Background
Hathigumpha Inscription at Udayagiri caves is the main source of information about Kalinga ruler Kharavela. This inscription, consisting of seventeen lines has been incised in deep cut Brahmi script of the 1st century BCE, on the overhanging brow of a natural cavern called Hathigumpha, in the southern side of the Udayagiri hill. It faces straight towards the Rock Edicts of Asoka at Dhauli situated at a distance of about six miles. It was introduced to the Western world by A. Stirling in 1820, who published an eye copy of it in Asiatic Researches, XV, as well as in his book An Account, Geographical, Statistical and Historical of Orissa or Cuttack and by James Prinsep, who deciphered the inscription. Princep's reading along with the facsimile prepared by Kittoe was Published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society Bengal, VI (1837), where he erroneously attributed this inscription to a king named Aira. Towards the end of 1871, a plaster-cast of the inscription was prepared by H. Locke, which is now preserved in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Alexander Cunningham published this inscription in 1877 in the Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum Vol. I, and in 1880 R.L. Mitra published a slightly modified version in his Antiquities of Orissa, Vol. II.
Bhagwan Lal Indraji is credited with the first authentic reading, which he presented before the Sixth International Congress of Orientalists, 1885. It is to be noted here that, Pandit Indraji was the first scholar to declare that the king eulogised in the Hathigumpha inscription was named Kharavela. It is a fact that there is a large number of lacuna in the inscription, which obstruct its correct reading and because of its mutilated condition has given rise to unnecessary controversies.
The inscription mainly mentions the various conquests of this king, starting with his fight against the Satavahana king Satakarni:
- "And in the second year (he), disregarding Satakamini, dispatches to the western regions an army strong in cavalry, elephants, infantry (nara) and chariots (ratha) and by that army having reached the Kanha-bemna, he throws the city of the Musikas into consternation." Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XX
The inscription then mentions that Kharavela forced the Indo-Greek (Yavana) king Demetrius to retreat from Rajgir, about 70 km (43 mi) southeast of Pataliputra, to the area of Mathura:
- "Then in the eighth year, (he) with a large army having sacked Goradhagiri causes pressure on Rajagaha (Rajagriha). On account of the loud report of this act of valour, the Yavana (Greek) King Dimi retreated to Mathura having extricated his demoralized army and transport." Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XX
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