Jinamanjari 1999 09 No 20

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

Page 19

Jinamañjari, Volume 20, No.2, October 1999
THE KALINGA EMPEROR KHĀRAVELA AND MUSICAL DEVELOPMENTS
IN ANCIENT INDIA Dr. Abhaya Prakash Jain, Gwalior, India
In the ancient Indian subcontinent the Kalinga kingdom played both an important part in the political domain as well as in Jain religion which entered the region in the sixth century B.C.E. According to the tradition, Mahavira, "in pursuit of preaching his gospel went to Srāvasti, and from there he traveled to Hathisa in Kalinga, the king being a friend of his father Siddhārtha. Further south he set out to Tosali, which is the same as Dhauli in the district of Puri in the eastern state of Orissa. The Hāthigumpha inscription, as Jaiswal explains, also validates Mahavira's visit to the Krishna valley.”l
Recent archaeological findings from “Vaddamanu and its Jain cultural and religious movement [in Andhra Pradesh] appears to connect the periods from the time of the Magadhan Nandas to the Mauryas, the Sakas of Mathura to the Cedis of Kalinga and their later lineage in Ujjain and Andhra."2 Therefore, Jainism was the national religion of Kalinga kingdom before its invasion by Asoka and this is corroborated by Shishupālgarh excavations in 1948. It appears that Jainism in Kalinga had a set back and partly eclipsed by Asoka's invasion and his propagation of Buddhism. In the years following the Asoka period, Jainism saw its zenith again in Kalinga. Under its emperor Khāravela the yoke of Mauryan empire and the weak rulers of Magadha were thrown away. The bright illumination and resurgence of Jainism in Kalinga is a phase in the history of Jain religion and the history of ancient Orissa in India.
The history of Kalinga and its emperor Khāravela is outlined in the lithic inscription of Hāthigumpha whose discovery was made in 1825. 3 In the view of Dr. Sashi Kant this lithic record is over two millenniums old and contains a good source of well-informed historical events.4 The inscription is found in a low range of hills called the Khandagiri and the Udayagiri, situated some three miles to the north
14