Kalinga War: Difference between revisions
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{{Infobox military conflict |
{{Infobox military conflict |
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| conflict = |
| conflict = Kalinga War |
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| date = ended {{circa|261 BCE}}, in the 8th year of [[Ashoka]]'s coronation of 269 BCE.<ref name=BA30/> |
| date = ended {{circa|261 BCE}}, in the 8th year of [[Ashoka]]'s coronation of 269 BCE.<ref name=BA30/> |
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| place = [[Kalinga (historical kingdom)|Kalinga]], [[History of India|India]] |
| place = [[Kalinga (historical kingdom)|Kalinga]], [[History of India|India]] |
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| territory = [[Kalinga (historical kingdom)|Kalinga]] annexed by [[Mauryan Empire]] |
| territory = Coastal part of [[Kalinga (historical kingdom)|Kalinga]] annexed by [[Mauryan Empire]] |
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| result = Coastal Kalinga conquered by [[Maurya]] Dynasty while Attavik Kalinga remained unconquered, Pursuit of further military expansion abandoned and nonviolence and peaceful progress path according Buddhist philosophies become a major Mauryan policy |
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| result = [[Mauryan Empire|Maurya]] Compromise settlement |
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| combatant1 = [[Mauryan Empire]] |
| combatant1 = [[Mauryan Empire]] |
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| combatant2 = [[Kalinga (historical kingdom)|Kalinga]] |
| combatant2 = [[Kalinga (historical kingdom)|Kalinga]] |
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| commander1 = [[Ashoka]] |
| commander1 = [[Ashoka]] |
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| commander2 = |
| commander2 = Name remains unknown or is not positively established |
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| strength1 = |
| strength1 = Over 200,000 |
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| strength2 = 150,000 [[infantry]],<ref name=Indika>[[Pliny the Elder]] (77 CE), ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]] VI'', 22.1, quoting [[Megasthenes]] (3rd century BCE), ''[[Megasthenes#Indica|Indika]]'', Fragm. LVI.</ref><br />10,000 [[cavalry]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Roy|first1=Kaushik|title=Military Manpower, Armies and Warfare in South Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q5JECgAAQBAJ&pg=PA9|website=Google Books|publisher=Routledge, 2015|accessdate=17 August 2015}}</ref> |
| strength2 = 150,000 [[infantry]],<ref name=Indika>[[Pliny the Elder]] (77 CE), ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]] VI'', 22.1, quoting [[Megasthenes]] (3rd century BCE), ''[[Megasthenes#Indica|Indika]]'', Fragm. LVI.</ref><br />10,000 [[cavalry]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Roy|first1=Kaushik|title=Military Manpower, Armies and Warfare in South Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q5JECgAAQBAJ&pg=PA9|website=Google Books|publisher=Routledge, 2015|accessdate=17 August 2015}}</ref> |
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700 [[war elephant]]s<ref name=Indika/> |
700 [[war elephant]]s<ref name=Indika/> |
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Revision as of 13:50, 12 February 2020
| Kalinga War | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Mauryan Empire | Kalinga | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Ashoka | Name remains unknown or is not positively established | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| Over 200,000 |
150,000 infantry,[2] | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 70,000 |
150,000 (figures by Ashoka)[4][5] | ||||||||
The Kalinga War took place in the year 261 B.C when the Mauyra ruler of Magadha Ashoka invaded Kalinga kingdom as it remained fiercely independent for over two generations before him. As an independent kingdom located on the east coast, in the present-day state of Odisha and north parts of Andhra Pradesh Kalinga was prosperous in maritime trade across international waters and militarily powerful. Kalinga was in military contest with Magadha from the evidently early times dating back to Mahapadma Nanda before the Mauryas. The ruler of Kalinga who fought this war has not been positively identified yet though a few unreliable random claims are made for names like Ananta Padmanava, Jaganntha or Alekha Sundara. Some guess work also says Kalinga did not have a king as it was culturally run without any.[6] A positive name as Suratha of Chaita dynasty appears from the research and claims of Dr. Satyanarayana Rajguru from an inscription unearthed in Sirakhandi village in the year 1977 across the Mahendratanaya river flowing between Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. The Kalinga War included one of the largest and bloodiest battles in Indian history as cited in the Ashokan rock edict records of Shahbazgarhi.[7]
This is the only major war Ashoka fought after his accession to the throne. In fact this war marks the close of empire building and military conquests of ancient India that began with Maurya king Bindusara.[8] The bloodshed of this war is said to have prompted Ashoka to adopt Buddhism and become a man in pursuit of progress through non violence and peace but some records like Ashokavadana suggest otherwise.
