History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c13: Chapter VI. Khāravela and the Empire of Kaliṅga

History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c13

Language: English

Chapter VI. Khāravela and the Empire of Kaliṅga

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Shortly after the death of the great Maurya Emperor Aśoka, Kaliṅga threw off the yoke of Magadha and regained independence. It appears that an independent kingdom was founded in Kaliṅga long before the extinction of the Maurya dynasty by the Senāpati Pushyamitra. The only source of the history of the revival of Kaliṅga and the conquest of Northern India by a Dravidian power is the great rock inscription of King Khāravela on Udayagiri hill, a low range near Bhuvaneswar in the Puri district of Orissa. This inscription, unfortunately, is very much damaged and the first seven lines and certain portions only of the remaining ten can be read with any degree of certainty.

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This record supplies an account of the first 13 years of the reign of Khāravela and certain benefactions conferred by him on the Jaina community at the same place. This inscription is the only record of India, the object of which is to record the history of events of the reign of a particular monarch in chronological order. It is a Jaina inscription, and it is certain that Khāravela himself was a Jaina. The record opens with invocations to the Arhats and the Siddhas, and we learn from the first line that Khāravela belonged to the Cheti or the Chedi dynasty. His titles were Mahārāja and Mahāmeghavāhana and he is also styled "Overlord of Kaliṅga" (Kaliṅg-ādhipatin).

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We are not in a position to determine whether Orissa had a separate existence in the 2nd century B. C. Though Orissa may have existed separately as a province, it is certain that at this time it was included in the Empire of Kalinga. This is proved by the evidence of the Hathigumpha, Svargapuri and Mañchapuri inscriptions on Udayagiri hill. Khāravela is also called Aira in the Hathigumpha and the Mañchapuri cave inscriptions. Aira is equal to Aida and Aila and it means a descendant of Iḷa or Iḷā. Iḷā, the mother of Pururavas and the father of Sudyumna, was cursed by Pārvatī and became a woman when she gave birth to Pururavas. Later on, by the grace of Śiva she became a man for one month and was changed into a woman in the next. As a man he begot Sudyumana. The Chetis or Chedis are Ailas or descendants of Iḷā. Many Dravidian kings at this time claimed to be Aila Kshatriyas and the Sātavāhana king Vāsiṣṭhīputra Śrī-Puḷumāvi also calls himself the great Aira (Mahā-Airakena) in his great inscription in cave No. 3 of the Pāṇḍuleṇa group in the Nasik district.¹ We learn from the second line of the Hathigumpha inscription that after his 15th year Khāravela was trained in State correspondence, current accountancy and civil law, along with religious law. The actual term used for State correspondence is Lekha. During the rule of the Chālukyas of Aṇahilapāṭaka (Gujarat) a manual of such correspondence was composed.² The subject is also dealt with in the Artha Śastra of Kauṭalya.³ Similiarly the The image provided is blank. Please upload an image of the page you would like me to transcribe.

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¹ Epi. Ind. Vol. VIII, p. 65

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² Lekha-paddhati, Gaekwad's Oriental Series, Baroda, p. 58.

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³ Edition of Shama Sastri, Mysore, 1919, pp. 70-75.

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INVASIONS of KHARAVELA

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Invasions of Kharavela term used to denote Currency is *Rūpa* which should be taken to be the equivalent of Sanskrit *Rūpya*. The position of this word in the Hathigumpha inscription shows that it cannot be taken to mean acting. The word *Lupadakhe* is used in the Ramgarh (Sirguja) cave inscription of Devadina, where it has been taken to mean actor.¹ The exact meaning of the term is made clear by Buddhaghosha’s explanation of a passage of the Mahāvagga. The term is explained in the following manner : "He who learns the *Rūpa-sūtra* must turn over and over many *Kārshāpaṇas*."² Finally the use of the term *Rūpa-darśaka* in the *Artha-Śāstra*, which is translated as "Examiner of Coins," shows that the term *Rūpa* was used in such cases as in the present inscription to refer to Currency. The term did not refer to Silver Currency alone, but to other metals also, as we find such terms as *Tāmra-Rūpa* also in the *Artha-Śāstra*.³ The term used for accountancy in the Hathigumpha inscription is *Gaṇanā*. An entire chapter has been devoted to it. The actual term used is *Gaṇanikya*.⁴ The education of the prince was completed with a knowledge of Civil or Municipal Law (*Vavahāra*—Skt. *Vyavahāra*) and Religious Law or positive injunctions about Sacred or Canon Law (*Vidhi*).

