The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.32.4

v2.c17.32.4

nor could we under any circumstance assume that a provincial capital would anywhere be postponed in favour of a village or town of secondary importance. Thus, we must conclude that the neighbourhood of Dhauli was the site of the Orissan capital, whose countenance and support were sought in favour of the edicts, and, as on the other three sides of it there is no vestige of any ancient town, it must follow that the side where Bhuvaneśvara stands was the site. This inference is considerably strengthened by the fact that, a century before the time of Aśoka when the cave dwellings of Udayagiri were occupied by Buddhist monks, there was absolute necessity for a large town in their neighbourhood, whence the monks, pledged to life-long mendicancy, could obtain their daily supplies of food by itinerant begging, and that town would be too far away if it existed beyond Dhauli, whereas Bhuvaneśvara is most centrically and conveniently situated both for Dhauli and Udayagiri. As in the case of Dhauli so in that of Udayagiri, there is no vestige of any ancient town to its north-east or west. Dhauli itself was a place of some note as the site of a tope (ante p. [53]), and its present name Gar Dhauli shows that it was also the site of a small fort ; it is too far from the caves of Khaṇḍagiri to be the likely locale of the capital. It is also not large enough in area for such a purpose.