104.22.48.134 at 04:07, 14 March 2026

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{{Short description|Conflict in ancient India}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict = Kalinga War
| partof = Conquests of [[Mauryan Empire]]
| image = File:Chandragupta Maurya Empire.png
| caption = [[Kalinga (historical region)|Kalinga]] (adjacent to the [[Bay of Bengal]]) and the [[Maurya Empire]] (blue) before the attack of [[Ashoka The Great]]
| date = {{circa|261 BCE}}, in the 8th year of [[Ashoka]]'s coronation of 268 BCE<ref name=BA30/>
| place = [[Kalinga (historical kingdom)|Kalinga]]
| territory = [[Kalinga (historical kingdom)|Kalinga]] annexed by [[Mauryan Empire]]
| result = Mauryan victory<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/AtlasOfAncientWorldsDKPublishing2009 |title=Atlas Of Ancient Worlds |date=2009 |publisher=[[DK Publishing]], 375 Hudson Street, New York |isbn=978-0-7566-4512-0 |pages=55 |language=English |quote=The third Mauyran king was Ashoka the Great (ruled 268-232 BCE). In about 265 BCE, Ashoka conquered the kingdom of Kalinga.}}</ref>
| combatant1 = [[Mauryan Empire]]
| combatant2 = [[Kalinga (historical kingdom)|Kalinga]]
| commander1 = [[Ashoka]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stephen |first=Becky |url=http://archive.org/details/india0000step |title=India |date=2010 |publisher=North Babylon Public Library|others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-1-85733-525-5 |pages=20 |quote=Ashoka the Great, born in 304 BCE, was emperor of all of the Indian subcontinent or nearly all. His decision to extend his rule to the unconquered kingdom of Kalinga on the Bay of Bengal brought about a conversion of the man and his empire.}}</ref>
| commander2 = Unknown
| strength1 = Unknown
| strength2 = Unknown
| casualties1 = Unknown
| casualties2 = 100,000 Kalinga soldiers died, 150,000 deported (figures by Ashoka)<ref>[[Ashoka]] ({{reign|268|231}} BCE), ''[[Edicts of Ashoka]]'', [[Ashoka's Major Rock Edict|Major Rock Edict]] 13.</ref><ref>[[Radhakumud Mookerji]] (1988). ''Chandragupta Maurya and His Times''. [[Motilal Banarsidass]] Publ. {{ISBN|81-208-0405-8}}.</ref>
| casualties3 = 250,000 killed <ref>{{cite book | last1=Raychaudhuri | first1=Hemchandra | title=Political History of Ancient India: From the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty | date=2006 | publisher=Cosmo Publications | isbn=978-81-307-0291-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h1KObc_qaXYC&pg=PA252 }}</ref>
}}

The '''Kalinga War''' (ended {{circa|261 BCE}})<ref name=" BA30">Le Huu Phuoc, Buddhist Architecture, Grafikol 2009, p.30</ref> was fought in ancient India between the [[Mauryan Empire]] under [[Ashoka the Great]] and [[Kalinga (historical kingdom)|Kalinga]], an independent feudal kingdom located on the east coast, in the present-day state of [[Odisha]] and northern parts of [[Andhra Pradesh]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ringmar |first=Erik |url=http://archive.org/details/oapen-20.500.12657-24805 |page=53|title=History of International Relations - A Non-European Perspective |date=2019 |language=English |quote=Above all, the spectacular bloodshed which took place at the battle of Kalinga in 260 BCE, in which, reputedly, no fewer than a quarter of a million soldiers died, made him change his ways. Remorseful and disgusted with his previous way of life,..Ashoka the Great, 268-232 BCE, renounced violence, converted to Buddhism, and started a number of projects to improve the lot of the poor, the aged and the widowed.}}</ref> It is presumed that the battle was fought on Dhauli hills in [[Dhauli]] which is situated on the banks of [[Daya River]]. The Kalinga War was one of the largest and deadliest battles in Indian history.<ref name="WorldAtlas 2016">{{cite web | title=Greatest Battles In The History Of India | website=WorldAtlas | date=2016-09-19 | url=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/greatest-battles-in-the-history-of-india.html | access-date=2019-06-28}}</ref>

