| Harsha | |
|---|---|
| Maharajadhiraja Gaudeswra[1] | |
 Coin of Harshavardhana,c. 606–647 CE.[2] | |
| Maharajadhiraja of Kannauj | |
| Reign | April 606 – 647 |
| Predecessor | Rajyavardhana (as King of Thanesar) |
| Successor | Arunāsva (as King of Kannauj) |
| Born | 4 June 590[3] possibly Sthanvishvara,Kingdom of Thanesar (present-dayThanesar,Haryana,India)[4][5] |
| Died | 647 (aged 56-57) possibly Kanyakubja, Empire of Kannauj (present-dayKannauj,Uttar Pradesh,India)[6] |
| Dynasty | Pushyabhuti |
| Father | Prabhakarvardhana |
| Mother | Yasomati |
| Religion | Shaivism Buddhism (according toXuanzang) |
| Signature |  |
Harshavardhana (Sanskrit: हर्षवर्धन; 4 June 590 – 647) was an emperor of Kannauj from April 606 until his death in 647. He was the king of Thanesar who had defeated theAlchon Huns,[8] and the younger brother ofRajyavardhana, son ofPrabhakaravardhana and last king ofThanesar. He was one of the greatest kings of the Kingdom of Kannauj, which under him expanded into a vast realm innorthern India.
At the height of Harsha's power, his realm covered much of northern and northwestern India, with theNarmada River as its southern boundary. He eventually madeKanyakubja (present-day Kannauj,Uttar Pradesh state) his imperial capital, and reigned till 647 CE.[9] Harsha was defeated by the EmperorPulakeshin II of theChalukya dynasty in theBattle of Narmada, when he tried to expand his empire into thesouthern peninsula of India.[10]
The peace and prosperity that prevailed made his court a centre of cosmopolitanism, attracting scholars, artists and religious visitors from far and wide.[9] The Chinese travellerXuanzang visited the imperial court of Harsha and wrote a very favourable account of him (asShiladitya), praising his justice and generosity.[9] His biographyHarshacharita ("The Life of Harsha") written by theSanskrit poetBanabhatta, describes his association withSthanesvara, besides mentioning a defensive wall, a moat and the palace with a two-storiedDhavalagriha (white mansion).[11]
Much of the information about Harsha's youth comes from the account ofBāṇabhaṭṭa.[6] Harsha was the second son ofPrabhakarvardhana, king ofThanesar. After the downfall of theGupta Empire in the middle of the 6th century, Northern India was split into several independent kingdoms. The northern and western regions of theIndian Subcontinent passed into the hands of a dozen or more feudatory states. Prabhakaravardhana, the monarch ofSthanvesvara, who belonged to the Vardhana family, extended his control over neighbouring states. Prabhakaravardhana was the first monarch of the Vardhana dynasty with his capital atSthanvesvara. After Prabhakaravardhana's died in 605, his eldest son, Rajyavardhana, ascended the throne. Harshavardhana was Rajyavardhana's younger brother. This period of kings from the same line has been referred to as the Vardhana dynasty in many publications.[12][dead link][13][14][15][page needed]
At the time ofHiuen Tsang's visit,Kanyakubja was the imperial capital of Harshavardhana, the most powerful sovereign in Northern India.
K.P. Jaiswal in Imperial History of India, says that according to a 7-8th century Buddhist text,Mañjuśrī-mūla-kalpa, Harsha was born of King Vishnu (Vardhana) and his family was ofVaishyavarna.[16][page needed] This is supported by some more writers.[17][18][19][20]
Harsha's sister Rajyashri had been married to theMaukhari monarch,Grahavarman. This king, some years later, had been defeated and killed by KingDevagupta ofMalwa and after his death Rajyashri had been captured and imprisoned by the victor. Harsha's brother, Rajyavardhana, then the king atSthanesvara, could not accept this affront to his sister and his family. So he marched againstDevagupta and defeated him. However,Shashanka, the King ofGauda in EasternBengal, then enteredMagadha as a friend of Rajyavardhana, but was in a secret alliance with theMalwa king.[citation needed] Accordingly, Shashanka treacherously murdered Rajyavardhana.[22] In the meantime, Rajyashri escaped into the forests. On hearing about the murder of his brother, Harsha resolved at once to march against the treacherousKing of Gauda, but this campaign remained inconclusive and beyond a point he turned back. Harsha ascended the throne at the age of 16. His first responsibility was to rescue his sister and to avenge the killings of his brother and brother-in-law. He rescued his sister when she was about to immolate herself.