Background
The reasons for invading Kalinga were both political and economic. Kalinga was a prosperous region consisting of peaceful and artistically skilled people. Known as the Utkala,[9] they were the first from the region who traveled offshore to the southeast for trade. For that reason, Kalinga had important ports and a powerful navy. They had an open culture and used a uniform civil code.[10]
Kalinga was under the rule of the Nanda Empire until the empire's fall in 321 BCE.[11] Ashoka's grandfather Chandragupta Maurya had previously attempted to conquer Kalinga, but had been repulsed. Ashoka set himself to the task of conquering the newly independent empire as soon as he felt he was securely established on the throne.[10] Kalinga was a strategic threat to the Maurya empire. It could interrupt communications between Maurya capital Pataliputra and Maurya possessions in central Indian peninsula. Kalinga also controlled the coastline for the trade in bay of Bengal.[12]
Course of the war
No war in the history of India as important either for its intensity or for its results as the Kalinga war of Ashoka. No wars in the annals of the human history has changed the heart of the victor from one of wanton cruelty to that of an exemplary piety as this one. From its fathomless womb the history of the world may find out only a few wars to its credit which may be equal to this war and not a single one that would be greater than this. The political history of mankind is really a history of wars and no war has ended with so successful a mission of the peace for the entire war-torn humanity as the war of Kalinga.
— Ramesh Prasad Mohapatra, Military History of Orissa[13]
The war was completed in the eighth year of Ashoka's reign, according to his own Edicts of Ashoka, probably in 262 BCE.[1] After a bloody battle for the throne following the death of his father, Ashoka was successful in conquering the coastal part of Kalinga – but the consequences of the savagery changed Ashoka's views on war and led him to pledge to never again wage a war of conquest.
Aftermath
Ashoka had seen the bloodshed and felt that he was the cause of the destruction. The whole area of Kalinga was plundered and destroyed. Some of Ashoka's later edicts state that about 100,000 people died on the Kalinga side and an almost equal number of Ashoka's army, though legends among the Odia people – descendants of Kalinga's natives – claim that these figures were highly exaggerated by Ashoka. As per the legends, Kalinga armies caused twice the amount of destruction they suffered. Thousands of men and women were deported from Kalinga and forced to work on clearing wastelands for future settlement. [14]
Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Priyadarsi, conquered the Kalingas eight years after his coronation. One hundred and fifty thousand were deported, one hundred thousand were killed and many more died (from other causes). After the Kalingas had been conquered, Beloved-of-the-Gods came to feel a strong inclination towards the Dharma, a love for the Dharma and for instruction in Dharma. Now Beloved-of-the-Gods feels deep remorse for having conquered the Kalingas.
— Ashoka, Rock Edict No. 13[15]
Ashoka's response to the Kalinga War is recorded in the Edicts of Ashoka. The Kalinga War prompted Ashoka, already a non-engaged Buddhist, to devote the rest of his life to ahimsa (non-violence) and to dharma-vijaya (victory through dharma). Following the conquest of a part (coastal) of Kalinga and while Attavik (hinterland) Kalinga remained unconquered, Ashoka ended the military expansion of the empire and supposedly began an era of more than 40 years of relative peace, harmony, and prosperity on the path shown by Buddhist philosophies of the era. Though evidences also suggest that Ashoka was involved in violent activities like slaying of several thousands of Jain Ajivikas in the region of Pundavardhana even after the battle of Kalinga was long over.
See also
References
- ^ a b Le Huu Phuoc, Buddhist Architecture, Grafikol 2009, p.30
- ^ a b Pliny the Elder (77 CE), Natural History VI, 22.1, quoting Megasthenes (3rd century BCE), Indika, Fragm. LVI.
- ^ Roy, Kaushik. Military Manpower, Armies and Warfare in South Asia. Routledge, 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
{{cite book}}:|website=ignored (help) - ^ Ashoka (r. 268–231 BCE), Edicts of Ashoka, Major Rock Edict 13.
- ^ Radhakumud Mookerji (1988). Chandragupta Maurya and His Times. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. ISBN 81-208-0405-8.
- ^ "Detail History of Odisha".
- ^ "Greatest Battles In The History Of India". WorldAtlas. 19 September 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
- ^ Raychaudhuri, H. (2006). Political History of Ancient India: From the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty. Cosmo Publications. p. 268. ISBN 978-81-307-0291-9. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
- ^ Das, Manmatha Nath (1949). Glimpses of Kalinga History. Calcutta: Century Publishers. p. VII; 271. Archived from the original on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
- ^ a b Ramesh Prasad Mohapatra(1986) Page 10. Military History of Orissa. Cosmo Publications, New Delhi ISBN 81-7020-282-5
- ^ (Raychaudhuri & Mukherjee 1996, pp. 204-209, pp. 270–271)
- ^ Roy, K. (2015). Military Manpower, Armies and Warfare in South Asia. Warfare, Society and Culture. Taylor & Francis. p. 15. ISBN 978-1-317-32128-6. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
- ^ Ramesh Prasad Mohapatra (1986) Page 12. Military History of Orissa. Cosmo Publications, New Delhi ISBN 81-7020-282-5
- ^ Roy, K. (2015). Military Manpower, Armies and Warfare in South Asia. Warfare, Society and Culture. Taylor & Francis. p. 16. ISBN 978-1-317-32128-6. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
- ^ Allen, Charles (2012). Ashoka: The Search for India's Lost Emperor. Little, Brown Book Group. p. 82. ISBN 9781408703885. Retrieved 1 May 2018.