Hukitola is a striking reminder that Odisha’s coastal history is about more than temples and beaches. On Jambu Island in the Bay of Bengal, in Kendrapara district, stands a historic building linked to maritime trade, food storage and practical water management.
The Kendrapara district administration identifies Hukitola as a historic site in Mahakalapara block. Its story connects the coast to the movement of rice by sea, the challenges of the nineteenth century and the engineering choices that helped people live and work in a remote coastal setting.
Why was Hukitola built?
According to the Kendrapara district administration’s tourism page, the building was constructed by the British in 1866–67, during the period associated with the Naanka drought. The structure was used to store rice brought by sea from Burma and other places.
This detail gives Hukitola significance beyond its appearance. It points to the role of coastal routes in moving essential goods and to the importance of storage facilities in a region shaped by waterways, weather and long-distance trade. The building’s reported plinth area is more than 7,000 square feet, making it a substantial structure for its setting.
A building shaped by water
One of Hukitola’s most distinctive features is its rainwater system. The district administration describes a sloping roof designed to guide rainwater into four large pots. The collected water was used for drinking by merchants throughout the year. The building is also noted for an underground rainwater-harvesting system.
Rather than treating water collection as a separate add-on, the design made the roof part of the building’s practical infrastructure. In a coastal location where fresh water could be an important resource, capturing rainfall would have had clear everyday value. The exact technical details should be described only where reliable documentation supports them; the roof-and-pot arrangement is the feature specifically recorded by the district source.
Hukitola and Odisha’s maritime past
Hukitola’s history is tied to a wider network of coastal ports and trading points. An article in the Government of Odisha’s Orissa Review describes Hukitola as a port used by smaller vessels and as an anchorage point for larger vessels, in a coastal trading landscape that also included Batighar and other ports.
The Kendrapara district administration notes that the port and building began losing importance in 1924, when the British established a port at False Point. This change is a reminder that ports rise and decline as routes, infrastructure and commercial priorities shift.
Conservation and the visitor experience
The district’s tourism information says Hukitola was renovated by INTACH under an Integrated Coastal Zone Management programme for eco-tourism. Conservation matters because a historic building is not only a visual landmark: it can also help explain the relationship between architecture, trade, water and the landscape around it.
Anyone planning a visit should confirm current access, local boat arrangements, weather conditions and any permissions with the relevant local authorities before travelling. Information on routes or facilities can change, and a historic island site should not be assumed to be accessible every day.
Why Hukitola deserves attention
Hukitola brings together several themes in one place: nineteenth-century storage architecture, the movement of rice by sea, coastal port history and a rainwater-harvesting feature recorded by the district administration. For students, history readers and travellers, it offers a useful way to explore Odisha’s maritime heritage through a specific building rather than through broad generalisations.
Related reading
Continue exploring Hukitola with our guide to its historic rainwater-harvesting system and our visitor route and safety checklist.