Question

Kalinga is the ancient name of –
A) Bengal
B) Haryana
C) Orissa
D) Bihar

Answer 1

Hint: The eastern coastal area between the Mahanadi and the Godavari rivers is known as the Kalinga region. However, at different points in history, its precise limits have shifted. The region's name comes from a tribe of the same name.

Complete answer:
Kalinga is a historically significant Indian city. Kalinga's core area also includes a substantial portion of Odisha and the northern part of Andhra Pradesh. The Kalinga region comprised a portion of modern-day Chhattisgarh at its most expansive. The ancient name for coastal Orissa was Kalinga. To defeat Kalinga, Ashoka waged a war.

The Kalingas are a major tribe mentioned in the Mahabharata, a Hindu epic. The Kalinga War brought the region under Mauryan influence in the third century BCE. It was then ruled by several regional dynasties, each of which had a ruler who was known as Kalinga Adhipati ("Lord of Kalinga"). These dynasties included Mahameghavahana, Vasishtha, Mathara, Peter Bhakta, Sailor Bhava, and Somavamshi, among others. The Gajapati Empire and Suryavansh of Nandapur were the last two dynasties to rule over Kalinga.

The sea formed the eastern border of Kalinga (the Bay of Bengal). Its western frontier is difficult to define since it shifted with the rulers' political control. The Puranic literature, on the other hand, indicates that Kalinga reached up to the Amarakantaka hills in the west.

Thus the answer is Kalinga was the ancient name for coastal Orissa.

Note: The word "Trikalinga" appears in many ancient inscriptions and has been interpreted in a variety of ways. Trikalinga, according to one theory, refers to Kalinga's largest region. The Eastern Chalukya records, on the other hand, indicate that Kalinga and Trikalinga were two separate regions, with Trikalinga referring to the hilly area west of Kalinga.