Shishupalgarh

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Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

Map of Khorda District

Shishupalgarh (शिशुपालगढ़) is a ruined archaeologically important site situated in Khurda District in Odisha, India.[1] It is one of the largest and best preserved early historic fortifications in India, with the earliest occupation both inside and outside the later site´s northern rampart around 7th to 6th centuries BCE.[2]

Variants

History

Śiśupālgarh is an archaeologically important site dating to the Ganges civilization (1000 BCE).—Nearly a millennium after the Indus civilization had collapsed, the Ganges civilization arose in the first millennium BCE. But this urban development extended beyond the Ganges valley, as testified by, for example, Śiśupālgarh, probably the ancient Kaliṅganagar, near Bhubaneswar in Odisha.[3][4]

At Śiśupālgarh (3rd century BCE at least), stone masons were at work using large blocks of laterite to build a very well-made fort entrance that could be closed with huge doors turning on hinges. At the centre of the city, a huge apsidal (semi-oval) structure with pillars has been excavated, which may have been either a temple or a palace.[5][6]


The remains of the ancient city Sisupalgarh has been discovered near Bhubaneswar, today, the capital of the Odisha state in India. Sisupalgarh was a nationally protected monument. On the basis of the architectural pattern and artefacts discovered during the early excavations, B.B. Lal concluded that this fort city flourished between 3rd century BC and 4th century AD. On the basis of the new findings, M.L. Smith and R. Mohanty claimed in 2001 that the fortified city flourished from around 5th century BC and probably lasted well after the 4th century.[7] Thus, this defensive settlement originated prior to the Mauryan empire. The population of the city could have amounted to 20,000 to 25,000. Archaeologists have employed geophysical survey, systematic surface collections and selected excavations in the 4.8 km perimeter of the fortified area and studied individual houses and civic as well as domestic architecture to arrive at the figure. The significance of the population is clear when one bears in mind that the population of classical [[Athens[[ was 30,000. However the historians also claim that it is too early to comment on the population of the city as yet only a part of the city has been excavated.[8]

Excavations

The first excavations at the site were carried out by B.B. Lal in 1948. An American-Indian team took up work in 2001. In 2005 ground penetrating radar revealed the probable position of the southern moat.[9] Toward the centre of the fortress (Area D) the 19 column structure has been recorded three-dimensionally by means of a laser scanner. It is disturbed and incomplete. Two gates pierce each of the glacis of the quadrangular plan. As at contemporary Jaugada, the plan tips 10° clockwise of north.[10] With 1125 m x 1115 m (measured on the crest) Sisupalgarh is larger in surface than is Jaugada. Sisupalgarh's defences are the highest known of this period in India. The ancient settlement probably was not dense, but rather there was room inside the fortress to graze.

Excavations from 2005 to 2009 by M.L. Smith and R. Mohanty, reached bedrock or natural soil in some areas of the settlement, dating the earliest occupation around 7th to 6th centuries BCE in five different locations sampled, being the earliest C14 dating inside the city 804-669 BCE and outside 793-555 BCE, and the northern rampart was dated to 510-400 BCE.[11]

शिशुपालगढ़

शिशुपालगढ़ (AS, p.902): विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर [12] ने लेख किया है ....उड़ीसा में भुवनेश्वर नगर से लगभग डेढ़ मील की दूरी पर दक्षिण-पूर्व में स्थित एक ऐतिहासिक स्थान है। यह कलिंग की प्राचीन राजधानी था। भुवनेश्वर के निकट इस प्राचीन नगर के ध्वंसावशेष स्थित हैं। यहाँ 1949 ई. में विस्तृत उत्खनन किया गया था। इस नगर का संबंध महाभारत के शिशुपाल से नहीं जान पड़ता, क्योंकि इसका अस्तित्व काल तीसरी शती ई. पू. से चौथी शती ई. तक है।

