Exploration of the Prachi Valley

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The Prachi Valley Exploration was undertaken under the auspices of the Utkal University during the years 1954-56. The 95 river valley was thoroughly explored and the peculiarities of the De temple architecture and the icons found in the valley were carefully studied, the result of which has been incorporated in this Report. Some of the forts found in this region were also studied by us, but none of them were found as large and as important as the ancient fort of Sisupal garh and the medieval fort of Chawdwar. The fort of Sisupal garh, which is almost a square, has eight gates as the name indicates. This points out the basic difference between the layout of the ancient and medieval forts of Odisha. I have illustrated the ground plan in view. I am grateful to Sri Sudhakar Patnaik who was good enough to send a copy of the plan of the fort for publication in this Report.

I acknowledge with thanks the help and co-operation rendered by Dr.K.C. Panigrahi, at present Superintendent of Archaeology, Government of India; Sri N. Tripathi of Tulsipur, Dr N.K. Sahu and Sri R.P.Das of Ravenshaw College, Sri K. N. Mahapatra, Curator, Odisha Museum, and Sri Shridhar Das of Christ College, Cuttack. Without the valuable co-operation of all these scholars the Exploration would not have been a success.

I am highly grateful to the vicechancellor, Dr. P. Parija and the members of the syndicate of the Utkal University for their kind patronage.

The history of Odisha has not yet been systematically written, and several period in it have yet remained obscure. The period between Kharavela and the Imperial Guptas forms a formidable gap which has not yet been bridged. Important places like Tosali, the head-quarters of Kalinga under Asoka and Kalinganagara, the capital of Kalinga under Kharavela have not yet been satisfactorily located. The area extending from Bhubaneswar to Puri on the one side and from Bhubaneswar to Astaranga on the other, contains many important archaeological monuments on the surface, some of which date back to as early as the 3rd century B.C. It is within this area and particularly in the tract extending from the Dhauli hill to Khandagiri that the ancient relics of Tosali and of Kalinganagara may be traced. With this idea in view as well as to determine the culture sequence of the area, I suggested in a letter in 1947 to Brigadier Dr. Wheeler, the then Director General of Archaeological in India for conducting an archaeological excavation of Sisupalgarh near Bhubaneswar. The Archaeological department had already excavated Bramhagiri in the south and their next programme of excavation was fixed at the site about 1½ miles to the west of Amaravati where there are the remains of an ancient township which is believed to represent Dhanakataka mentioned in several inscription. I have reason to believe that my letter changed the order of priority of excavation. In the words of B.B. Lal, the then Excavation Superintendent of the Archaeological Department "with a view to hurriedly carrying the evidence further north, excavation were undertaken during April-June, 1948 at the site called Sisupalgarh near Bhubaneswar in the Odisha province. Happily this proved more than a success, since not only the rouletted ware other dating. Factors were duly discovered but an excellently laid out fort of the Pre-Christian era was also brought to light."

B. B. Lal under whose direction the excavations were conducted at Sisupalgarh, published his interim report "summarizing the result and indicating their importance in the history

of India in general and of Odisha in particular." "A full report with detailed drawings and several other photographs " promised by him, still awaits publication.

While discussing the possibility of Sisupalgarh being identical with either Tosali of the Asokan edicts or of Kalinganagara of Kharavela's inscription or both in the absence of any inscription or other authentic evidence Lal had necessarily to depend on circumstantial evidence, "which however can not be conclusive by itself. He believed that "systematic excavations opposite the Dhauli hill and its southern periphery might reveal evidence regarding the identity of the Mauryan or pre-Mauryan town of Tosali". He, therefore, is "inclined to wait for the result of such an excavation rather than hurriedly locate Tosali elsewhere".

On circumstantial evidence he raises a presumption in favour of Sisupalgarh being identical with ancient Kalinganagara, although as he says, "nothing conclusive can be said regarding this, until some definite and direct evidence come to light from the site itself."

Dr. K.P. Jayaswal suggests that "according to the both line of the Hatigumpha inscription the Mahavijaya Prasada was erected by Kharavela covering both the banks of the Prachi" This along with other important antiquities scattered on the surface in the Prachi Valley led us to suppose that further evidence in connection with the location of ancient Tosali and Kalinganagara might be obtained by exploration of the Prachi Valley and trial excavations at some important sites. With this idea in view I requested Sri A. Ghosh, the Director General of Archaeology to pay an exploratory visit to the Prachi Valley which is almost a terra-incognita from the stand point of the archaeologists. On the 14th December, 1954 led by me, Sri A. Ghosh, the Director General accompanied by Sri Despandey, the then Superintendent of Archaeology, Eastern Circle went from Bhubaneswar to Tulsipur-Chaurasi area in the Prachi Valley and both of them expressed admiration for the antiquities of the area. During the last two years (1954-56) several exploratory expeditions to different parts of the Prachi Valley were conducted and almost the entire area from Cuttack to the sea through which flowed the Prachi river of hallowed memory was thoroughly explored The exploration brought to light many medieval monuments of rare archaeological and sculptural merit and peculiar icons as well as sites of fine archaeological potentiality but none of these sites are found to be more pregnant with archaeological and historical importance than the site of Sisupalagarh.

"The Hatigumpha inscription does not say anything about the distance and direction of the city Kalinganagara from the Khanadagiri -Udayagiri hills and therefore the city could be anywhere far or near-irrespective of the location of the inscription. If the city was somewhere in the neighbourhood the claim of Sisupalgarh has to be taken into consideration. "Our survey if a very extensive area along the bank of the Prachi river from its source to its mouth, revealed that "no other fortified town of comparable date except Sisupalgarh "exist in the Prachi Valley.

Lal in the interim report on Sisupalgarh states that "the fort while being too large for a mere citadel enclosing only the royal palace and attached residence, did not accommodate the entire population a consideration portion of which dwelt outside its confines." To the North-West Sector of the fort on the other side of the rivulet Gangua alias Gandhavati a high and extensive mound can be seen at the base of which red and black pot-sheds are found in very large quantities. This mound might possible have been made as a result of digging out a water reservoir in the pre-Christian period for the fort, or it might have represented some old habitation near the fort. To the north of this site, extends a raised area which contains on the converted into private gardens and which contains on the surface various terra-cotta objects dating back to ancient times. This region comes within the area of a village known as Badagada meaning a great fort. Quite possible, the name Badagada refers to the great fort of Sisupalgarh. Further to the north-west is located the village Jharapara which contains some ancient sites, from one of which a colossal Bodhisattwa image belonging to early medieval times was recently recovered which now adorns the State Museum of Odisha at Bhubaneswar. On the north-southern side of Sisupalgarh is located the old village of Sundarapada, where important mounds suggesting ancient habitation are found and from which three Nagar images of pre-Christian era have also come to light.