Aira Mahameghavahana Maharaja Khäravela was the greatest king of early Kalinga in the first century BCE. A singular but authentic report on this famous King of Kalinga, Kharavela was furnished by Hatigumpha (also called Hathigumpha) inscription in Udayagiri Hill of Bhubaneswar, the present capital of Odisha. It is in a mutilated form and so a clear photograph is not now available to the scholars. In 1916 KP.Jayaswal, famous Indian historian, approached His Honour, Sir Edward Gait, Lieutenant-Governor of Bihar and Orissa, to obtain an impression of the inscription for publication in the Journal of Bihar Orissa Research Society. His Honour had kindly arranged with the Archaeological Department to get the impression of the inscription. This impression was taken by R.D.Banerji in June 1917.
A facsimile of the inscription was not available till 1917, though from 1825 the inscription by eye-copy and illustration of it by hand writing was utilised by the historians starting from Andrew Stirling. But from 1917 the Chiselled history of Kharavela came to light with the publication of Hatigumpha inscription by K.P.Jayaswal in the Journal of Bihar Orissa Research Society Several historians of India and abroad starting from Rajendralal Mitra, Bhagawanlal Indraji, J.F.Fleet, R.D.Banerji, K.P.Jayaswal, B.M.Barua, K.N.Mahapatra, N.K.Sahu and others have depended on this mutilated but tantalising record for the study of early Kalinga under Khäravela. Hence many rash theories were in circulation on this famous Kalinga King Khäravela on the basis of the record. Despite all defects in the facsimile of the Hatigumpha inscription it is the only source of our study and hence the picture we have on him is very often dim and incorrect leading to many constructions and speculations. But the subject of the inscription can be analysed properly with the support of some other archaeological findings and literary texts. The author of the inscription sometimes presented the names which he could pronounce in a corrupt form for which careless interpretation appears to gain popularity. In this respect we have to study the readings of the previous historians on this inscription carefully and should have scientific and correct interpretation only after discarding all imaginative and creative notes.
I have used the readings of the famous historians like K.P.Jayaswal, B.M.Barua, K.N. Mahapatra and N.K. Sahu and attempted a comprehensive study on the life and achievements of King Kharavela of Kalinga in this book. During the preparation for this book I have consulted the libraries of Odisha State Museum, Odisha State Archives of Bhubaneswar and so I am grateful to the authorities and staff of the two institutions for their help. I am grateful to late Professor Nabin Kumar Sahu who, in 1979-80,had inspired me to think and write on Kharavela in stead of the later kings of medieval Odisha for the purpose of highlighting Odisha in the comprehensive history fo India. I am ever grateful to late Professor Gaganendranath Dash (of Brahmapur University, Brahmapur, Odisha) for a discussion on Kharavela from the linguistic point of view. I am also grateful to Indranil Biswas, Assistant Anthropologist (Cultural) of Anthropological Survey of India, North East Regional Centre, Mawblei, Shilong, Manmath Samal of Odisha State Museum, Jeeban Panda of Srujanika Group in Bhubaneswar, Dr Prafulla Kumar Mohanty (former President of Odisha History Congress and Ex-Principal, S.C.S. College, Puri) and Late Shyam Sundar Praharaj and his family members in BJB Nagar, Bhubaneswar for their cheerful cooperation. Lastly I am grateful to Suman Pathak (Research India Press, New Delhi) for taking considerable interest in the publication of the book within a short notice. I would be happy if the enthusiastic readers would be benefitted by my analytical study on Kharavela, an unmistakable symbol of Odia identity of the early phase and would think more and more on such figures of Odisha History and Culture.
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