With a long maritime tradition, the people of region had gone to Southeast Asia and left an imprint on its society and culture. Through its numerous ports on the long coastline, Orissan contact has flowed out in successive waves to different regions of Southeast Asia. The impact of Orissan culture is quite evident in the region. Existence of seaports and availability of materials for export gave impetus to overseas trade.

Due to major role played by the people of Kalinga, the migrants in Southeast Asia are still known as Keling or Kling and this has been verified by the author in his field trip to the region. Orissa’s cultural influence played a dominant role until the end of fifteenth century.  The ancient kingdom of Kalinga located in the central-eastern part of India corresponded to central and coastal Orissa as well as parts of northern Andhra Pradesh. Its territorial extent varied from time to time and at the height of imperial expansion, Kalinga encompassed the region from Ganga on the north to Godavari on the south and from Bay of Bengal in the east to Amarakantaka on the west. The long coast of Bay of Bengal with its ports such as Dantapura, Pithunda, Palura, Tamralipti and others facilitated sea voyages to Southeast Asia region for trade and commerce.  The King of Kalinga was designated as mahodadhipati or lord of the sea.

Kalinga’s importance as a maritime power could be gleaned from classical texts like Periplus, Pliny’s Natural History and Potelmy’s Geography. A number of stories are there in Kalingan folklore’s which speak of sadhabas or merchants going to distant countries with their flotlla or boita and coming back with lots of treasure.  Due to major role played by the people of Kalinga, the migrants from India in Southeast Asia are still known as Keling or Kling. The people of Kalinga contributed to a great deal towards rapprochement between cultural traditions of Southeast Asia and Indian subcontinent. A number of similarities between Kalinga and Southeast Asia could be found in different fields. The impact of religion, philosophy, social custom, art and architecture from Kalinga upon various regions of Southeast Asia is abundantly evident.