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¹ *Annual Report of the Archæological Survey of India, 1903-4, pp. 128-29.*

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² *Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XIII, p. 201 and Note.*

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³ *Artha-Śāstra, Text, p. 84 ; Eng. Trans. p. 98.*

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⁴ *Ibid., pp. 62-65. Eng. Trans. pp. 69-75.*

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The Hathigumpha inscription is the only record which provides us with some information regarding a king’s childhood and early training and the different departments of knowledge into which he was to be initiated before his installation. Khāravela became the *Yuvarāja* or heir-apparent at the age of 15 and remained so till his 24th year. There is a curious silence in the Hathigumpha inscription about Khāravela’s predecessor. I believe that there are very few records in the world dealing with the history of the reign of a single king which omits that king’s father or predecessor altogether. The silence of the Hathigumpha inscription on this point may give rise to a number of theories, but in the absence of any other evidence speculation would be fruitless. Two hypotheses only are possible, *viz.*, that Khāravela had inherited the throne of Kaliṅga as a minor or that the kingdom of Kaliṅga was like the modern States of Travancore and Cochin. In that case it was probably the custom not to mention a father as parentage was doubtful. Because the inscription calls Khāravela an *Aila*, therefore, Mr. Jayaswal thinks that Khāravela’s people were Aryans, but the Purāṇas definitely mentioned the Kaliṅgas as a people of the Deccan and the country as being contiguous to the mythical *Strī-rājya*. Therefore, it is quite possible that some form of matriarchate was prevalent there.

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Khāravela was formally annointed king in his 24th year and the record of his reign begins from this date. The first year of the king’s reign was spent in repairing the damages to the city of Kaliṅga caused by a cyclone, to which that part of the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal is still liable. The king repaired the gates, ramparts and buildings of the city, repaired or re-erected the dams of tanks and lakes, relaid the gardens and spent 35,000 coins for the benefit of his subjects. The first campaign of the reign was undertaken in the second year when, without paying any heed to Sātakarṇi, Khāravela sent a complete army, consisting of the four departments—infantry, cavalry, chariots and elephants,—to the west. This army reached the river Kṛṣṇā and caused terror to the city of the Mushikas. The Sātakarṇi referred to in the second line of the Hathigumpha inscription is evidently Śrī Sātakarṇi, the third king of the Sātavāhana or the Andhra dynasty, and the husband of the queen Nāyanikā, known to us from the Nanaghat statues and inscriptions. There is little doubt about this identification, because no other king of the name of Sātakarṇi preceded the husband of Nāyanikā and other kings of the same name are distinguished from Sātakarṇi I. by Matronymics, *e. g.*, Gautamīputra Sātakarṇi and Vāsiṣṭhiputra Śrī-Yajña Sātakarṇi. The Purāṇas indeed bring in a second Sātakarṇi 18 years after the first, but his existence is not corroborated by contemporary evidence.¹ Śrī-Sātakarṇi had conquered Mālava and an inscription of one of his architects (*āvesanika*) is to be seen on one of the gateways of Stūpa No. 1 at Sanchi² in the Bhopal State. This is perhaps the first war in the history of Kaliṅga with the rising power of the Sātavāhanas of the Kanarese country. The Kaṇhabeṇnā, the Sanskrit form of which is Kṛṣṇaveṇī, is the modern Kṛṣṇā, which rises in the Satara district of the Bombay Presidency and passes through the southern part of the Hyderabad State to fall into the Bay of Bengal through the Kṛṣṇā district of the Madras Presidency.

