History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c11.9

v1.c11.9

The descendants of Iḷā-Sudyumna jointly occupied the whole of North-eastern India from the Bhagalpur and Monghyr districts of Bihar and Orissa in the west as far as the Godāvari Delta in the south. The Aila origin of the kings of Kaliṅga finds corroboration in the Hāthigumphā and Manchapuri inscriptions of Khāravela and Kuḍepasiri. Both of these kings are called Airas which is certainly the equivalent of Aila. It is strange to find Khāravela, whose name is distinctly Dravidian, claiming Aryan origin. The Purāṇas do not say anything about the dynasties reigning in Kaliṅga, but place 32 kings in this country up to the time of Mahāpadma Nanda. The extermination of Kshatriyas by that king indicates that the first dynasty of kings came to an end with the conquest of Kaliṅga by the Nandas of Magadha. The fact that Khāravela belonged to the third dynasty proves that Kaliṅga regained its independence for a short time under the second dynasty of kings after the fall of the Nandas.