Kharavela
Kharavela was the emperor of Kalinga in the 2nd or 1st century BC. The primary source for Kharavela is his rock-cut Hathigumpha inscription. The inscription is undated, only four of its 17 lines are completely legible, others unclear, variously interpreted and disputed by scholars. The inscription is written in Brahmi script with Jainism-related phrases recites a year by year record of his reign. He was a follower of Jainism.
Kharavela is known for his military campaigns in Northern and Southern India. He has led victorious expeditions against Magadha, Satavahana and Tamil confederacy and other kingdoms such as Rashtrikas and Bhojakas of Berar and Maharastra regions during his reign.
He was not only a great military general but also a good administrator. He undertook public works for the benefit of his people and in order to please them he remitted taxes and provided them with the occasions for merrymakings. The Hathigumpha inscription also mentions his public works such as repairing of the gates and buildings of his capital Kalinganagara, which was destroyed by a storm. These repairs and some other public works in the same year cost him thirty-five hundred thousand coins.
Early Life
Lineage
The first line of the Hathigumpha inscription calls Kharavela "Chetaraja-vasa-vadhanena". R. D. Banerji and D. C. Sircar interpreted "Cheti" to be referring to a dynasty from which Kharavela descended, namely Chedi mahajanapada. According to Sahu, this is incorrect and an artifact of a crack in the stone. The "Chetaraja", states Sahu, probably refers to Kharavela's father and his immediate predecessor.The Hathigumpha inscription also contains a word that has been interpreted as Aira or Aila. According to a small inscription found in the Mancapuri Cave, Kharavela's successor Kudepasiri also styled himself as Aira Maharaja Kalingadhipati Mahameghavahana. Early readings of that inscription by scholars such as James Prinsep and R. L. Mitra interpreted Aira as the name of the king in the Hathigumpha inscription. Indraji's work corrected this error, and established that the king mentioned in the Hathugumpha inscription was Kharavela and that he was a descendant of Mahameghavahana. It does not directly mention the relationship between Mahameghavahana and Kharavela, or the number of kings between them. Indraji interpreted the inscription to create a hypothetical family tree in 1885, but this is largely discredited.
The word Aira or Aila was then re-interpreted, by Barua and Sahu to be the Prakrit form of the Sanskrit word Arya. Jayaswal and Banerji interpret the same word to be referring to the Aila dynasty, the mythical Pururavas dynasty mentioned in Hindu and Jain texts; Kharavela's Mahameghavahana family might have claimed descent from this Pururavas dynasty. Scholars such as Sircar and Sharma, based on later discovered Guntupalli inscriptions, state that Kharavela was one of the ancient Mahameghavahana dynasty king from Kalinga.
Education
Kharavela, a ruler of the third generation of the Cheti dynasty of Kalinga, was carefully raised from his early years to develop the qualities required of a king. The Hathigumpha Inscription, through its panegyrist, portrays him as a person endowed with many good qualities of mind and character, and his training was directed toward shaping him into a capable conqueror and administrator. The activities and games of his childhood were probably designed to prepare him for his future royal duties. In addition, he was instructed in Writing, Coinage, Accountancy, Law, and administrative procedures, which made him skilled in matters of statecraft. The study of Lekha in his education went beyond simple writing and included the practice of royal correspondence and official administration.Expeditions of Western India
Encounter with Satkarani I
Kharavela in the second reginal year he dispatched a large army of elephantry, cavalry, infantry and chariots towards the western regions without even caring for Satakarni, who apparently ruled the country to the west of Kalinga. In the course of this expedition, the Kalinga armies are further said to have reached the banks of the Krishnabena river where the city called Asikanagara was threatened.Conquest of Vidyadhara region
Kharavela in the 4th reginal year invaded the invincible Vidyadhara territory that had been the military recruiting ground of the former kings of Kalinga. Dr. B.M. Barua, thinks that the Vidyadharas were an aboriginal people noted for their magical skill and lived in Arkatpur. In the Jaina literature, the Vidyadharas are known as a tribal people residing in the Vindhya mountains. NK Sahu identifies it with the eighteen forest kingdoms or Sarvatavika Rajya of the Allahabad Inscription of Samudragupta as well as the eighteen Vidyadhara settlements of the Jaina work.Subjugation of Rathikas and Bhojakas
In the fourth year of his reign, an expedition was launched against the Bhojakas the ruling chiefs of Berar, and the Rathikas of the adjoining Marathi-speaking districts of East Khandesh and Ahmednagar, who were defeated and compelled to do homage. It may be pointed out that Maharathi-Tranakairo, who was the father-in-law of Satakarni I, was probably the Chief of the Rathikas and either he or his successor had to sustain the defeat. Prof EJ Rapson, on the other hand, held that the Rashtrikas belonged to the Maratha country and the Bhojakas to the Berar region, but both were feudatories of the Andhra kings of Pratishthana.The geographical location of the Rathikas and Bhojakas, as well as, the relationship between the Satavahanas and the Rathikas clearly indicate that Kharavela war with the Rathikas and Bhojakas could not have been possible without an encounter against the Satavahana power. As a consequence of this victory, Kharavela’s suzerainty could spread over the Deccan from sea to sea.
