HARSHA’S DEATH AND ITS EFFECT

After the death of Harsha in 647, the empire once again broke up into petty states. In Kashmir, Durlabhavarman established a dynasty known as Karakota. King Bhaskarvarman established a kingdom in Murshidabad district of Bengal. Adityasena ruled Magadha. The kingdoms of the Deccan and the south had become powerful by now.

POLITY AND SOCIETY UNDER HARSHA

Harsha’s administration was based largely on his magnetic person­ality as well as on his benevolent attitude and ceaseless exertion. Harsha controlled the machinery of government with the help of a central ministry and a secretariat comprising various departments. The provinces (bhukti) were divided into districts (vishaya). The village was the lowest unit of administration. The administration was feudal and more decentralised than before. Taxation was light. Criminal law was more severe than it had been in the Gupta period. Hsuan- Tsang says that there was a rigid caste system. Under Harsha, Kanauj became the premier city of northern India and eclipsed the glory of Pataliputra. Hsuan-Tsang has left a detailed account of a grand assembly held at Kanauj in 643 attended by representatives of Hinduism and Jainism besides kings.

Harsha used to celebrate a solemn festival at Prayag (Allahabad), at the end of every five years. Hsuan-Tsang was a witness to the sixth such quinquennial festival, which lasted for 75 days.

Harsha’s ancestors were worshippers of the sun. Epi graphic evidence shows that Harsha was a devotee of Siva, at least for the first 25 years of his reign. Towards the later part of his life, however, he was attracted towards Bud dhism.
Harsha was a great patron of learning. He made large endowments to Nalanda, the world famous centre of learning. He further extended patronage to men of literature and was himself a poet of no mean repute. His court was adorned by Banabhatta, the author of Harshacharita and Kadambari. Harsha himself wrote three well-known dramas: the Ratnavali, the Nagananda and the Priyadarshika.

Archaeological Sources

Inscriptions and seals of Harsha’s period are important archaeological sources.

Inscriptions Banskhera is situated in the Shahjahanpur district of Uttar Pradesrr. An inscription dated AD 628 was found here in 1894. This inscription gives a lot of informa tion regarding Harsha. The inscription says that Harsha had granted Markatsagar village to two brahmans-Balachandra and Bhattaswami. This also speaks of the victory of Rajyavardhana over the Malwa king Devagupta and the murder of Devagupta by Sasanka.

Madhuban is situated in Ghoshi tehsil of Ajamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh. A Harsha inscription dated AD 631 has been found here. It mentions the grant of Somkunda village by Harsha.

The Aihole inscription of the Chalukya king Pulakesin II is dated AD 633-34. The inscription deals with the war between Harshavardhana and Pulakesin II. The inscription was written by Ravi Kirti, a court poet of Pulakesin.

Seals Two seals of Harsha have been found in Nalanda (Bihar) and Sonepat. One is of clay, while the other is of copper. These seals contain the names of all the kings, from Rajyavardhana I to Harshavardhana, of the Vardhana dy nasty. It is the Sonepat seal which gives Harshavardhana as the full name of Harsha.

According to Bana’s HarsMcharita, the predecessors of Harshavardhana were all rulers of the land of Srikantha (Thaneswar). The Pushyabhuti kingdom, as it was known, was founded by Naravardhana around the close of the fifth or the beginning of the sixth century. It was under Prabhakaravardhana that the kingdom grew in both territory and influence. He entered into a matrimonial alliance by marrying his daughter Rajyasri to the Maukhari ruler, Grahavarman. Prabhakaravardhana died in 605 and was succeeded by his eldest son, Rajyavardhana. Just at the time of his accession he had to rush his army to Malwa as Devagupta, the king of Malwa, had murdered Grahavarman, the king of Kanauj, and imprisoned Rajyasri.

