Harshavardhana

Introduction 

Harsha Vardhana ruled northern India from 606 to 647 AD from his capital Kannauj. He was the son of Prabhakara Vardhana and the younger brother of Rajya Vardhana, a king of Thanesar in modern days Haryana. At the height of his power his kingdom spanned the states of Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bengal, Odisha, and the entire Indo-Gangetic plains of the Narmada river. 

The Background 

After the downfall of the Gupta Empire in the middle of the 6th century, north India went back to small republics and small monarchical states ruled by Kings belonging to the erstwhile Gupta rulers. The northern and western regions of India passed into the hands of a dozen or more feudatory states. 

Prabhakara Vardhana, the ruler of Sthanvisvara, who belonged to the Pushyabhuti family, extended his control over neighboring states and established the Vardhana dynasty with his capital at Thaneshwar. After Prabhakar Vardhan’s death in 605, his eldest son, Rajya Vardhana, ascended the throne. Harsha Vardhana was Rajya Vardhana’s younger brother.

Harsha, who was a Buddhist united the small republics from Punjab to central India, and their representatives crowned Harsha, king at an assembly in April 606 AD/CE giving him the title of Maharaja when he was merely 16 years old.

Rajya Vardhana’s and Harsha’s sister Rajyasri had been married to the Maukhari king, Grahavarman, who some years later, was defeated and killed by king Devagupta of Malwa. After his death Rajyasri was put into prison by Devagupta.

Harsha's brother, Rajya Vardhana, then the king at Thaneshwar, marched against Devagupta and defeated him. In another event Rajyavardhana got murdered by Shashanka, the king of Gauda, leading Harsha to rout the combined forces of Shashanka and Devagupta.

Wars and reign 

Harsha was a great conqueror and an able administrator. After his accession, he united the two kingdoms of Thaneshwar and Kannauj and transferred his capital from Thanesar to Kannauj. Although he had defeated Shashanka, the result was indecisive as Shashanka continued to rule much of his kingdom and it was only after his death that Harsha was able to defeat Shashanka's son, Manava and bring Bihar, Kanauj and northern Bengal under his rule. He conquered Dhruvasena of Gujarat and gave his own daughter in marriage to him.

Harsha's ambition of extending his power to the Deccan and Southern India were stopped by the Chalukya Emperor Pulakesin II of Badami in north Karnataka along the banks of river Narmada. Pulakeshin defeated Harsha's army on the banks of Narmada river in 630 AD. A truce was agreed upon and the river Narmada was marked as the southern boundary of Harsha's kingdom and the northern boundary of Chalukya kingdom.

Harsha was an energetic ruler who traveled frequently in order to keep himself accessible to his subjects. In the later half of his reign, he spent most of his time in camp, traveling from place to place.

Achievements 

Harsha was very talented and despite his administrative duties, he managed to write plays i.e. Ratnavali, Priyadarshika and Nagananda. His court was full of literary men like philosophers, poets, dramatists and painters. Banabhatta, the author of Harsha-Charita and Kadambari, was the court poet of Harsha. Maurya, the author of Mayurashataka, and Bhartrihari, the author of Vakyapadiya and a grammarian, also lived at the court of Harsha.

Harsha was the chief patron of the University of Nalanda where about 10,000 students from all parts of India and abroad studied. He was also a patron of art and literature. He made numerous donations to the University at Nalanda to construct a lofty wall enclosing all the buildings of the university to defend the institution from any other possible attack.

Harsha himself was a Mahayana Buddhist, but was a tolerant ruler and supported all Indic faiths – Buddhism, Vedism and Jainism. Early in his life, he seems to have been a follower of Sun God, later on he became a patron of Shaivism and then converted to Buddhism.

According to the Chinese Pilgrim Xuanzang, who visited his kingdom in 636 AD/CE, Harsha built numerous stupas in the name of Buddha.  In 641, following Xuanzang's visit, Harsha sent a mission to China which established the first diplomatic relations between China and India.

Decline of the Vardhanas 

Harsha died in the year 647 AD/CE. He ruled for 41 years. After his death, his empire collapsed with him. The kingdom disintegrated rapidly into small states. We have very less documents for this period, i.e., aftermath Harsha.

However, Harsha’s two sons named Vagyavardhan and Kalyanvardhan, were killed by Arunashwa, a chief minister in Harsha's court and his wife, Durgavati was taken prisoner. Thus the mighty Vardhana dynasty declined.