Hathigumpha Inscription of Kharavela and Bhabru Edict of Asoka

SR No.: 006726
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Shashi Kant
Publisher: D K Print World
Publication Year: 2000
Total Pages: 196
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 16 MB

Page 85

Khāravela
59
custom in Kalinga and the neighbouring region to name the capital after the name of the people, region or kingdom, e.g., the capital of the Asikas was called Asikanagara, the principal city in the Tosala region was called Tosali, and similarly the capital of the Kalinga kingdom was called Kalinganagarī.
It has been sought to identify it with either Dhauli or Śiśupālagarh.' Dhauli lies in the Puri district, on the metalled road from Cuttack to Puri, a little distant from the R. Prachi. A set of Aśoka's Rock Edicts, including the Kalinga Edicts addressed to the Mahāmātras of Tosali and Samäpä, has been found inscribed on a low hill there and near that there is an open stretch of land of ancient habitation extending up to the river. It represents the site of Tosali since Tosali can be phonetically corrupted into Dhauli, and also because it lies in the Tosala region which covered the Mahanadi delta and extended up to the R. Vansadhara to the south. It is possible that Khāravela's grandfather was the Mahāmātra of Tosali. There seems to be strong indication that Tosali was not adopted as the capital of the newly founded kingdom, but a site nearby, which was just on the banks of the river, was chosen for the new capital. The exact location of the Tansauliyavāță canal is not known, but the context seems to suggest that it was brought into the capital from a nearby place, most probably from the old town of Tosali into the new capital.
Sisupālagarh lies 11⁄2 miles east-southwest of Bhubaneshwar and six miles to its west-northwest are the KhandagiriUdayagiri hills. According to B.B. Lal, a presumption is raised in favour of its being identical with Kharavela's Kalinganagari on the following pieces of circumstantial evidence: no fortified town of comparable date except Sisupälagarh is known to exist near about the Khandagiri-Udayagiri hills, and the excavations did reveal a collapse and subsequent repair of the southern gateway-flank of the fortifications which seems to confirm
1. The suggestion that it might be Kalingapatnam in the Srikakulam district (E.I., XX, p. 83 fn. 19), is not worth considering since it does not answer to the description given in the inscription.