This is the only major war Ashoka fought after his accession to the throne, and marked the close of the empire-building and military conquests of ancient India that began with the Mauryan Emperor [[Chandragupta Maurya]].<ref name=" Raychaudhuri 2006 p. 268">{{cite book | last=Raychaudhuri | first=H. | title=Political History of Ancient India: From the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty | publisher=Cosmo Publications | year=2006 | isbn=978-81-307-0291-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h1KObc_qaXYC&pg=PA252 | accessdate=2019-06-27 | page=268,305}}</ref> The war cost nearly 250,000 lives.<ref name=" Raychaudhuri 2006 p. 268"/>

== Background ==
According to political scientist Sudama Misra, the Kalinga [[janapada]] originally comprised the area covered by the [[Puri district|Puri]] and [[Ganjam district|Ganjam]] districts.<ref>{{cite book|author=Sudāmā Miśra|title=Janapada state in ancient India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dua1AAAAIAAJ|year=1973|publisher=Bhāratīya Vidyā Prakāśana}}</ref>

The reasons for invading Kalinga were to bring peace and for power. Kalinga was a prosperous region consisting of peaceful and artistically skilled people. The northern part of Kalinga was known as the [[Utkala Kingdom|Utkala]] (Uttar: North, Kal: Kalinga), they were the first from the region to use a navy and traveled offshore to [[Southeast Asia]] for trade. For that reason, Kalinga was able to develop several ports and a skilled navy. The culture of Kalinga was a blend of [[Adivasi|tribal religions]], [[Śramaṇa]] (i.e. [[Buddhism]], [[Jainism]], [[Ajivika]] etc.) and [[Brahmanism]] co-existing peacefully.<ref name="Ramesh Prasad Mohapatra 1986 Page 10">[[Ramesh Prasad Mohapatra]](1986) Page 10. ''Military History of Orissa''. Cosmo Publications, New Delhi {{ISBN|81-7020-282-5}}</ref>

Kalinga was under the rule of the [[Nanda Empire]] who ruled over the region from their capital in [[Magadha (Mahajanapada)|Magadha]] until their fall in 321 BCE.<ref>(Raychaudhuri & Mukherjee 1996, pp. 204-209, pp. 270–271)</ref> Ashoka's grandfather [[Chandragupta Maurya|Chandragupta]] had possibly attempted to conquer Kalinga but had been repulsed.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nagendra |first=Jaya S. |url=http://archive.org/details/indiaatglance0000nage |title=India at a glance |date=2013 |publisher=Delhi : Kalpaz Publications |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-81-7835-935-9 |pages=87 |quote=Chandragupta’s son Bindusara expanded the kingdom Turkestan down to modern Mysore and comprised most of the northern India and the Deccan. Only Kalinga remained independent.}}</ref> Ashoka set himself to the task of conquering and annexing Kalinga to the vast [[Maurya Empire]] as soon as he securely established himself as the Emperor.<ref name="Ramesh Prasad Mohapatra 1986 Page 10" /> Some scholars argue that Kalinga was a strategic threat to the Mauryas. It could interrupt communications between Mauryan capital [[Pataliputra]] and possessions in the central Indian peninsula. Kalinga also controlled the coastline for trade in the [[Bay of Bengal]].<ref name=" Roy 2015 p.15 ">{{cite book | last=Roy | first=K. | title=Military Manpower, Armies and Warfare in South Asia | publisher=Taylor & Francis | series=Warfare, Society and Culture | year=2015 | isbn=978-1-317-32128-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q5JECgAAQBAJ | access-date=2019-06-28 | page=15}}</ref>

==Course of the war==
{{Quote|text=No war in the history of India is as important either for its intensity or for its results as the Kalinga war of Ashoka. No wars in the annals of human history have changed the heart of the victor from one of wanton cruelty to that of 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 peace for the entire war-torn humanity as the war of Kalinga.|author=[[Ramesh Prasad Mohapatra]]|title=''Military History of Odisha''<ref>[[Ramesh Prasad Mohapatra]] (1986) Page 12. ''Military History of Odisha''. Cosmo Publications, New Delhi {{ISBN|81-7020-282-5}}</ref>}}

The war was completed in the eighth year of Ashoka's reign, according to his own [[Edicts of Ashoka]], probably in 261 BCE.<ref name=BA30/> After a bloody battle for the throne following the death of his father, Ashoka was successful in conquering 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.

