1916.] The Geography of Orissa. 51 



Tamralipti. 1 From the old maps of Gastaldi and De Barros 

 Tamluk appears to have been connected with the sea by 

 another channel flowing direct south into the Haldi river. 

 This channel was sufficiently wide and deep to admit the 

 passage of the then sea-going vessels up to Tamluk, and thus 

 enabled it to flourish as a port. The silting up of this chan- 

 nel must have been a main cause of its decline. At that time 

 the Thanas Maslandpur and Sutahata formed an island, with 

 this channel to the west, the Bhagirathi on the east, the Rup- 

 narayana on the north and the Haldi on the south. In the 

 early British period an attempt was made to deepen this silted- 

 up channel, and under the name of Banka Nala it was formally 

 opened for traffic on 21st April, 1784. But all efforts to keep off 

 silting proved a failure, and the scheme had to be given up. 



(12) Tarkol, with a fort in the jungle. Tarkua (Bl., B.). 

 Not traceable in the T. chronicles. The Tarkua Caura lies east 

 of Dantan Caura, partly in Thana Dantan of Midnapur Sadar 

 Subdivision, and partly in Thana Pataspur of Contai Subdivi- 

 sion. It is the same as Takaroi of the A kbarnamah , near 

 which was fought on 3rd March, 1575 a.d., the decisive battle 

 between Munim Khan and Daud, a battle that lost Bengal and 

 Orissa to the Af gh ans. In 1584 a.d. the Af gh ans retreated to 

 Takaroi and took refuge in the neighbouring forest of Dharma- 

 pur. The importance of the place was due to the fact that 

 the old Padishahi road to Orisa passed close by, between dense 

 woods on either side. 



(13) Dawar Shorbhurn urf Bar ah or Tar ah. Parah, the 

 tract of saliferous land otherwise known as Shorparah, on the 

 sea coast from the Subarnakekha to the Rasulpur river 

 (Beames). Not identified by Blochmann. Beames' identifica- 

 tion is not satisfactory, because the saliferous tract was included 

 in Mahal Maljyatha (No. 25). The name Barah is evidently the 

 same as Baraha (-bhum), and Shorbhurn is another form of 

 Savar-bhum, the land of Savara tribe. Barahabhum now lies 

 in Manbhum district, drained by the upper reaches of the 

 Kasai river. From the rather considerable revenue assessed, 

 Rs. 33,559, this mahal seems to have included the whole of the 

 hilly jungly tract on the west of Midnapur district from the 

 Subarnarekha northwards to the Kasai. 



(14) Ramna, with five forts, in the Haveli, Ramcandpur, 

 Ramka or Rarka, Dut and the new (parijam jadid ast). Rem- 

 na, 6 miles north-west of Balasore town (Bl., B,). The Re - 

 muna Dandapata of the Temple chronicles, of which no less 

 than twenty-eight Bisis are named 



Arikosa(?r)da, Arimola, Kundi, Guneu, Chanua Caura, 

 Tanmangala, Talanga, Talasamohi, Nagara Caura, Narua 

 Caura, Nunikhanda, Panua, Bayalisi, Bausada Caura, Manada, 



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See my article on Tamralipti, J.A> 



1908 



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