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Kharavela of Kalinga
Before becoming part of the Maurya Empire, Kalinga was an unconquered region as mentioned in the Ashokan edicts. After the Mauryan decline, powerful dynasties gradually emerged in Kalinga. Among them was the Mahameghavahana or Chedi dynasty, originally one of the major Mahajanapadas in the sixth century BCE, located in present-day Bundelkhand. At some point, they migrated to Kalinga in Odisha. The founder of the Chedi dynasty in Kalinga was Mahameghavahana, and its most renowned ruler was Kharavela. Our knowledge about Kharavela primarily comes from the Hathigumpha inscription near Bhubaneswar, written in Prakrit.
Kharavela’s father was Maharaja Vakradeva, and Kharavela was the third ruler of this dynasty. However, his exact relationship to Mahameghavahana remains unclear. Historians debate Kharavela’s reign period. In his fifth regnal year, he repaired an irrigation canal originally built by a Nanda king 300 years earlier, leading some historians like Kashi Prasad Jaiswal to place his reign around 223 BCE, interpreting the term as 103 years. However, most historians interpret it as 300 years, dating his reign to around 24 BCE, a view more widely accepted.
At the age of 15, Kharavela was appointed as the crown prince and, after serving in this role for nine years, ascended the throne of Kalinga at 24. He held the titles of *Kalingadhipati* and 'Kalinga-Chakravartin.' In his second year, disregarding the Satakarnis, he launched a campaign towards the city of Rishika, possibly located between the Krishna and Godavari rivers, suggesting a friendly relationship with the Satavahanas that allowed such a campaign. However, the campaign did not yield long-lasting benefits for Kalinga. In his fourth regnal year, Kharavela captured the capital of a prince named Vidyadhara, whose territory is unknown, and subsequently subdued the Bhojakas and Rathikas, likely located near present-day Nagpur.
In his eighth year, Kharavela attacked the mountainous region near Goradhagiri (or modern Goa) and besieged Rajagriha, causing a Greek ruler named Demetrius to flee to Mathura. This Indo-Greek ruler’s identity remains uncertain. In his tenth year, Kharavela launched a campaign towards 'Bharatavarsha', which likely refers to an area in the Gangetic valley between Magadha and Mathura. In his eleventh year, he destroyed the capital Pithuda of a ruler on the Tamil Nadu coast. The following year, he ventured into northern India, where the Magadhan ruler Brihasvatimitra submitted to him. Kharavela reclaimed Jain statues that had been taken to Magadha and plundered substantial wealth. That same year, he launched a second campaign in southern India, subjugating the Pandya ruler and compelling him to pay tribute.
Kharavela made significant contributions to religion. He was a devout follower of Jainism, and an inscription carved into the Udayagiri hills suggests that his chief queen also embraced Jainism. In the thirteenth year of his reign, Kharavela and his queen Sindhula hosted a Jain assembly and provided lavish gifts to Jain monks. The Hathigumpha inscription portrays him as a benevolent ruler who worked for public welfare.
Despite the Hathigumpha inscription's tendency for exaggeration, it is evident that under Kharavela's leadership, Kalinga emerged as an aggressive regional power, expressing the longstanding desire for vengeance against Ashoka's conquest of Kalinga. However, following Kharavela’s reign, the Mahameghavahana dynasty in Kalinga weakened and fell in the early first century CE.
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