शिशुपालगढ़ से तीन मील दूर धौली नामक स्थान है, जो मौर्य सम्राट अशोक के शिलालेख (कलिंग-अभिलेख) के लिए प्रख्यात है। इस अभिलेख में इस स्थान का नाम तोसलि कहा गया है। उस समय इस स्थान के आस-पास एक विशाल नगर स्थित रहा होगा, जैसा कि खंडहरों तथा निकटस्थ ऐतिहासिक स्थलों से सिद्ध होता है। ह. कृ. महताब के मत में केसरी वंशीय नरेश शिशुपाल केसरी के नाम पर ही इसका 'शिशुपालगढ़' का नामकरण हुआ होगा। (हिस्ट्री ऑफ उड़ीसा, पृ. 66)

खारवेल का अभिलेख: शिशुपालगढ़ से छः मील दूर खंडगिरि तथा उदयगिरि की पहाडि़याँ हैं, जहाँ दो प्रसिद्ध गुफ़ाओं में ई. सन के पूर्व के अभिलेख प्राप्त हुए हैं। 'हाथीगुम्फ़ा' नामक एक गुफ़ा में कलिंगराज खारवेल का और बैकुंठपुर गुफ़ा में उसकी रानी का अभिलेख अंकित है। ये गुफ़ाएँ तीसरी शती ई. पू. में आजीवक साधुओं के रहने के लिए अशोक ने बनवाई थीं, जैसा कि उसके अभिलेख से जान पड़ता है। खारवेल के लेख में इस स्थान का नाम कलिंग नगर दिया हुआ है।

कलिंगनगर

विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर[13] ने लेख किया है ...कलिंगनगर उड़ीसा (AS, p.149) प्राचीन कलिंग का मुख्य नगर था. इसका उल्लेख खारवेल के अभिलेख (प्रथम सदी ई.) में है. इस नगर के प्रवेशद्वारों तथा परकोटे की मरम्मत खारवेल ने अपने शासनकाल के प्रथम वर्ष में करवाई थी. कलिंगनगर का अभिज्ञान मुखलिंगम् से किया गया है जो वंशधारा नदी के तट पर बसा है. [p.150]: भुवनेश्वर के निकट स्थित शिशुपालगढ़ को भी प्राचीन कलिंगनगर कहा जाता है (देखें-कलिंग; शिशुपालगढ़). प्राचीन रोम के भौगोलिक टोलमी ने शायद कलिंगनगर को ही कन्नागर लिखा है (देखें हिस्ट्री ऑफ उड़ीसा, माहताब, पृ.24). कलिंगनगर को चोड़ गंगदेव (1077-1147 ई.) ने अपनी राजधानी बनाया था और यह नगर 1135 ई. तक इसी रूप में रहा.

External links

References

  1. "Sisupalgarh had a flourishing urban life: researchers". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 8 February 2008.
  2. Smith, M.L. and R.K. Mohanty, (2016). "Archaeology at Sisupalgarh: The Chronology of An Early Historic Urban Centre in Eastern India", in Lefevre, Vincent, Aurore Didier and Benjamin Mutin (eds.), South Asian Archaeology and Art 2012, Volume 2, Brepols, Turhout, Belgium, p. 684.
  3. Source: Knowledge Traditions & Practices of India: Architecture (1): Early and Classical Architecture
  4. https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/shishupalgarh
  5. Source: Knowledge Traditions & Practices of India: Architecture (1): Early and Classical Architecture
  6. https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/shishupalgarh
  7. M. Smith, Sisupalgarh Project (2001), http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/ioa/smith/
  8. Sahu, Sandeep (18 February 2008). "Ancient city discovered in India". BBC News.
  9. P. Yule. Early Historic Sites in Orissa, p. 20.
  10. P. Yule–W. Böhler, Sisupalgarh: an Early Historic Fortress in Coastal Orissa and its Cousins, Beiträge Allgemeine Vergleichende Archäologie 24, 2004, 16-19, ISBN 3-8053-2518-5
  11. Smith, M.L. and R.K. Mohanty, (2016). "Archaeology at Sisupalgarh: The Chronology of An Early Historic Urban Centre in Eastern India", in Lefevre, Vincent, Aurore Didier and Benjamin Mutin (eds.), South Asian Archaeology and Art 2012, Volume 2, Brepols, Turhout, Belgium, pp. 684, 689, 693.
  12. Aitihasik Sthanavali by Vijayendra Kumar Mathur, p.902
  13. Aitihasik Sthanavali by Vijayendra Kumar Mathur, p.149