AsNorthern India reverted to small republics and small monarchical states ruled by Gupta rulers after the fall of the priorGupta Empire, Harsha united the small republics fromPunjab to central India, and their representatives crowned him emperor at an assembly in April 606 giving him the title ofMaharajadhiraja. Harsha established an empire that brought all of northern India under his rule.[9] The peace and prosperity that prevailed made his court a centre ofcosmopolitanism, attracting scholars, artists and religious visitors from far and wide. The Chinese travellerXuanzang visited the imperial court of Harsha, and wrote a favourable account of him, praising his justice and generosity.[9]
Pulakeshin II repelledan invasion led by Harsha on the banks ofNarmada in the winter of 618–619. Pulakeshin then entered into a treaty with Harsha, with theNarmada River designated as the border between theChalukya Empire and that of Harshavardhana.[23][24]
Xuanzang describes the event thus:
In 648,Tang Chinese emperorTang Taizong sentWang Xuance to India in response to emperor Harsha having sent an ambassador to China. However once in India, he discovered that Harsha had died and the new king Aluonashun (supposedlyArunāsva) attacked Wang and his 30 mounted subordinates.[25] This led to Wang Xuance escaping to Tibet and then mounting a joint expedition of over 7,000Nepalesemounted infantry and 1,200Tibetaninfantry and attacking Indian state on June 16. The success of this attack won Xuance the prestigious title of the "Grand Master for the Closing Court."[26] He also secured a reported Buddhist relic for China.[27][full citation needed] 2,000 prisoners were taken from Magadha by the Nepali and Tibetan forces under Wang.[28] Tibetan and Chinese writings document describe Wang Xuance's raid on India with Tibetan soldiers.[29] Nepal had been subdued by the Tibetan KingSongtsen.[30] The Indian pretender was among the captives.[31][32] The war happened in 649.[citation needed] Taizong's grave had a statue of the Indian pretender.[33] The pretender's name was recorded in Chinese records as "Na-fu-ti O-lo-na-shuen" (Dinafudi is probably a reference toTirabhukti).[34][35][36]
Xuanzang mentions that Harsha waged wars to bring "the Five Indias under allegiance" in six years.[37] Xuanzang uses the term "Five Indias" (or "Five Indies" in some translations) inconsistently, variously applying it to refer to Harsha's territories in northern India or to the entire subcontinent, grouped around Central India in the four directions.[38][39] Based on this statement, historians such asR.K. Mookerji andC.V. Vaidya have dated Harsha conquests to 606-612 CE. However, it is now known that Harsha engaged in wars and conquests for several more years.[37] Moreover, whether Xuanzang used the term "Five Indias" to describe Harsha's territory in a narrower or wider sense, his statement is hyperbole it cannot be used to make conclusions about Harsha's actual territory. While Harsha was the most powerful emperor of northern India, he did not rule the entire northern India.[40]
Like many other ancient Indian rulers, Harsha waseclectic in his religious views and practices. His seals describe his ancestors as worshippers of the Hindu sun god,Surya, his elder brother as aBuddhist, and himself as aShaivite Hindu. His land grant inscriptions describe him asParama-maheshvara (supreme devotee of Shiva). His court poetBana also describes him as a Shaivite Hindu.[41]
Harsha's playNāgānanda tells the story of the Bodhisattva Jīmūtavāhavana, and the invocatory verse at the beginning is dedicated tothe Buddha, described in the act of vanquishingMāra (so much so that the two verses, together with a third, are also preserved separately in Tibetan translation as the *Mārajit-stotra).[42] Shiva's consortGauri plays an important role in the play,[43] and raises the hero to life using her divine power.[44]
According to the Chinese Buddhist travelerXuanzang, Harsha was a devoutBuddhist. Xuanzang states that Harsha banned animal slaughter for food, and built monasteries at the places visited byGautama Buddha. He erected several thousand 100-feet highstupas on the banks of theGanges river, and built well-maintainedhospices for travellers and poor people on highways across India. He organized an annual assembly of global scholars, and bestowed charitable alms on them. Every five years, he held a great assembly calledMoksha. Xuanzang also describes a 21-day religious festival organized by Harsha inKanyakubja; during this festival, Harsha and his subordinate kings performed daily rituals before a life-sized golden statue of the Buddha.[41]
Since Harsha's records describe him as a Shaivite Hindu, his conversion to Buddhism would have happened, if at all, in the later part of his life. Even Xuanzang states that Harsha patronised scholars of all religions, not just Buddhist monks.[41] According to historians such asS. R. Goyal andS. V. Sohoni, Harsha was personally a Shaivite Hindu and his patronage of Buddhists misled Xuanzang to portray him as a Buddhist.[45]
Harsha is widely believed to be the author of three Sanskrit playsRatnavali,Nagananda andPriyadarsika.[46] While some believe (e.g.,Mammata in Kavyaprakasha) that it was Dhāvaka, one of Harsha's court poets, who wrote the plays as a paid commission,Wendy Doniger is "persuaded, however, that king Harsha really wrote the plays ... himself."[46]
A 1926Indian silent film,Samrat Shiladitya, about the emperor was directed by Mohan Dayaram Bhavnani.[47]
Sasanka and Harshavardhana were called the lord of Gauda or Gaudeswra. Pala & Sena kings assumed the title 'Gaudeswra.'
Thanesar near Kurukshetra , is the birthplace of the ruler Harsha Vardhana ( 590-647)...
Born: c. 590; probably Thanesar, India
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