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¹ Rapson—*Catalogue of Indian Coins in the British Museum, Andhras and W. Kshatrapas, p. lxvi.*

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² *Journal of the Bihar & Orissa Research Society, Vol. III, pl. III,*

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It forms the boundary of the Nizam's State from Alampur near Karnul to Nandigama in the Nalgonda district. Its rise and particular sanctity are described in the *Uttara Khaṇḍa* of the *Padma-Purāṇa*.¹ The Mushikas are mentioned as a southern tribe in the Purāṇas. The Padma mentions them with the Draviḍas, Keralas, Karṇāṭakas and Kuntalas. Here they are divided into three parts :—(1) Mushika proper, (2) Bāla-Mushikas and (3) Vikandha Mushikas.² In the Vāyu they are mentioned among people of Southern India (*Dakṣiṇāpatha-vāsinaḥ*) such as the Pāṇḍyas, Keralas, Chaulyas, Setukas, and Vanavāsikas.³ In the *Ānandāśrama* Series Edition of the Matsya, the Mushikas are mentioned with the same people where the name was misread "*Sutika*" and the Vānavāsikas spelt "*Vājivāsika*."⁵ The Mahābhārata also mentions the Mushikas with the Vanavāsikas.⁶ In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa the Mushikas, appear with the *Strī-rajya*. Mr. Jayaswal is inclined to identify the Mushikas with the Mosalas but the Padma-Purāṇa distinctly mentions the Mosalas and the Mushikas separately. The identification of these two tribes, therefore, is untenable. From the Hathigumpha inscription it is abundantly clear that the Kaliṅgan army went due west from Kaliṅga and reached the river Kṛṣṇā at some place during its long and erratic course. It is more probable that Khāravela terrorized the Mushikas from the bank of the Kṛṣṇā. Mr. Jayaswal is of opinion that the [The provided image is blank.]

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¹ *Ānandāśrama Series, pp. 1467-69, Uttara-khaṇḍa, Chapter 113.*

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² *Ibid., p. 9, Adikhaṇḍa, Chapter VI. 53-4.*

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³ *Vāyu Purāṇa-Bib. Ind. p. 352, Chapter XLV.*

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⁴ *Matsya-Purāṇa Chapter 114. V. 47.*

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⁵ *Bhishma-Parvan, Chapter IX.*

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General view of the Svargapuri and Manchapuri caves—Udaygiri, Puri District

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Mushikas were a people who have given their name to the river Musi near which the modern city of Ḥaidarābād-Deccan now stands. In my opinion the Mushika country stood further south, south of the Kuntala country or Vanavāse and may be tentatively identified with the famous port of Muziris. The inscription does not inform us about the reason of the expedition and its final results. The Kaliṅgan army reached the home country of the Sātavāhanas in the Bellary district and the invasion was certainly both a menace and insult to the dignity of Sātavāhana royalty.

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In the third year of his reign there were great rejoicings in the capital of Kaliṅga. The record of the fourth year is partly damaged and there is no chance of the lost portion ever being recovered unless a duplicate of the Hathigumpha rock inscription is discovered somewhere else. It opens with a reference to a city established by previous kings of Kaliṅga which was regarded as being the abode of Vidyādharas and which had remained undamaged up to the reign of Khāravela. After the gap there is a reference to Rāṣṭrikas and Bhojakas, who were compelled to submit to Khāravela. They are also mentioned as Mahāraṭhis, and as Mahābhojas in the inscriptions in the Buddhist cave temples of Western India, such as Kanheri, Kuda and Bedsa. The Raṭhikas are mentioned as riṣṭikas in the Girnar, Rastika in the Shahbazgarhi and as Raṭrakras in the Mansehra version of the fifth edict of Aśoka. The Dhauli and Jaugada versions use the analogous form Laṭhika. In the 13th rock edict we find the Bhojakas mentioned along with the Pitinikas in the Shahbazgarhi, Mansehra and Kalsi versions. In the Kanheri cave inscriptions of the time of Viṇhukaḍa Chuṭukulānanda, a *Mahābhoja* is styled *Mahārāja*, showing that the term *Bhoja* was a clan or a caste name. In later times a *Bhojaka* is mentioned in the copper plate inscriptions of the Pallava king Śivaskandavarman. The conquest or the subjugation of the Rāṣṭrikas and the Bhojakas, even for a time, shows that Khāravela in the earlier part of his reign dealt a heavy blow at the power and the prestige of the Sātavāhanas.

