Kharavela (ଖାରବେଳ) was a king of Kalinga, the ancient kingdom of coastal Odisha, who ruled most probably in the 1st century BCE. He belonged to the Mahameghavahana dynasty, was a patron of Jainism, and is known mainly from the Hathigumpha inscription, a 17-line record of his reign carved on Udayagiri hill in present-day Bhubaneswar. The inscription is one of the most important historical documents of ancient Odisha, though its damaged text has left many details open to debate.
Who was Kharavela?
Kalinga had been conquered by the Maurya emperor Ashoka in the Kalinga War of about 261 BCE. Some generations later the region was again ruled by its own kings. Kharavela is the most famous of them. His line is known as the Mahameghavahana dynasty, and its kings used the title Kalingadhipati, lord of Kalinga.
Almost everything known about Kharavela comes from his own words. No coins of his have been identified with certainty and no outside source names him. Britannica notes that his claims of conquest may be exaggerated, as is usual in royal inscriptions. Historians therefore read the Hathigumpha text carefully, as a statement of how the king wished to be remembered.
What does the Hathigumpha inscription say?
The inscription is cut into the overhanging rock above a natural cavern called Hathigumpha (Elephant Cave) on Udayagiri hill. It is written in Prakrit in the Brahmi script and measures roughly 15 by 5.5 feet. It begins with a Jain invocation to the arhats and siddhas, then describes Kharavela's youth and training, his coronation at the age of 24, and the events of his reign year by year.
The following summary is based on standard readings. Several words are damaged or uncertain, and scholars translate key passages differently.
| Regnal year | Events recorded (as usually read) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Repairs to the capital after storm damage: gates, walls and buildings, along with embankments and tanks |
| 2 | Sends an army westward, disregarding Satakarni (usually taken to be a Satavahana king) |
| 3 | Entertains the capital with music, dance and festivals |
| 4 | Subdues the Rathikas and Bhojakas |
| 5 | Brings into the capital a canal first dug under a Nanda king; tax remissions (some readings place these in year 6) |
| 7 | Birth of a son to his queen of the Vajiraghara family (reading uncertain) |
| 8 | Attacks Goradhagiri and puts pressure on Rajagriha in Magadha; a Yavana (Greek) king is said to retreat to Mathura (name and reading disputed) |
| 10 | Builds a 'palace of great victory'; sends an expedition into Bharatavasa (northern India) |
| 11 | Breaks up a confederacy of Tamil (Tramira) countries said to have stood for 113 years |
| 12 | Humbles a king of Magadha read as Bahasatimita; brings back a "Jina of Kalinga" image earlier carried away by a Nanda king |
| 13 | Builds shelters and supports Jain monks on Kumari hill (Udayagiri); a council of ascetics |
Britannica also notes his claimed triumph over the Pandyas of southern India. The closing lines praise Kharavela as a king who honoured all sects and repaired the shrines of all gods, which suggests that Jain devotion did not exclude support for other faiths.
When did Kharavela rule? The dating debate
The Hathigumpha inscription has no clear date, so Kharavela's period has been argued over for more than a century.
- The "Maurya era" reading. In 1885 Bhagwan Lal Indraji read a passage as referring to the 165th year of the Maurya era and placed Kharavela in the late 2nd century BCE. Most later scholars rejected this reading; some read the same words differently, for example as a reference to a "principal" era or to something other than a date.
- The Nanda canal. The inscription says the canal was built a number of years earlier under a Nanda king. The figure has been read as 103 or as 300 years, which would push the date in very different directions.
- Satakarni and Bahasatimita. Identifying the Satavahana king Satakarni and the Magadhan king Bahasatimita (sometimes linked with Brihaspatimitra) would date Kharavela, but neither identification is secure.
- Palaeography. The shapes of the Brahmi letters are the main independent evidence. Many epigraphists, including D. C. Sircar, place the inscription in the 1st century BCE, with some allowing the early 1st century CE.
The result: most modern accounts, including Britannica, place Kharavela in the 1st century BCE, while older books often say 2nd century BCE. Odiapedia uses "c. 1st century BCE" and notes that the date is debated.
How was the inscription discovered and read?
The inscription was brought to scholarly notice in the 1820s by A. Sterling (Stirling) and published in Asiatic Researches in 1825. James Prinsep published a reading in 1837, Alexander Cunningham made copies, and Bhagwan Lal Indraji took the first cast in the 1880s. A major edition by K. P. Jayaswal and R. D. Banerji appeared in Epigraphia Indica, volume 20. Because the rock surface is weathered, only a few of the 17 lines are fully legible, and scholars still debate many readings.
Kharavela and the Udayagiri and Khandagiri caves
Udayagiri and Khandagiri are twin hills on the western side of Bhubaneswar honeycombed with rock-cut shelters made for Jain monks. Inscriptions in several caves link them to Kharavela's time. An inscription in the Manchapuri cave names a later king, Kudepasiri, who used the titles of the same Mahameghavahana line. Visit the Udayagiri and Khandagiri caves page for the monuments themselves.
Why is Kharavela important?
- A rare ancient voice from Odisha. The Hathigumpha inscription is the most important early inscription of a ruler of Kalinga, and it describes his reign year by year.
- Kalinga after Ashoka. It shows Kalinga as a powerful, independent state again within a few generations of the Kalinga War.
- Jain history. It is a key document for the history of Jainism in eastern India.
- Public works. Its emphasis on canals, reservoirs and the repair of the capital is valuable evidence for urban life and water management in early Odisha.
- Odia identity. Kharavela is a symbol of Odisha's early history; the Hathigumpha inscription is frequently cited in discussions of the antiquity of the region's written culture, including the case for Odia as a classical language.