According to [[Megasthenes]], the Greek historian at the court of [[Chandragupta Maurya]], the ruler of Kalinga had a powerful army comprising infantry, cavalry and elephants.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sequeira|first=Dolly E.|title=Total History and Civics|publisher=Morning Star|year=2020|location=Delhi|pages=45, 46}}</ref> According to Indian archaeologist [[Dilip K. Chakrabarti]], the Mauryan army marched to Kalinga via [[Sarguja]], a route that was later followed by [[Samudragupta]] during his campaign against Kalinga.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chakrabarty |first=Dilip K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EIAyDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA46 |title=The Geopolitical Orbits of Ancient India: The Geographical Frames of the Ancient Indian Dynasties |date=2010-10-18 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-908832-4 |pages=42–43 |language=en |quote=The march of the Mauryan army through Sarguja and the hilly jungle which separates it from Chhattisgarh, and finally through the forests of Dandakaranya to the Kalinga coast. Of course, this reconstruction of the march of the Mauryan army from Pataliputra to the Kalinga coast is hypothetical but logical and probable in view of the fact that a few centuries later, Samudragupta of Magadha followed the same route to march to the Kalinga coast.}}</ref>

==Aftermath==
[[File: Dhauli Shanti Stupa, Bhubaneswar.jpg|thumb|left|Shanti Stupa, [[Dhauli]] hill is presumed to be the area where the Kalinga War was fought.]]
Ashoka had seen the bloodshed and felt that he was the cause of the destruction.<ref name="Roy 2015 p. 16">{{cite book | last=Roy | first=K. | title=Military Manpower, Armies and Warfare in South Asia | publisher=Taylor & Francis | series=Warfare, Society and Culture | year=2015 | isbn=978-1-317-32128-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q5JECgAAQBAJ | access-date=2019-06-28 | page=16}}</ref>

{{Quote|[[Devanampriya|Beloved-of-the-Gods]], King [[Priyadarsin|Priyadarsi]] (Ashoka) conquered the Kalingans 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 Kalingans 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 Kalingans.|Ashoka|[[Edicts of Ashoka|Rock Edict]] No. 13<ref>{{cite book|last1=Allen|first1=Charles|title=Ashoka: The Search for India's Lost Emperor|date=2012|publisher=Little, Brown Book Group|isbn=9781408703885|page=82|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K4vHjbUtf_4C&pg=PT82|access-date=1 May 2018|language=en}}</ref>}}

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 Kalinga, Ashoka ended the military expansion of the empire and began an era of more than 40 years of relative peace, harmony, and prosperity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Narayan |first=Shovana |url=http://archive.org/details/dancelegacyofpat00nara |title=Dance legacy of Patliputra |date=1999 |publisher=Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India |others=Public Resource |isbn=978-81-230-0699-4 |pages=2 |quote=Commenting upon the achievements of Ashoka the Great, historian Radha Kamal Mukerji says “not only did Emperor Asoka achieve the consolidation of a vast Indian empire based on a unified Indian culture, but he also spread the message of universal peace and concord to the independent Dravidian countries and to the Greek rulers of Asia”.}}</ref>

==In popular culture==

* The 2001 Indian [[Hindi cinema|Hindi]]-language film ''[[Aśoka (film)|Aśoka]]'', is based on Kalinga war

* The book "Ashok and the nine unknown" by author Anshul Dupare is based on the aftermath of Kalinga war.

==See also ==

* [[List of battles by casualties]]
* [[Kalinga (historical region)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081210080315/http://www.mssu.edu/projectsouthasia/history/primarydocs/Foreign_Views/GreekRoman/Megasthenes-Indika.htm Megasthenes: ''Indika''] (archived 10 December 2008)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140328144411/http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/ashoka.html The Edicts of King Ashoka] (archived 28 March 2014)

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:260s BC conflicts]]
[[Category:Wars involving the Maurya Empire]]
[[Category:Maurya Empire]]
[[Category:Kalinga (India)]]
[[Category:3rd century BC in India]]
[[Category:Conflicts in India]]
[[Category:Ashoka]]

Kalinga War - Revision history

104.22.48.134 at 04:07, 14 March 2026