itineraries. It also analyses some other aspects like the types of ships, ship-building technology and navigation, nature and types of merchandise, the direction of winds, waves, sea currents etc. Utmost care has been taken to make the work bias-free and devoid of any type of prejudices and partiality. It is written with an interdisciplinary holistic approach and tries to present the theme of chapters in a very objective and scientific manner. The work will prove both stimulating as well as instructive to the students, scholars, researchers and teachers working and teaching on the maritime heritage of early Odisha, particularly its contact with Sri Lanka and the islands of Indonesia.

About the Author

Dr. Benudhar Patra is presently teaching in the P.G. Department of History, Post Graduate Government College, Sector-l l, Chandigarh (UT). His field of specialization is Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology. He has been teaching history for the last 25 years. He has to his credit more than 11 0 research papers which were published in various journals of national and international repute and in some edited books. He is a member of more than a dozen Academic Societies and Professional Organizations. He has completed two Research Projects sponsored by UGu. His publications include Studies in the Heritage, History and Archaeology of Orissa (Kolkata, 2008), Dalits in Historical Perspective in North-Western India (ed.) (Delhi, 2010), Maritime Trade and Overseas Activities of Early India: Odishan Perspective (New Delhi, 2013) and New Horizons in History and Culture (ed.) (Delhi, 2015). His other fields of research are urban history, agrarian history, gender history, state formation, art history, historiography and the Cult of Jagannath.