Tamralipta

Tamralipta or Tamralipti (Pali: Tāmaliti) was an ancient port city, located on the coast of the Bay of Bengal. It was the capital of ancient Suhma and Vanga kingdom in Bengal. The Tamluk town in present-day Purba Medinipur, West Bengal, is generally identified as the site of Tamralipti.

It was located near the Rupnarayan river. It gets its name from the Sanskrit term "Tāmra," or copper, which was mined nearby at Ghatsila in the Singbhum region of the Chota Nagpur Plateau and traded through this port. During the Gupta dynasty, Tamralipta was the main emporium, serving as a point of departure for trade with Ceylon, Java, and China, as well as the west. It was linked by roads with the major cities of ancient India of that time, i.e., Rajagriha, Shravasti, Pataliputra, Varanasi, Champa, Kaushambi, and Taxila.