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In the 5th year of his reign a canal, opened by a Nanda king 103 or 300 years ago, was extended as far as the capital city of Kaliṅga. Mr. Jayaswal’s view of the reference to the Nanda king has been discussed above. The beginning of the 7th line is damaged, but from the context we can infer that it begins with the record of the 6th year during which Khāravela performed the Rājasūya ceremony and remitted taxes and customs duties. Many other concessions were granted to the people of the city, the cost of which amounted to hundreds of thousands. In the 7th year, most probably, a son was born to Khāravela of his queen who was a princess of Vajira-ghara. Vajira-ghara apparently is the old name of Wairagadh in the Chanda district of the Central Provinces. It is mentioned as Vayirākāra in the Tiruvorriyur Adhipur-īśvara temple inscription of the 2nd year of the reign of Kulottuṅga I (*i. e.*, the Chālukya-Choḷa Rājendra Choḷa II). We learn from this inscription that the king captured elephants at this place. Another Tamil inscription of the 5th year of the same king in the Pāṇḍava-Perumal temple at Conjeeveram informs us that this king’s victories at Vayirākāra and Chakra-koṭṭa were gained while he was still the heir-apparent, i. e., before 8th October, 1070 A. D. Chakra-koṭṭa still exists under the same name in the Bastar State. It is, therefore, certain that Vayiragara or Vajira-ghara is the same as Wairagadh.

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The first important campaign in Northern India was undertaken in the 8th year of his reign, when Khāravela approached Magadha with a vast army. An important action was fought by Khāravela at Goradhgiri or modern Barābar hills in the Gaya district. Barābar has been recognised as one of the important outlying fortresses which protected Rājagṛiha, the former capital of Magadha. From the Barābar hills Khāravela harrassed the ancient metropolis Rājagṛiha (modern Rajgir in the Patna district of Bihar); but his approach to the then capital, Pāṭaliputra, had an important effect on the political history of the country. We learn from the Hathigumpha inscription itself that the Greek king Demetrios had to fall back on Mathurā, apparently his base, on hearing of the approach of Khāravela. The Greek invasion, and perhaps the siege of Pāṭaliputra, was known beforehand from the Yuga-purāṇa of the Gārgi-Saṁhitā, which has been recently published and translated by Mr. Jayaswal.¹ But it was not known that it was Demetrios of the dynasty of Euthydemos I. who advanced as far east as Pāṭaliputra. Unfortunately, the rest of l. 8 is damaged and therefore the sequel of the campaign is not known to us.

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¹ Journal of the Bihar & Orissa Research Society, Vol, XIV, pp. 127-28.

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Most probably the record of the 9th year is given in l. 9. In this year Khāravela gave away elephants, chariots and horses, etc. And conferred certain exemptions on the Brāhmaṇa caste. A palace, called "the great victory"

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(Mahā-vijaya), was built in the same year at a cost of 38 lakhs of coins. In the 10th year Khāravela undertook his second campaign in Northern India and at the same time broke the power of the Musalas or the Telugu country, but the details have been lost in the damaged portion of l. 10. In the 11th year Khāravela turned his attention to his neighbours on the South. In this year he destroyed the city of Pithuṇḍa and had its site ploughed with ploughs drawn by asses and at the same time he broke a league of the kings of the Tamil country which had existed for about 113 years. The city of Pithuṇḍa was the capital of the Musalas and it is mentioned by Ptolemy in his geography. Ptolemy calls the coast between the Kṛṣṇā and the Godāvari "Maisolia" which is termed "Masalia" in the Periplus of the Erythræan Sea. The metropolis was called Pityndra which was situated in the interior.¹ In another place Pityndra is called the metropolis of the Arvarnoi, who are probably the same as the Avarājas² of the Hathigumpha inscription. The Tamil league is very interesting and the inscription uses the form Tamira for Dramiḷa or Draviḍa, which is certainly admissible in this form of Prakrit.

