ancient Aparanta. The ancient port of Sopara was the most important port in western India after the celebrated port of Cambay. The site of this ancient town is located near the present day Nala Sopara. In ancient times, it was the largest township on India's west coast, trading with Mesopotamia, Egypt, Cochin, Arabia and Eastern Africa. The Mahabharata and the Puranas state that the was reclaimed from the sea for the dwelling place of Parashurama and it became a tirtha for this reason. The finding of the relics in a stupa and the rock edicts (the fragments of the 8th and 9th major rock edicts) of Ashoka in 1882 prove the importance of this port town from the 3rd century BCE to the 9th century CE. The Sanskrit text Mahavamsa (VI, 46,47) states that the first king of the Sinhalese Kingdom (now Sri Lanka), Vijaya sailed from Supparaka (Sopara) to Sri Lanka. Ptolemy mentioned this town as Soupara, and it was a major commercial centre during his time According to the Jaina writers, Shripala, a mythical king married Tilakasundari, daughter of king Mahasena of Soparaka. Jinaprabhasuri (14th century) in his Vividhatirthakalpa mentioned Soparaka as one of 84 Jaina tirthas (sacred places). He also mentioned about an image of Rishabhadeva located in this city till his time. The earliest reference occurs in Mahabharata as Shuparak. The Buddhist Suppara Jataka, believed to be of 6th century BC, talks of Sopara as a prosperous port trading with ports of S.W.Asia, Gujarat, Malabar and Sri Lanka, its experts (navigation pilots- bodhisattvas), and the seas that they voyaged across. From about third or fourth century BC precise historic data can be pieced together. Excavations at Sopara In April 1882, Bhagvanlal Indraji, a noted archaeologist, numismatist and epigraphist excavated at the Burud Rajache Kot mound in Merdes village, near Sopara. The ruins of a Buddhist Stupa was found. From the center of the stupa (inside a brick built chamber) a large stone coffer was excavated which contained eight bronze images of Maitreya Buddha which belong to the c. 8th-9th century CE. This coffer also enclosed relic caskets of copper, silver, stone, crystal and gold, along with numerous gold flowers and fragments of a begging bowl. A silver coin of Gautamiputra Satakarni (Satavahana) was also found from the mound. The Bombay Provincial Government presented the Sopara relics to the Asiatic Society of Bombay. The coins and the