Component-I (A) – Personal details: Prof. P. Bhaskar Reddy Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati. Prof. P. Bhaskar Reddy & Dr. K. Muniratnam Director i/c, Epigraphy, ASI, Mysore Dr. Subrata Kumar Acharya Ravenshaw University, Cuttack. Prof. P. Bhaskar Reddy Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati. Component-I (B) – Description of module: Subject Name Indian Culture Paper Name Indian Epigraphy Module Name/Title Hathigumpha Inscription of Kharavela Module Id IC / I Epi / 28 Pre requisites The inscription is considered to be the earliest eulogy of a king of ancient India. It narrates the career and achievements of king Kharavela up to his thirteenth regnal year. Objectives The importance of the inscription and its age is ascertained. The information gleaned from the inscription reveals the political and religious history of ancient Kalinga as well as India in the first century BCE Keywords Hathigumpha, Inscription, Kharavela, Kalinganagara E-text (Quadrant-I) : 1. Introduction The Hathigumpha inscription is the most important record regarding the history and achievements of king Kharavela. This inscription together with many others belonging to his chief queen, son and grandson as well as some high officials are found engraved in many caves of the Udayagiri hill. The Udayagiri hill is one of the twin hillocks near Bhubaneswar which formed an important seat of Jainism in ancient period. The other hillock is called as Khandagiri. Udayagiri and Khandagiri are also called locally as Kumari and Kumara Parvata (hill) respectively. 2. The Hathigumpha inscription The Hathigumpha or Elephant Cave inscription is engraved on the ceiling of the cave. It is heavily damaged and some of the letters are completely defaced. It contains seventeen lines of writing. The inscription was first discovered by A. Sterling in 1820 and was copied by Colonel Mackenzi. But credit goes to James Prinsep who succeeded for the first time in deciphering the inscription from a fresh facsimile prepared by Lieutenant Kittoe in 1837. The result was published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. One important fact about the inscription is that since it is unfortunately completely defaced at places, it has drawn attention of many scholars and has been reedited several times. It is precisely for this reason; the record has given rise to many unnecessary speculations and controversies. In the 19th century several scholars like Alexander Cunningham, Bhagwanlal Indraji, Rajendra Lal Mitra, J.F. Fleet, G. Buhler and others edited the inscription and offered their respective views. In the 20th century the inscription was again revisited by epigraphists like Sten Konow, Luders, R.D. Banerji, K.P. Jayaswal, B.M. Barua, D.C. Sircar and others. 3. Importance of the record The Hathigumpha inscription contains detailed account of Kharavela from his childhood to the thirteenth year of his reign in perfect chronological order. No epigraphical record so far discovered in India maintains such chronological sequence about a ruler and his achievements. Besides, the most important aspect of the record is that it refers to a number of kings and dynasties of both earlier and contemporary period which throw lights on the history of early India. The inscription is the earliest to refer to Bharatavarsa and mentions many places of importance such as Gorathagiri, Rajagriha, Mathura, Pithunda and so on. It seems that the composer of the record had a remarkable sense of history, topography and chronology. In a sense the record has often been christened as an eulogy of the king. 4. Language and script The language of the inscription is Prakrit. But it is distinct from Magadhi Prakrit that was current in Magadha. It is also different from the language used in the Rock Edicts of Asoka found in Dhauli (Khurda district) and Jaugada (Ganjam district) of Odisha. K.P. Jayaswal and R.D. Banerji who have examined the language of the inscription inclined to believe that the language of the Hathigumpha and other minor inscriptions in the caves of the Udayagiri and Khandagiri hills is not Magadhi and has some resemblance with the canonical Pali. In fact Prakrit had a number of variants in India such as Magadhi, Ardha Magadhi, Suraseni, Maharastri, etc. Kalinga was the land of Odra Prakrit as indicated by Bharata in his Natyasastra. The language of the Hathigumpha inscription may, therefore, be called as Odra Prakrit which had some near approach to the canonical Pali. The literary merit of the inscription stands out as one of the finest compositions in the epigraphic literature of India. Most of the verbs are found to be present indicative and present causative forms and frequent occurrence of present tense indicates that Kharavela was ruling over Kalinga at the time of the composition and engraving of the inscription. It exhibits the excellence of poetic quality and at the same time retains the ornate and expressive prose style. The script of the inscription is admittedly Brahmi and they exhibit a stage of development after the Asokan Brahmi. It is preferred to call the script of the inscription as transitional Brahmi. 