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¹ Ptolemy's Ancient India, Edited by S. N. Mazumdar, pp. 67-8.

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² Ibid., p. 185.

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Campaigns were now undertaken in rapid succession, as the king was now in the prime of his life. In the 12th year of his reign Khāravela harrassed the kings of the North-Western frontier (Uttarāpatha-rājāno) and then, causing immense terror to the people of Magadha, he entered the capital of the Śuṅga Empire, Pāṭaliputra, and The provided image is blank.

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Portion of the frieze—Corridor of the Manchapuri cave—Udaygiri, Puri District

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quartered his elephants in the Sugāṅga Palace, mentioned in the Mudrā-Rākshasa. In this campaign Khāravela compelled the Rājā of Magadha, Brihaspatimitra (Bahasafimita), to submit to him. During this campaign Khāravela brought away an image of the Jina of Kaliṅga, which had been taken away from that country by one of the Nanda Kings. It is difficult to say now who this Jina of Kaliṅga was. Most probably he was Śitalanātha, the 16th Tirthankara, who was born at Bhadalpur, probably the same as Bhadrāchalam.

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Finally in the 13th year of his reign on the Kumārī hill, i. e., on Udayagiri, where the Jina Mahāvīra had preached his religion, he made arrangements for the distribution of white clothes to the Jaina monks. There is a reference to a relic memorial at this place. Such relic memorials were common in Upper India, references to them having been found in inscriptions.¹ In this year King Khāravela seems to have devoted himself entirely to religious meditation and work. At the end of the 1.14, he is said to have realized the relation of the soul to the body (Jiva-deha-samghātam.)

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¹ Epi. Ind., Vol. II, p. 274; Ind., Ant. Vol. XII, p. 99.

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At the end of the campaign of the 12th year in Northern India Khāravela plundered Aṅga and Magadha and brought away the riches of the modern districts of Shahabad or Arrah, Patna, Gaya, Bhagalpur and Munger. This was a fitting sequel to the capture of Pāṭaliputra, up to that time regarded as the metropolis of Northern India. This was also the crowning act of his career, and throughout his own dominion it must have been regarded with great satisfaction as a fitting retaliation to the barbarities of the people of Magadha in the time of the Nandas and the Mauryas. At the end of the account of the 12th year of his reign, caves were excavated and this may refer to the great Rāṇī Nūr or Rāṇinavara Gumphā to the east of the Hāthigumphā. In the same year Khāravela subdued the Pāṇḍyas and the extreme south of the Indian Peninsula, who sent jewellery either as present or tribute.

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At the end of the 13th year, a Jaina Council was convened when monks from all quarters were assembled near the Relic Depository on the top of the hill. Two buildings are mentioned in 11.16-17 as having been erected, the first one of which was a shelter for a queen named Sindhūlā of a place called Siṃhapatha. The second one was a temple built with four columns inlaid with beryl at the cost of seventy-five hundred thousands. Finally, Khāravela caused to be compiled the text of the sevenfold Aṅgas of the sixty-four mystic letters which are mentioned in some of the Jaina literary books. According to Jaina tradition the Aṅgas were lost and subsequently recovered. The Pūrvas or older parts were known perfectly only to Bhadrabāhu, and when he retired to Nepal, he taught them to Sthulabhadra,¹ but he was forbidden to teach more than ten. The reference to the Mauryas in 1. 16, makes it clear that the seven Aṅgas were lost during the religious upheaval during the rule of the great Mauryas Chandragupta, Bindusāra and Aśoka. Most probably this loss to Jainism was in some way made good by Khāravela.

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¹ Cambridge History of India, Vol. 1, p. 165.

