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RELIGIOUS POLICY OF KHĀRAVELA
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of Jina belonging to Kalinga as the highest trophy
(Nandarāja nītam kalingajina) ; (b) That king Khāravela signalised his conquest of
Anga-Magadha by bringing back that image of
Kalinga-Jina in a triumphal procession ; and (c) That king Khāravela professed Jainism in common
with his Queens, Kumāras and officials.
It is thus clear that, somehow or other, the affection and honour of the royal family as well as of the people of Kalinga became bound up with the image of KalingaJina.
This is not to say, however, that there were no other religions and religious shrines in Kalinga. The Hāthigumphā inscription clearly proves that there were other religions prevailing in the country of Kalinga and there were also various religious edifices there. The royal epithet 'save-pāsaņda pājako' as used for Khāravela in the concluding paragraph of the Hāthigumphā inscription (line 17) attests, beyond doubt, that Khāravela unknowingly followed in the footsteps of Devānampriya Priyadarsi Asoka in declaring himself as a ruler who 'honoured all denominations'. There would have been no necessity for the use of such an epithet, if there were no adherents among the people of Kalinga of different denominations.?
Again, there occurs the epithet 'sava-devāyatana-zankārakārako' or “the repairer of temples of all deities” as used for king Khāravela in line 17 of the Hāthigumphā inscription. There would have been no necessity for the use of
1.. Asoka maintains in Rock Edict No. XIII that there were no other places but the Yona regions, where the sects of the brāhmaṇas and the śramaņas were not, nor was there any otber place where the people had not adhered in faith to one or the other of those sects.
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