Old Bramhi Inscriptions In Udaygiri And Khandagiri

SR No.: 020516
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Benimadhab Barua
Publisher: University of Calcutta
Publication Year: 1929
Total Pages: 354
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 15 MB

Page 283

NOTES
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for Chandragupta Maurya to overrun and subdue the whole of India with an army of 6 lacs, there is no reason why it would be impossible for Khāravela to undertake military campaigns all over India with an army numbering thereabout.
It cannot be supposed that King Khāra vela marched out with the whole of the standing army of Kalinga without leaving a fraction of it for the defence of his kingdom in his absence. This fraction must be added to the number of the units with wbich he marched out in order to determine the total number of the standing army of Kalinga during his reign. In the case of Chandragupta Maurya, we find that he proceeded to conquer the whole of India with an army of 6 lacs, while the standing Maurya army during his reign consisted of 700,000 men in round numbers, 600,000 infantry, 30,000 cavalry, 9,000 elephants attended by 36,000 men, and 8,000 chariots managed by 24,000 men. It is impossible to thivk that the total of the standing army of Kalinya during Khāravela's reign exceeded 6 lacs.
The idea of militia was not, perhaps, altogether absent. The account given by King Agoka of his Kalinga war tends to create an impression in favour of the opinion that the conquest effected by the Maurya conqueror proved ultimately to be a defeat to the people of Kalinga. If the general people of Kaliöga had not somehow taken part in the battle, there is no reason why King Asoka would feelingly dwell upon the suffering caused to the civilian population by " violence or slaughter or separation from their loved ones."
In the Hathi-Gumphā record of Kbāravela's eighth regnal year (I. 9), ve read that he effected a timely retreat to Mathurā in order to relieve the troops and trausports of his army terrified by the uproar of counter-attacks from the people of Rājagaha. If our interpretation of this particular record be correct, it clearly follows that the citizens of Rajagaba took up arms in defence of their city against a foreign invasion. The twelfth year's record (I. 13) shows that His Majesty's conquest of Anga-Magadha was not completed until he was able to force into submission the inhabitants of these two countries (Amga-Magadhavūsinam ca pāde vamdāpayatı) after subduing King Bahasatimita. It is evident from many of the records in the Hathi-Gumphā text that in undertaking military campaigns all over India, King Khāravela tried by all possible means to evoke the patriotic sentiments among his subjects, the inhabitants of the kingdom of Kalinga in general and the citizens of his capital in particular. The record of his seventh regnal year (I. 8) says that he caused a hundred kinds of pompous