From the Himalayas to the Sea: Rethinking the East Coast as a Transregional Cultural Corridor and Interaction Network

Rupendra Kumar Chattopadhyay

Coastal archaeology has frequently been confined to the study of maritime exchange and littoral adaptations, often overlooking the integration of coastal zones within wider inland interaction systems. This paper re-examines the eastern coast of the Indian subcontinent, asking whether it functioned merely as a maritime frontier or as a dynamic corridor for cultural transmission, political expansion, and religious mobility. Focusing on the Ganga Valley and the eastern seaboard, the study adopts a network-based analytical framework that integrates archaeological material culture, settlement patterns, and historical sources. It traces interaction spheres linking the Ganga plains with the eastern littoral through riverine routes that extended into the Bay of Bengal and the wider Indian Ocean world, including Indo-Roman exchange networks as well as South and Southeast Asian circuits, while simultaneously maintaining overland connections with Himalayan and sub-Himalayan regions. These interconnected systems enabled sustained flows of commodities, technologies, and ideological formations across diverse ecological and cultural zones. The paper argues that the eastern coast should be understood not as a peripheral or marginal space but as an active transregional cultural corridor. In this framework, the Ganga Valley emerges as a critical axis shaping patterns of connectivity, exchange, and socio-cultural transformation across early historic South and Southeast Asia.