A bustling port town of antiquity visited by the Chinese monk-travellers Fa-hien, Hsuan-tsang, and Yi Jing, celebrated in ancient Sanskrit literature, notably in the works of Dandin and Kalidas, Tamralipta (now Tamluk, in the Purba Medinipur district of West Bengal) was resurrected from obscurity during the Quit India Movement, when it became the seat of a 'jatiya sarkar' (national government) that lasted for nearly 21 months and was disbanded only after Mahatma Gandhi asked its founders to do so.