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The Hāthigumphā inscription ends with the record of the 13th year of the reign of Khāravela. Khāravela is mentioned once more in another inscription close to the Hāthigumphā, in the upper part of a double-storeyed cave called the Svargapuri. This part of this cave was excavated by the chief queen of Khāravela who is called Kaliṅga-chakavaṭi (Kaliṅga-chakravartin). The terms Chakravartin in this inscription and Adhipatin in the Hāthigumphā record show that Khāravela had become the overlord of the Three Kaliṅgas. Only two other records of Kings of this dynasty are known, one of which has already been mentioned. This inscription records the excavation of this cave by the chief queen of Khāravela (Aga-Mahisi) who was the daughter of a king named Hathisiha¹ (Hastisiṃha) and was connected with another king named Lalāka. The second inscription is to be found in the verandah of the lower storey which is called Mañchapuri by the local people. This inscription records the excavation of this cave by another king of Kaliṅga named Kuḍepasiri, who also styles himself as Aira, Mahārāja Mahāmeghavāhana,² and the overlord of Kaliṅga. The right wing of the same cave was excavated by a prince named Vaḍukha,³ who may have been related to the dynasty of Khāravela. After Kuḍepasiri the pall of dense darkness again descends on the history of Kaliṅga, and most probably the country was subjugated by the Sātavahanas before their conquest of Magadha in the 1st century B. C.

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¹ Epi. Ind. Vol. XIII, p. 159.

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² Ibid., p. 160.

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³ Ibid., p. 161.

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The great rock inscription of Khāravela, better known as the Hāthigumphā inscription, the great cave temple of Khāravela on the same hill now called Rāṇī Nūr Gumphā and the smaller cave temples excavated by Khāravela’s principal queen and king Kuḍepasiri are the only monuments of kings of the Chedi dynasty of Kaliṅga that have survived up to our times. The Hāthigumphā rock inscription of Khāravela was incised on the convex surface of a large boulder of the top of the Udayagiri hill. Towards the end of the inscription the boulder turns inside sharply and becomes a rock shelter, though not a regular cave. The floor of this rock shelter was divided into a number of caves by rock partitions. The walls of this cave are highly polished like the rock surfaces bearing the edicts of Aśoka, all pillars of Aśoka and the cave temples dedicated for the use of the Ājīvika sect by Aśoka and his grandson, Daśaratha, in the Barābar and the Nāgārjuni hills in the Gaya district. There are a number of pilgrim’s records on these polished walls, all of which belong to the 9th and 10th centuries A. D.

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The rock-cut Jaina monastery excavated on the Kumārī hill or Udayagiri by Khāravela is now known as the Rāṇī Nūr or Rāṇī Navara Gumphā. It lies behind the great rock inscription of Khāravela. According to Sir John Marshall, the double-storeyed cave, called the Svargapurī and the Mañchapurī, is the oldest cave in the series of early caves on the Udayagiri and the Khaṇḍagiri hills.¹ It is certain that though these two caves now look like a two-storeyed monument, originally they were two different excavations with different entrances and excavated at different periods. Both were intended to be dormitories and consist of a number of small chambers behind the verandah. In the Svargapuri or the upper storey the roof of the verandah has fallen long ago, exposing its interior to the decomposing action of the weather. It is smaller in size than the Mañchapuri or the lower storey and consists of three doors leading to chambers inside. There was a band of carving over the lintels of the doors which has now almost worn out.

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¹ Cambridge History of India, Vol. I. 8. 640.

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Corner of the Manchapuri—figures of Dvarapalas—Udaygiri, Puri District

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In front of the rock, between the upper storey and lower storey, there was another carving or frieze, mostly obliterated, consisting of a wide railing pattern which does not seem to have been noticed by previous writers. This railing is exactly like the great railing around the Buddhist shrines at Bodh-Gaya, Barhut and Sanchi, consisting of pillars or uprights, square in section, with three double convex cross-bars between each pair of pillars and over all a long architrave, round on the top. The Svargapuri or the upper part of the cave was excavated by the principal queen of king Khāravela.

