Hathigumpha Inscription of Kharavela and Bhabru Edict of Asoka

Author(s): Shashi Kant
Publisher: D K Print World

Page 84

58 The Hathigumphā Inscription and the Bhabru Edict confirm the overseas activities of the Kalinga people. Khāravela is, however, not known to have led any overseas expedition although he maintained a fleet of war-ships.
Dominions
The kingdom of Kalinga as inherited by Khāravela appears to have comprised the entire territory known as Tri-Kalinga, including Utkala, Tosala and Kalinga.? It was bounded on the north by the R. Damodara, beyond which lay Magadha; on the west by the R. Wainganga, beyond which lived the Asikas and the Rathikas and Bhojakas; on the south by the R. Godavari, beyond which lay the Pithunda kingdom and the Tamila countries; and on the east by the Bay of Bengal. Khāravela appears to have annexed the Pithunda kingdom. The total annihilation of Pithunda signified by its being ploughed by ploughs drawn by asses, seems to suggest annexation. The boundaries were thus extended up to the R. Krishna in the south. All other expeditions of his were aimed at obtaining formal submission and allegiance so as to secure his frontiers.
The capital of Kalinga (Kalimga-nagari) should lie somewhere on the R. Prachi on both banks of which Khăravela built the Mahāvijayaprāsāda. It should not be very far from the sea coast since it is stated to have been ravaged by a cyclone. The name of the city does not appear to have been mentioned. Khibiram is merely its adjective, meaning 'the Abode of the Brave' (Kși: dim. of kșiti: + viram). It appears to have been a
See Mazumdar, B.C., Orissa in the Making, and Gerini, Researches on Ptolemy, pp. 119-39. “Kalinga had built up a great overseas empire and spread her colonies as far as Philippine islands in the east and far south into the islands of the Indian Archipelago" (Sahu, N.K., ed., A History of Orissa, vol. I, p. 62). Utkala lay between the rivers Damodar and Brahmani, Uttara Tosala between the Brahmani and the Mahanadi, Daksina Tosala or Kongoda between the Mahanadi and the Vansadhara, and Kalinga between the Vansadhara and the Godavari (vide, Banerji, R.D., History of Orissa, vol. I, map opp. p. 49).
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