कलिंग-मगध युद्ध - १वी शताब्दी ईसा पूर्व

खारवेल

And all he wanted was to rise in the eyes of his ancestors. 

Kharavela, an ancient Kalinga king, had been learning of the distraught fact that the pride and honour of his Kingdom, the Kalinga Jina, that commemorated the sacred Jain teachings and had kept Kalinga united for centuries, was corrupted and stolen by Magadha few decades ago. Magadha, which had now lost its glory and was nothing more than the eastern borders of the Shunga Empire, was controlled by the King of Kosambi - Brhaspatimitra. A righteous king him being as well, proud of this ancestry and would go to any extent to retain the legacy of Magadha. The Magadha-Kalinga rivalry was ancient and it remained so even during the era of Kharavela and Brhaspatimitra. And after the havoc Emperor Ashoka had created, Kalinga remained low and took its own time in restoring the kingdom to its original pinnacle. With the collapse of the Mauryan Empire, a new dynasty took its seat in Kalinga - Mahameghavahana, a sub-branch of the Chedis that ruled central India. Several kings occupied the seat - Sobhanaraj, Chandraraja, Kshemaraja, Vakradeva and finally the control came into the lap of Kharavela. But what this king did, no other could even dare to image. 

Kalinga was being developed slowly and Kharavela simply accelerated the action by introducing great new reforms. But while he was putting in efforts in bringing and renovating his kingdom, his eyes were always on the mighty land of the Magadha. All his life he had been hearing the torturous means Ashoka took away the pride of Kalinga. How brutal the war was and how the horrors of wars are still fresh in the eyes of those who had witnessed and escaped it. He would never sympathise with Ashoka becoming a monk as in his eyes, his hands were still soiled with blood. But he would also not forgive the Nandas for stealing away their culturally important symbol and was frustrated at the previous Kalinga kings for not trying hard enough for bringing it back. With this anger and fire within, he decided to do the impossible - attack Magadha. 

Kalinga was prospering and the nobles were satisfied as the empire stretched throughout
the eastern coast of India. It even had trade routes established with the Vijayanas in Lanka and Dhanyawati Kingdom of Myanmar. It had silenced the conflicts rising from the Pandyas and Vijadharas in south and was now rising to go up in Vanga, which is today's Bengal. And so, about 2000 years ago from today, Kharavela marched against Magadha. With his exceptionally spectacular army of more than a thousand elephants, horses, archers and a visually stunning number of swordsmen and cavalries. It was the biggest comeback of Kalinga after what it faced by the Mauryas 150 years ago. A century old revenge will be taken by one man and one man alone. And now, after defeating Vanga, he crisscrossed roads with Brhaspatimitra, whose seat was predominantly in Kosambi but was given the control of Magadha as well for it was at it's slow downfall. By conquering Uruvela (Bodh Gaya) and Rajagraha (Rajgir), the Kalinga army marched towards the greatest city of ancient India, the capital of the capitals, the place that gave birth to culture and civilisations - Pataliputra. 

The battle went on for days and the citizens were having a nightmare witnessing the wrath of Magadha. Nobody had dared to put it's foot on the soil of Magadha since it had always been a jewel in the crown of the various empires before. The local rulers of Magadha at that time were run by local Kanva chieftains who were Kharavela's first target. After sacking the city and pushing the Kanvas out, it was Brhaspatimitra who took the charge of clashing head-on with Kharavela in the battlefield. And on the banks of the holy Ganga, Kharavela's elephants crushed the Magadha army. Brhaspatimitra's every tactic was failing but his bravery was duly acknowledged by Kharavela. Reinforcements were brought from the neighbouring towns of Vaishali and Champa (Bhagalpur) and Kalinga faced severe damage. After all, it had no backups and a limited army. Many of them were lured by giving them bait of a better life as Magadha did provide quite a luxurious lifestyle. They were bribed, intimidate in the name of religion and their afterlife if they fight against Magadha and all sort of ploys to back out, but Kalinga remained strong in it's resolution. And after fighting for several days, Brhaspatimitra had to succumb to defeat. But Kharavela instead of executing him, ordered an exile to as far as Mathura in the west. And so, the mighty Magadha, became part of the Mahameghavahana dynasty of Kalinga and its priced possession was bringing back the Kalinga Jina to where it belonged - Kalinganagara. 

Kharavela was celebrated, congratulated, loved and adored by thousands. Never in the history of Kalinga, the kingdom rose to such a prominence. But like many others, the name of Mahameghavahana and Kharavela is now long lost in the pages of history.