kingdom · South Asia
Mahameghavahana dynasty
Origins
After the decline of the Maurya Empire, Kalinga on the Odisha coast regained its independence under kings who claimed descent from the ancient Chedi line. The dynasty is known almost entirely from the Hathigumpha inscription carved in a cave on Udayagiri hill near Bhubaneswar, probably in the 1st century BCE.
Rule and society
The inscription records year by year the deeds of Kharavela, a devout Jain: he repaired the capital Kalinganagari after a cyclone, dug canals, staged festivals and led campaigns against the Satavahana dynasty to the west, against Magadha, from which he recovered a Jain image carried off by a Nanda king, and against the Pandyas in the far south. He and his queen excavated rock-cut monastic cells for Jain monks at Udayagiri and Khandagiri.
Decline and legacy
Kharavela's successors, Kudepasiri and Vadukha, are known only from short inscriptions, and the dynasty fades from the record by the 1st century. Its rock-cut caves remain an important Jain site.
Lineage
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- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Mahameghavahana dynasty. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/mahameghavahana-dynasty
- MLA
- “Mahameghavahana dynasty.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/mahameghavahana-dynasty. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Mahameghavahana dynasty.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/mahameghavahana-dynasty.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Mahameghavahana dynasty’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/mahameghavahana-dynasty (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