5. Date of Kharavela The Hathigumpha inscription furnishes the names of four important rulers of ancient India such as Satakarni, Nandaraja, Yavanaraja, and Brihaspatimitra in connection with the activities and achievements of Kharavela. Besides, the expression ti-vasa-sata showing the time gap between Nandaraja and Kharavela throws lights on the determination of the chronological position of the king. While Satakarni has been identified with the Satavahana king Satakarni I who ruled in the middle of the first century BCE, Nandaraja is identified with Mahapadmananda, the king of Magadha who ruled in the middle of the fourth century BCE. The latter was the king of Magadha some three hundred years (ti-vasa-sata) before Kharavela. King Brihaspatimitra of Magadha who was a contemporary of Kharavela is no other than Bahasatimitta of the Pabhosa inscription and of the Kausambi and Ahichhatra coins. He was ruling over an extensive territory stretching from Anga to Panchala in the second half of the first century BCE. All these information give strength to the argument that Kharavela belonged to the first century BCE. 6. Ancestry and early career of the king Kharavela belonged to the third generation of the Chedi-Mahameghavahana dynasty of Kalinga. Mahameghavahana was the progenitor of the family and was very likely the grandfather of Kharavela. Chetaraja was the immediate predecessor of Kharavela and was very likely his father. The inscription states that Kharavela as a young prince was physically handsome and was brown complexioned. He had many auspicious marks on his body. In his childhood, he received proper training in the field of writing, coinage, accountancy, legal and administrative procedures (lekha-rupa-ganana-vavahara-vidhi). He further obtained proficiency in the art of dancing and music, and military techniques. When he attained fifteen years of age, he assumed the responsibility of administration as a crown price and then on completion of his twenty-fourth year of age, he was anointed as the king of Kalinga. He assumed the title of aira maharaja which has been rendered as an Aryan king and lord of Kalinga (Kalingadhipati). 7. Kharavela as a benevolent king In the very first year of his reign he repaired the gates, ramparts and structures of Kalinganagari, his capital, which was then severely damaged by a cyclone. He caused to have built flight of steps for the cool tanks and laid out all gardens at the cost of thirty-five hundred thousand coins and thus pleased his subjects. Kalinganagari has been identified with modern Sisupalgarh in close vicinity of Bhubaneswar. It was excavated by the Archaeological Survey of India in 1948-49. A fortified citadel with a huge mud rampart has been discovered from the site. Apart from this many terracotta objects, potteries including roulette wares, war implements, seals, silver punch marked coins, etc., have been discovered. In the third regnal year he made arrangements of festivals and gatherings and organized performances of acrobatics, dance and music. The sculptural embellishments of the numerous caves in the Khandagiri and Udayagiri hills are mute witnesses to the claim made in the inscription. The right wing of the lower storey of the Ranigumpha presents a scene of graceful dance performed by a girl on a pillared pavilion to the tune of concert played by four female musicians. King Kharavela accompanied by his queens and courtiers is found to be enjoying the performances. This indicates that the king was a great patron of dance and music. From the line 16 of the inscription it is further learnt that the king had revived the tauryatrika or performance of dance, song and concert included in the sixty-four branches of art that had been suspended during the time of the Mauryas. In the fifth regnal year Kharavela had renovated the aqueduct that had been originally excavated some three hundred years before by Nandaraja Mahapadmananda, and extended its flow up to Kalinganagara. From the excavation at Sisupalgarh, archaeologists could trace the evidence of a moat surrounding the fortified area. The benevolence of the king is further attested by the act of remitting taxes and cesses for both the urban and rural population of his kingdom. This had cost the exchequer many hundred thousands of coins. This was apparently an attempt to display the regal wealth and general prosperity of the kingdom. 8. Kharavela as a conqueror Kharavela was a great military genius. The prevailing political situation demanded military preparedness not only to check the impending danger from different corners that was threatening the newly acquired independence of Kalinga but also to launch an offensive strategy to demonstrate the military might of the kingdom of Kalinga. The rise of the Satavahanas in the Deccan and assumption of the title daksinapathapati by Satakarni I was a major challenge.