Kalinga war

Topic: The Mauryan Empire · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 5 "The Rise of Empires"; Class 7, Ch 6 "The Age of Reorganisation"; Class 12, Ch 2 "Kings, Farmers and Towns"

Meaning

The Kalinga war was Ashoka's conquest of Kalinga (present-day coastal Odisha) in the eighth year of his rule. Britannica dates the campaign to c. 260 BCE [3]. It is the only war Ashoka describes in his own inscriptions. He wrote about it with open regret, and after it he moved from conquest by force to the spread of dhamma (a moral code of conduct for all his subjects).

Explanation

Background

• Ashoka's reign: 268–232 BCE (Class 7, Ch 5 "The Rise of Empires"). Class 12, Ch 2 "Kings, Farmers and Towns" gives c. 272/268–231 BCE.
• Family line: Chandragupta Maurya → Bindusara → Ashoka. Ashoka was Chandragupta's grandson.
• Kalinga was the coastal land of present-day Odisha, on the eastern side of the subcontinent.
• Date of the war: Ashoka conquered Kalinga in his eighth regnal year (the eighth year after he became king). Britannica puts the campaign at 260 BCE [3]. All such dates are approximate.

What the war cost: Ashoka's own words

• Ashoka recorded the human cost on stone in Major Rock Edict XIII: "One hundred and fifty thousand men were deported, a hundred thousand were killed, and many more died."

• Deported means forced to leave home and settle somewhere else.

• In the same edict he calls the killing, death and deportation "very painful and deplorable", meaning deeply wrong and something to regret.

• After the war he turned to intense study of, love of and instruction in Dhamma, and took up the Buddha's path of non-violence.

Why confess in public? (Class 7's question)

• He had won the war, so why admit its cruelty? NCERT gives two answers.
• Remorse is the message. The public confession shows that the new policy of dhamma is serious.
• Warning plus mercy. In the same edict he tells the unconquered forest peoples that he regrets the war but is still strong. He shows his regret without weakening the empire.

Results: from war to dhamma

• The policy changed. Conquest by arms gave way to dhamma-vijaya (victory through dhamma, not through the sword).
• He offered medical care for people and animals, even outside his borders, for example among the Cholas, Pandyas, Keralaputras and Satiyaputras.

• He sent emissaries (messengers) to Sri Lanka, Thailand, Central Asia and beyond.

• New officials spread the new policy.

• Dhamma mahāmattas were officers whose only job was to spread dhamma. They worked among the Sangha (Buddhist Order), brahmans, Ājīvikas, Jains and others.

• Pativedakas were reporters who could bring the people's affairs to the king at any time, even while he was eating or travelling in his palanquin (a covered seat carried on poles).

• Officials were given direct orders. They were told "All men are my children" and had to be impartial (treat everyone the same). Inspections on tour every five years checked for wrongful imprisonment and torture.

• The empire did not shrink. Ashoka kept Kalinga. Under him the empire covered almost the whole subcontinent except the far south.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: Mauryan Empire, under Ashoka; the eighth regnal year, c. 260 BCE according to Britannica [3].
• Place: Kalinga, the coastal part of present-day Odisha.
• Main source: Ashoka's own Major Rock Edict XIII. It is one of the 14 major rock edicts; there are also 7 pillar edicts [3].
• Most edicts are in Prakrit (the people's spoken language) in the Brahmi script. Kharoshthi was used in the north-west. Greek and Aramaic were used only in Afghanistan and the trans-Indus region [3].

• James Prinsep first deciphered (worked out how to read) the edicts in the 1830s [2].

• Edicts inside Kalinga:

• Dhauli (Odisha): the edicts are cut on a boulder. On a terrace above them is a rock-cut front half of an elephant, about four feet high, among the finest Ashokan sculpture known [4].
• Jaugada: a duplicate set of the Dhauli edicts, cut on a rock on the bank of the Rushikulya river, north-west of Ganjam town, Ganjam district, Odisha [4].

• The key point: Rock Edict XIII, the one that confesses the slaughter, is left out at Dhauli and Jaugada. In its place are the Separate Kalinga Edicts, which tell officials how to treat the conquered people fairly. Ashoka voiced his regret in the rest of the empire but not to the people he had defeated.

• Name in the edicts: Ashoka mostly calls himself Devanampiya ("Beloved of the Gods") and Piyadassi ("pleasant to behold"). The name Asoka appears in only a few inscriptions.

• NCERT's caution: We need not take every claim in the edicts literally. They are the king's own publicity (Class 7, Ch 5).

Don't confuse with

• Dhamma vs Buddhism: Ashoka followed the Buddha's path after Kalinga, but his dhamma was not Buddhism. It was a shared moral code for all his subjects: respect elders, be generous to Brahmanas and renouncers, treat slaves and servants kindly, and respect other religions.
• Rock Edict XIII vs the Separate Kalinga Edicts: XIII records the casualties and his remorse. The Separate Kalinga Edicts at Dhauli and Jaugada stand in its place and deal with fair administration, for example "All men are my children".
• Dhauli vs Jaugada: Both are in Odisha and carry the same edicts. Dhauli has the rock-cut elephant. Jaugada is on the Rushikulya river in Ganjam district [4].
• Kalinga war vs Kharavela of Kalinga: Kharavela was a later king of Kalinga known from the Hathigumpha inscription. He belongs to the period after the Mauryas and played no part in Ashoka's war.

Prelims Hooks

• Kalinga war: Ashoka's eighth regnal year; Britannica dates it to 260 BCE [3]. Kalinga = coastal Odisha.
• Casualty figures (Rock Edict XIII): 150,000 deported, 100,000 killed, and many more died.
• Trap: Rock Edict XIII is not found at Dhauli or Jaugada, the edict sites inside Kalinga.
• Dhauli: rock edicts with a rock-cut elephant front, c. 4 feet high. Jaugada: duplicate edicts on the Rushikulya, Ganjam district [4].
• Devanampiya Piyadassi = Ashoka's title in the edicts. The edicts were deciphered by James Prinsep in the 1830s [2].
• Southern kingdoms named in the edicts but outside the empire: Cholas, Pandyas, Keralaputras, Satiyaputras.

Mains Points

• A turning point in statecraft: After Kalinga, conquest by arms (digvijaya) gave way to dhamma-vijaya.
• Medical aid and emissaries went to the southern kingdoms and to Sri Lanka, Thailand and Central Asia, places his army never entered.

• A shared moral code helped hold a huge empire of many languages and beliefs together, and cost less than force.

• Remorse and power side by side: The confession made the new policy believable. But Ashoka kept Kalinga, warned the forest peoples that he was still strong, and left the confession out in Kalinga itself. A good answer reads the regret as both sincere ethics and careful politics.

• The edict as a historical source: Rock Edict XIII is a rare record of a war in the victor's own words. It was written at the time and carries a date. It is still royal publicity, as NCERT warns. So pair it with archaeology at Dhauli and Jaugada [4] instead of trusting the king's words alone.

Related concepts

• Bindusara
• Ashoka
• Rock Edict XIII
• Kalinga edicts
• Dhauli
• Ashoka's dhamma
• Dhamma mahamatta
• Pativedaka
• Devanampiya
• Ashoka's religious tolerance

Read more

• Ashoka: Kalinga, dhamma and the edicts