Rajyavardhana defeated Devagupta, but he fell fighting the Bengal king, Sasanka. Harsha, who was only 16 years old at that time, succeeded Rajyavardhana on the throne in AD 606. The first arduous task before him was to search for his sister Rajyasri, who had escaped from the clutches of Sasanka. Harsha is said to have found her when she was about to immolate herself. He returned to Kanauj with his sister and, on her refusal to take up the responsibility of ruling, decided to continue as ruler, on ~e advice of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, without any royal insignia.

\ Harsha’s mastery over Kanauj greatly enhanced his power and prestige and he transferred his capital from Thaneswar to Kanauj. Harsha conquered the five kingdoms of northern India, viz., Punjab, Kanauj, Bengal, Bihar and Orissa and thereby consolidated his position in North India. Harsha also defeated the king of Valabhi, Dhruvasena. He later married his daughter to Dhruvasena and thus ex tended his empire upto the coast of the Arabian Sea. Harsha now turned towards the Deccan. Here he came face to face with Pulakesin II, the Chalukyan ruler of Vatapi.

A battle I was fought between the two rulers on the banks of River 1 Narmada, in which the Chalukyan ruler came out victori ous. Harsha’s last campaign was against the Ganjam ter ritory. Some historians also believe that Harsha had con quered the territories of Nepal, Sind and Kashmir. Pulakesin°II bestowed the title of Sakalottara-patha-natha-‘the lord of the entire north’ -on him. Harsha is said to have main tained diplomatic relations with China. In 641 AD, he sent a brahman envoy to China. Three Chinese missions sub sequently visited his court.

HSUAN-TsANG The Chinese pilgrim, Hsuan-Tsang visited India during Harsha’s reign. He set out in 629 at the age of 29, and passing through Tashkant and Samarqand, reached Gandhara in 630. He came to study at Nalanda and to collect Buddhist texts. He left India in 643. He spent about eight years (635-643) in the dominions of Harsha and earned his friendship.

HARSHAVARDHANA

SOURCES FOR THE HARSHAVARDHANA RULE There are mainly three important sources to under­stand the history of Harshavardhana and other rulers of the Vardhana dynasty: (i) literary sources, (ii) foreigners’ accounts, and (Hi) archaeological findings. Harshavardhana, himself a great scholar,
was a patron of literature. Hence there is enough. literary information regarding his rule.

Literary Sources The main literary sources are as follows.
(i) Harshaclulrita Written in Sanskrit by Banabhatta, Harshacharita is an important book to understand Harsha’s rule. This book has eight sections. While the first three sections cover the autobiography of Banabhatta, the remain­ing five describe the life history of Harshavardhana.
(ii) Kadambari Kadambari, written by Banabhatta, is considered the greatest novel of Sanskrit literature. The novel deals with social and religious life during the times of Harsha.
(iii) Aryamanjushreemulkalpa It is a Mahayana book with 1,000 hymns. It deals with the ancient Indian history covering the period between seventh century Be and eighth century AD.

Foreign Accounts Foreign travellers, mainly Chinese pilgrims, have left accounts of the time.
(i) Hsuan- Tsang’s Account A Chinese pilgrim, Hsuan­Tsang, spent about eight years in the dominions of Harsha and earned the king’s friendship. Hsuan-Tsang’s book Si­Yu-Ki throws light on political and cultural life in India during Harsha’s times.
(ii) Biography of Hsuan- Tsang The biography of Hsuan­Tsang was written by his friend Wu-Li. This book also makes available important information related to Harsha’s period.
(Hi) I-tsing’s Account I-tsing was a Chinese traveller. His description of the times is very useful. His accounts were translated into English by the Japanese Buddhist monk, Takkusu, under the title A Record of the Buddhist Religion.

The Gupta Age

The Kushan power in north India came to an end around AD 230 and then a good part of central India fell under the rule of the Murundas, who were possibly the kinsmen of the Kushans. The Murundas continued to rule till AD 250. In about AD 275, the Gupta dynasty came to power. Their origin is obscure. The first two kings of this dynasty-Sri Gupta and Ghatotkacha-were satisfied with the title Maharaja.