The Kalinga War

Ashoka is considered as one of the greatest Kings in Indian history who ruled from 269 B.C to 232 B.C. He is praised not so much for his militaristic activities as for his policy of Dhamma.

Dhamma was a code of conduct or ideal social behavior common to all religions of the world. It was a uniform civil code for the people of the empire. The Kalinga War was fought between the Mauryan Empire under Ashoka and the state of Kalinga. Kalinga was a feudal republic located on the coast of the present-day Indian state of Odisha and northern parts of Andhra Pradesh.

The Kalinga war, the only major war Ashoka fought after his accession to the throne, is one of the major and bloodiest battles in ancient world history. The main reasons for invading Kalinga were both political and economic. Kalinga was then said to be a glorious and prosperous region consisting of freedom-loving and artistically skilled people.

People from the Kalinga Kingdom, also known as the "Utkala" were the first from Bharat (present day India) who traveled offshore to the South East for trade. For that reason, Kalinga had some important ports and powerful navy. They used to follow open culture and uniform civil code. This war resulted in the death of 200,000 soldiers on both the armies and was a turning point in the life of Ashoka.

It is said that Daya river, flowing next to the battlefield had red coloured water due to the bloodshed in the battlefield. Ashoka gave up violence on seeing so much loss of life and established peace and harmony in his Kingdom and guided the people to lead a prosperous life. War always results in death and destruction and Ashoka realized this.