Meet ‘Raya Asoko’ of Kanaganahalli

For centuries, nobody imagined that a tiny settlement on the banks of River Bhima, in Karnataka, would have anything to do with Pataliputra of ancient India. The Chandralamba Temple near the village Sannati in Chittapur taluk of Kalaburagi district has been a centre of Shakta pilgrimage since probably the 8th or 9th century CE.

In 1958, when scholar Kapatral Krishna Rao’s explorations in the area threw up sculpted limestone slabs, inscriptions and other antiquities, scholars had suspected that the remains of an ancient Buddhist settlement might lie buried in the black cotton soil of this region.

But the definitive clue to Sannati’s past came in 1986, when the roof of the Kalikamba shrine in the Chandralamba Temple complex collapsed, damaging the idol.

During salvage operations, it was discovered that the granite pedestal on which the idol was mounted was covered in inscriptions. These inscriptions were found to be portions of edicts of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka.

Suddenly, the antiquity of Sannati was pushed back by centuries, to the 3rd century BCE, when it was arguably part of the mighty Mauryan Empire.

Explorations and excavations in the vicinity in the 1990s brought to light the remains of an extensive settlement site at Ranamandala, and stupas at Hasargundgi, Anegutti etc. But what is probably one of the most important archaeological discoveries in independent India came during excavations begun in 1994 by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), led by K P Poonacha — the ruins of an exquisite stupa cladded with carved limestone slabs, close to the nearby village of Kanaganahalli.

The core of the stupa, Poonacha explains in the excavation report published by the ASI, was Mauryan in origin — a small mound of earth and rock. The Mauryan character of this early stupa is supported by a damaged sculpture of a lion, in sandstone, which must have been the capital of a freestanding pillar near the stupa, in Mauryan fashion.

Subsequently, the stupa was enlarged and embellished under Satavahana rule, with locally quarried limestone blocks and slabs.

The stupa had a lower drum, and an upper drum of smaller diameter, which supported the anda of the stupa. Both the lower drum and the upper drum were encased in limestone slabs, most of which depict narratives from the Buddha’s life, Jataka tales, and rulers familiar from history.

It is on one of the upper-drum slabs that one encounters the Emperor himself. In the upper register of the slab, a royal couple occupy the centre, their royalty announced by the parasol held over the Emperor.

The Emperor, wearing a turban and large earrings, is accompanied by his Queen. Also seen are a parasol holder and two other ladies bearing fly-whisks. Any doubt to the identity of this royal figure is dismissed by the inscription, in Brahmi, on the horizontal border above — Raya Asoko.

Ashoka has been depicted at other places, most notably at Sanchi and Amaravati, but the uniqueness of the Kanaganahalli image is that it is the only inscribed portrait of the Emperor encountered so far.

In this inscription, as in the rock edict at Maski (Raichur), the Emperor is mentioned by his name, unlike elsewhere, where he is referred to as ‘Devanampiya Piyadasi’ (‘Beloved of The Gods’).

There is another upper-drum slab, also inscribed similarly. The upper register of this slab shows four male figures in adoration of the Buddhapada, or footprints of the Buddha. Poonacha opines that the figure on the top right, sitting with folded hands, is Ashoka. In the lower register are two men and two women, also shown worshipping the Buddhapada. The men have been identified as Ashoka (with folded palms) and his son Mahindra, while the woman behind the Emperor could be his daughter Sanghamitra.

Gazing at the dramatic sweep of the Bhima through this landscape, one can’t help wondering what other secrets from the distant past might slumber undetected in the soil.

(The author is with the
National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru)