Sisupalgarh ruins

On the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, off the main road to Puri, stand the fortified ruins of Sisupalgarh that date back to 350 BC. It was the capital of ancient Kalinga during the rule of Chedi Dynasty, which had Kharvela as its king. Historians say that the Hindu epic Mahabharata contains the story of Chedi king Sisupal, a cousin of Lord Krishna who was decapitated by Krishna in an open court. Sisupal was an ancestor of King Kharavela. According to a survey by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), in 1947-48 the fort area was spread over 562.68 acres of land. In 1950, Sishupalgarh was notified as a centrally-protected monument under the Ancient Monuments Act - 1904. Sisupalgarh has a 2000-year-old quadratic defensive wall, measuring 1200 X 1160 m and portions of the surviving wall are as high as 12 m. The first excavation of the site was conducted by famous historian BB Lal in 1948-49, which brought to light traces of an impressive fort, which, according to historians, was built over several centuries with additions, alterations and various fortifications. Over a decade back, RK Mohanty from Deccan College, Pune and Monica Smith from Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, excavated around 18 pillars at the site and found various artefacts like pottery, terracotta ornaments. They found the evidence of an urban settlement and estimated the population of the community at over 20,000, living in a city having well laid-out streets and houses with two or three rooms each.