Chelitalo was an important port in Ancient

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

, in northeast

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, lying on the Chandrabhaga river in

Konark Konark is a medium-sized town in the Puri district in the state of Odisha, India. It lies on the coast by the Bay of Bengal, 65 kilometres from the state capital Bhubaneswar. It is the site of the 13th-century Konark Sun Temple, Sun Temple, also ...

. The Chandrabhaga and Kushabhadra rivers were navigable in ancient times and may have been used to ship huge blocks of stone for constructing the

Konark Sun Temple Konark Sun Temple is a Hindu temple, Hindu Surya, Sun temple at Konark about northeast from Puri, Puri city on the coastline in Puri district, Odisha, India.Hiuen-Tsang Xuanzang (; ; 6 April 6025 February 664), born Chen Hui or Chen Yi (), also known by his Sanskrit Dharma name Mokṣadeva, was a 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveller, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making contribu ...

, who visited Orissa in the 7th century AD, described Chelitalo as a busy port. The port has been identified with

Puri Puri, also known as Jagannath Puri, () is a coastal city and a Nagar Palika, municipality in the state of Odisha in eastern India. It is the district headquarters of Puri district and is situated on the Bay of Bengal, south of the state ca ...

and (perhaps most likely) with the archeological site of Manikpatna. By the 7th century AD, the city was a noted seat of

Mahayana Mahāyāna ( ; , , ; ) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, Buddhist texts#Mahāyāna texts, texts, Buddhist philosophy, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India ( onwards). It is considered one of the three main ex ...

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

. Hiuen-Tsang described it as surrounded by strong and high walls, containing five great convents adorned with images of Buddha and Bodhisattva. It was connected to

Cuttack Cuttack (, or officially Kataka in Odia language, Odia ), is the former capital, deputy capital and the 2nd largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. It is also the headquarters of the Cuttack district. The name of the city is an anglicised f ...

by roads and waterways.

References

{{reflist, 1, refs= {{cite web , url=http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/features/06-08/features1035.htm , title=Antiquity of Arkakshetra Konark , author=DR. BENUDHAR PATRA , work=HareKrsna.com , accessdate=2010-11-24 {{cite book , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F2YSPiKbmHkC&pg=PA68 , page=68 , title=Bhubaneswar: from a temple town to a capital city , author=Ravi Kalia , publisher=SIU Press , year=1994 , ISBN=0-8093-1876-8 {{cite book , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P3fvOXLk8okC&pg=PA219 , page=219 , title=The growth of academic library system , author=B. D. Panda , publisher=Anmol Publications PVT. LTD. , year=1992 , ISBN=81-7041-663-9 {{cite book , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1AA9W9_4Z9gC&pg=PA121 , page=121 , title=Economic history of Orissa , author=Nihar Ranjan Patnaik , publisher=Indus Publishing , year=1997 , ISBN=81-7387-075-6 Maritime history of India History of Odisha