Kalinga War:

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Kalinga War:



During the reign of Chandragupta Maurya, the Mauryan Empire extend­ing from Hindukush in the North-west to Mysore in the south faced a challenge from an independent kingdom of Kalinga. But Chandragupta was busy in consolidating his empire, thus could not get time to deal with Kalinga. His son Bindusar also remained busy in suppressing the internal troubles originated by the nobles and chiefs.

Kalinga in the meantime established her colonies in Burma, Philippines, and Indian Archipelago and became a strong overseas power. Besides, the elephants, corps of Kalinga was regarded as the best of their type as has been mentioned by Kautilya. Thus Kalinga proved to be a potential enemy power to Magadha.

Both Chandragupta and his son Bindusar failed to incorporate Kalinga in their vast Magadhan empire. Ashoka after his coronation decided to invade Kalinga and started organising his military resources as a preparation of war.

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