Northern India Conquests
Siege of Rajagriha
In the eighth year of his reign Kharavela undertook his first expedition against the North.The strong fort of the Gorathagiri, one of the hill fortresses guarding Rajagrha, was demolished and the city was put into great trouble. His armies marched past the Barabar hills in the Gaya district, destroying its fortifications, and laid siege to the city of Rajagriha. The news of these exploits of Kharavela caused so much terror in the heart of a Yavana king Dimata, that he fled to Mathura. The yavanas were apparently, purged out of Mathura which was then a famous stronghold of Jainism. Kharavela diverted the plans to invade Magadha as immediate attention was required towards the North-west, as a result of which Magadha was spared that yearKharavela caused so much terror in the heart of a Yavana king that he fled away to Mathura. The Yavana ruler, whose name is some-times doubtfully read as Dimita or Dimata, was probably a later Indo-Greek ruler of the eastern Punjab.
Conquest of Magadha
ruled over Anga, Magadha, Vatsa and Panchala regions. He seems to have been related to the Mitra kings of Magadha whose records and coins have been found in the Gaya District. To avenge the humiliation of Kalinga during the time of the Nandas and the Mauryas, Kharavela carried away much booty from Anga and Magadha together with certain Jain images originally taken away by a Nanda king from Kalinga.Southern India Conquests
After returning from the North, Kharavela faced a formidable challenge from the confederated Tamil States of the South. This alliance comprised the states of the Cholas, Pandyas, Satyaputras, Keralaputras, and the island of Ceylon Tamraparni), which, according to inscriptions, had existed for 130 years prior to Kharavela’s time. Historical records and the Edicts of Ashoka indicate that these territories were never subdued by Mahapadmananda or Chandragupta Maurya and remained independent southern neighbors of the Maurya Empire.The Hathigumpha Inscription claims that Kharavela had ploughed down with a plough of asses of the city of Pithuihda, founded by a former king. Pithumda is taken to be the same as Ptolemy’s Pitundra, the metropolis, in the land of the Maisoloi in the upper part of the Coromandel coast. The Pandya king, apparently the league’s leader, surrendered and was compelled to offer large quantities of pearls, jewels, and precious stones to Kalinganagara as tribute.
Religion
The Hathigumpha inscription begins with a variation of the salute to arihants and siddhas. This is similar to the Jain Pancha-Namaskara Mantra, in which three more entities are invoked in addition to the arihants and siddhas. Other parts of the Hathigumpha inscription, as well as the minor inscriptions found at Udayagiri from around 1st-century BCE use Jain phrases. He is therefore generally called a Jain king. He brought back Jina idol from Mathura which was taken by Nanda king.Kharavela left an inscription at Hathigumpha, in which he records that he marched into Magadha, defeated it, and made the king of Pāṭaliputra, identified as the last Maurya ruler, bow to him. This inscription is deliberately placed at the Hātigumphā cave. Significantly, if one stands before this inscription and turns around, Aśoka's own inscription is visible on the opposite hill. This placement is often interpreted as symbolic: Kharavela appears to be directly addressing Aśoka by proclaiming that he destroyed the Mauryan power in Magadha, subdued Aśoka's descendants at Pāṭaliputra, and brought back the Jain idol that, according to the inscription, had earlier been taken away. The positioning of the inscriptions thus serves as a political and religious statement asserting Kharavela's victory and the restoration of Jain ideals. Although Kharavela was a Jain, as proven by the inscription, it also records that he supported other religious traditions and undertook repairs of temples dedicated to various deities. it also mentions the word Ahimsa repeatedly