Jaugada ("Jaugarh", ancient Samapa]) is a ruined fortress in the Ganjam district in Odisha, India. It ancient name was Samapa or Sampa. It was the capital city of the mighty Kalinga emperors from the Ramayana era till Kalinga War. Jaugada lies 35 km north-west of Berhampur City and 160 km south-west of Bhubaneshwar. After the defeat in Kalinga War it was the provincial Mauryan fortified capital of the Kalinga, Jaugada is famed by its version of the monumental stone-cut edicts in Prakrit of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka.
Despite J.D. Beglar's description during the later 19th century of the extant fortification towers and moat ("The walls had towers, also of earth, at each of the four corners, and also on each flank of each of the eight entrances"), without photos and drawings, the remains are difficult to visualize and comprehend. In 1956 Debala Mitra of the Archaeological Survey of India transected the northern glacis with a trench.
The now collapsed trench of this investigation appears to lie just east of the eastern gate of the north wall. It is near the great Shiva temple Kaleswar & Rameswar (which is known as a temple where Shiva and Vishnu are seen together).
This site was first documented in 2001 by a team from the University of Heidelberg.
1950s :: Pre-Mauryan Era Structure Found During Excavation at Jaugada In Ganjam District of Odisha. |