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The lower part of this cave, called Mañchapuri by some writers, is in a much better state of preservation, as it had remained buried for long centuries and was excavated and cleaned in recent times. The floor of this cave is nearly 20 feet below the surrounding ground level. In this cave there are two side-rooms on the sides of the verandah, which are supported by heavy pillars. Along the back and the sides of the verandah runs a stone bench for the use of the monks. Each of the five doorways shows the prevalence of Persepolitan architecture; on each of the pilasters there is a cruciform capital on which are seated winged lions. These miniature pilasters look as if they support arches, consisting of a raised semicircular band, bearing on it a procession of animals or arabesque ornaments. In addition to these carvings there is a long straight raised band running along the centre of the verandah bearing on it the railing pattern. In this cave there are a number of carvings in the space between this railing and the roof consisting of males and females standing with hands clasped in adoration and above them a pair of dwarfs carrying a bell slung from a pole on their shoulder and to their right the symbol of the Sun. To the right of this group is an elephant indicating the royal rank of the personages and over it the figure of a Vidyādhara, scattering flowers from the sky. According to Sir John Marshall, these sculptures are of poor and coarse workmanship, but that in comparison with the bas-reliefs of Barhut, the carvings in this cave show a decided advance in depth of relief and plastic treatment of figures.¹ There are several figures of dvārapālas in this cave, but they are very much worn out in comparison with similar figures in the Rāṇī Nūr Gumphā.

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¹ Cambridge History of India, Vol. I. p. 640.

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According to the same authority the next cave in the chronological order is the Anantagumphā on the top of the Khandagiri hill, which lies by the side of Udayagiri. This is a single-storeyed cave on the same plan as the Mañchapuri. The carvings in the verandah show the polish of the Maurya caves of the Barābar and Nāgārjuni hills. There are four doorways in the rear wall of the verandah leading to the chambers in the interior. These doors are ornamented with a Persepolitan pilaster on each side, supporting a round arch which bears on it human and animal figures. A three-headed snake rises from each end of each arch. In addition to these carvings the space under each arch is covered with a bas-relief; in one there is *Kamale-Kāminī* or *Śrī* or *Gaja-lakshmī*. consisting of the figure of the goddess Lakshmi standing on a lotus surrounded by a number of elephants who are pouring water over her head from vases held in their trunks. In a second, we find the chariot of the Sun-god with four horses instead of seven. On a third, we find a chief of a herd of elephants and, in a fourth, a sacred tree the base of which is surrounded by a railing of the ancient type. Over these arches is a band bearing on it another railing of the same type as in the Svargapuri and the Mañchapuri caves.

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Sir John Marshall places the great rock-cut monastery of Khāravela, the Rāṇī Nūr or the Rāṇinavara gumphā third in the chronological order. This great monastery is also double-storeyed and E-shaped. In both storeys there is a long narrow verandah supported by tall elegant pillars. The rear walls of both the verandahs are beautifully ornamented with pilasters, arches and bas-reliefs. The pillars of the upper storey are preserved in a few instances only, but those of the lower have disappeared ages ago with the roof of the verandah. In consequence, the ornamentations of the rear wall of the lower storey have suffered more severely from the action of the weather. Sir John Marshall is of opinion that the style of carving in these two storeys are widely different. In the lower storey, the style is elementary and crude; but in the upper, the workmanship is relatively free. The lower storey consists of a wide open terrace 43 feet square, on three sides of which there were three verandahs, the verandah in front being much larger than those on the sides. The main verandah possesses three doors leading to dormitories and the side verandahs leading to single or double chambers. There are Persepolitan pilasters on the sides of each doorway supporting an arch above. The space between the arches was ornamented by a raised horizontal band and the space between this band and the roof of the verandah was occupied by a long bas-relief, which has not been identified as yet. There is a door and a cell at each end of the lower verandah in addition to the seven doors in the rear wall. In front of the verandah and at each of the two rear corners of the courtyard there are two exquisitely carved little shrines without roofs. The walls of these shrines bear short and long bas-reliefs representing wild elephants sporting in a lotus pond. The upper storey is 63 feet in length and its flanks are much shorter and more irregular than the lower storey. On account of the preservation of the verandah the bas-relief of the rear walls are much better preserved. This bas-relief represents seven or eight events connected with the hunting episodes of a king, which culminated in his elopement with or the abduction of a lady. According to Sir John Marshall the upper storey of the cave is earlier than the lower storey and "the marked stylistic difference between the sculptures of the two storeys was the result of influence exercised directly or indirectly by the contemporary schools in Central and Western India."¹ The The image provided is blank. There is no text to transcribe.

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¹ Cambridge History of India, Vol. I

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Front facade of the Ananta Gumpha—Khandagiri, Puri District

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upper storey of the Rāṇī Nūr cave possesses two or three independent sculptures at each end of the verandah, such as a warrior clad in mail, and lions. The presence of this warrior and the style of his armour led earlier writers to state that this was the image or statue of a Greek soldier. Even Sir John Marshall says: "In this connection a special significance attaches to the presence in the upper storey of a door-keeper garbed in the dress of a Yavana warrior, and of a lion and a rider near by treated in a distinctly Western-Asiatic manner, while the guardian door-keepers of the lower storey are as characteristically Indian as their workmanship is immature." The figure of the so-called Yavana warrior has suffered very severely and it is not possible to make out any of the features. The coat of mail worn is distinctly similar to that of the warrior on the Barhut railing,¹ and there are no reasons to persuade us in the 20th century that this figure should be taken to be that of a Greek warrior, simply because writers of the 19th century, when our knowledge of Indian sculpture was very immature, supposed it to be so. Besides these three cave temples, there are a number of others belonging to the same period or a slightly later date. In the Gaṇeśa Gumphā, which lies to the left of the Rāṇī Nūr Gumphā, there are two elephants, probably of the same date, in front of the widest opening between the pillars of the verandah. The series of pre-Christian caves on the Udaygiri start just at the place where the low slope of the hill begins and the first cave, one meets with, is a low cell, after which comes another cell, slightly higher, which has a typically Indo-Persepolitan doorway flanked by a couple of elephants. After the Chhoṭa Hāthi Gumphā come a series of excavations partly double-storeyed, which contain very few ornaments. Originally there were stone-cut steps leading to the upper storeys, many of which can be used even now. Such are the Alakāpurī and Jayāvijayā caves. This series of caves rise gradually in height until the Svargapurī and Mañchapuri and the Baḍā Hāthi Gumphā with the inscription of Khāravela are reached. On two sides of and over the Hāthi Gumphā there are a number of large and small caves mostly plain and without any ornaments. To the proper right of this natural cavern there are some caves with freak shapes. One of these is designed to represent the open mouth of a tiger, and was excavated by a town judge named Subhūti or Bhūti¹ ; the other has its small and narrow entrance placed under the expanded head of a great snake, consisting of five different hoods. It was excavated by two persons named Karma and Halakhiṇā (Sulakshaṇā), perhaps husband and wife. There is a long bas-relief in the rear wall of the verandah of the Gaṇeśa cave, in the same style as the upper and lower verandahs of the Rāṇī Nūr Cave. The subject of the bas-relief in the Gaṇeśa Gumphā is the same as that in the Rāṇī Nūr ; but here, as in the former, the depiction is abridged. From the Baḍā Hāthi Gumphā a roadway leads down the hill and one reaches a number of plain caves near the level of the Chandka road, which are now called Haridāsa Gumphā, Jambeśvara Gumphā, etc. From the beginning of the Christian era to the 9th or 10th centuries A. D.

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¹ Anderson—Catalogue of the Indian Museum, Part I, p. 113. P. 30.

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¹ Epi. Ind., Vol. xiii, p. 163.

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no new cave temples were excavated on the Khaṇḍagiri and Udayagiri hills.

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The synchronism of Khāravela with the Greek King Demetrios and king Bahasatimitra of Magadha shows that the former belongs to the first half of the 2nd century B. C. According to the latest theory of Mr. K. P. Jayaswal the sequence of events of Khāravela’s life is as follows :

Linked texts (19)

Padmapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Mahāvagga — Pāli
Vāyupurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Matsyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit
Mudrārākṣasa — Viśākhadatta, Sanskrit
Mahābhārata — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Purāṇa — Sanskrit
Viṣṇupurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Bodh Gayā
Sāñcī
Khandagiri
Barâbar Hills
Udaygiri
Udayagiri hill
Kuḍâ
Beḍsâ
Vṛddhagārgīyajyotiṣa — Garga, Sanskrit
Kanheri Inscription (No. 15) — Sanskrit