Harsha or Harshavardhana (हर्षवर्धन) or "Harsha vardhan" (590–647) was an Indian emperor who ruled Northern India for over forty years. He was the son of Prabhakar Vardhan and younger brother of Rajyavardhan, a king of Thanesar. At the height of his power his kingdom spanned the Punjab, Bengal, Orissa and the entire Indo-Gangetic plain north of the Narmada River.

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After the downfall of the Gupta Empire in the middle of the sixth century C.E., North India reverted back to small republics and small monarchical states. Harsha united the small republics from Punjab to Central India, and they, at an assembly, crowned Harsha king in April 606 AD when he was merely 16 years old.^[1]

Harshavardhana's Ancestors

The origin of the Harsha's ancestors is obscure and little is known about them.^[2] According to Banabhatta,^{[citation needed]} they were descended from a certain Pushpabhuti who founded the kingdom of Sthaneshwar or modern Thanesar, an ancient Hindu pilgrimage centre and one of the 51 Shaktipeeth's, now a small town in the vicinity of the newly created Kurukshetra in the state of Haryana north of Delhi. The name Pushpabhuti is the key to Harsha's origins and the relevant reference point is an inscription dated 181 AD and found at Gunda in the state of Gujarat. That inscription mentions a general of Rudrasimha I or Rudrasingh by the name Rudrabhuti.^[3] Rudradaman I, an ancestor of Rudrasimha I had conquered the Yaudheya, who were the original masters of Haryana and the Ror bards clearly say that after this campaign in 150 AD, they had a king sitting in Badli, Jhajjar. Definitely, some clansmen of the "Bhuti" family also came in the same campaign and Harsha's ancestor Pushpabhuti is one of them. Its not surprising that all the villages surrounding Thanesar belong to Ror clans even today. The famous Chinese Buddhist pilgrim monk, Xuanzang, states that Harsha was a 吙舍 feishe or of the Vaishya caste^[4] but makes no comment about his family's origins.^[5]

According to Alexander Cunningham in 1871 Xuanzang must have mistaken the Vaisa for Bais Rajput.^[6] As Thomas Watters has pointed out this is most unlikely as Xuanzang, "had ample opportunities for learning the antecedents of the royal family, and he must have had some ground for his assertion."^[7] Moreover, Xuanzang had an expert knowledge of Sanskrit and the caste system, which he discusses, in some detail in his book. He mentions that rulers traditionally belonged to the Kshatriya caste and his specific mention that Harsha was a feishe was probably because this was an uncommon occurrence.^[8][9]

Vardhan Dynasty

After the downfall of the Gupta Empire in the middle of the sixth century CE, North India was split into several independent kingdoms. The Huns had established their supremacy over the Punjab and parts of central India. The northern and western regions of India passed into the hands of a dozen or more feudatory states.

Prabhakar Vardhan, the ruler of Sthanvisvara, who belonged to the Pushyabhuti family, extended his control over neighbouring states. Prabhakar Vardhan was the first king of the Vardhana dynasty with his capital at Thaneswar.

After Prabhakar Vardhan’s death in 606 CE, his eldest son, Rajya Vardhan, ascended the throne. Harsha Vardhana was Rajya Vardhan’s younger brother.

Harsha's Ascension

Rajya Vardhan’s and Harsha’s sister Rajyasri had been married to the Maukhari king, Grahavarman. This king, some years later, had been defeated and killed by king Deva Gupta of Malwa and after his death Rajyasri had been cast into prison by the victor. Harsha's brother, Rajya Vardhan, then the king at Thanesar, could not stand this affront on his family, marched against Deva Gupta and defeated him. But it so happened at this moment that Sasanka, king of Gauda in Eastern Bengal, entered Magadha as a friend of Rajya Vardhana, but in secret alliance with the Malwa king. Accordingly, Sasanka treacherously murdered Rajya Vardhan.^{[citation needed]}

On hearing about the murder of his brother, Harsha resolved at once to march against the treacherous king of Gauda and killed Deva Gupta in a battle. Harsha Vardhan ascended the throne at the age of 16.

Harsha's Wars

Though quite a young man when he came to power, Harsha proved himself a great conqueror and an able administrator. After his accession, Harsha united the two kingdoms of Thanesar and Kannauj and transferred his capital from Thanesar to Kannauj. Harsha defeated Shashanka, the ruler of Bengal..^{[citation needed]} He also brought Bengal, Bihar and Orissa under his control. He conquered Dhruvasena of Gujarat and gave his own daughter in marriage to him. He also conquered Ganjam, a part of the modern Orissa State.

Harsha's ambition of extending his power to the Deccan and Southern India were stopped by Pulakeshi II, the Chalukya king of Vatapi in Northern Karnataka. Pulakeshi defeated Harsha's army on the banks of the river Narmada in 620 AD. A truce was agreed upon and the river Narmada was marked as the southern boundary of Harsha's kingdom.

Patron of Buddhism and Literature

Harsha's father, Prabhākara was, apparently a sun-worshipper, his brother followed Hinayana Buddhism while, according to Bana, Harsha himself was a Mahayana Buddhist. Harsha was a tolerant ruler and supported all faiths - Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. Early in his life, he seems to have been a follower of Sun Worship, becoming a patron of Shaivism and Buddhism later on.^[10]

His sister Rajyashri's conversion to Buddhism presumably had a positive effect on his support to the religion. His approach to religion is evident in his celebrated play Nagananda. The play's theme is based on the Jataka tale of the Bodhisattva Jimutavahana, but Harasha introduces the Goddess Gauri, Shiva's consort, as the saviour of Jimutavahana, a feature not found in the Jataka.

According to the Chinese Pilgrim Xuanzang, who visited his kingdom in 636 CE, Harsha built numerous stupas in the name of Buddha. Xuanzang entered a grand competition organized by Harsha and won the theological debate. Harsha also became a patron of art and literature. He made numerous endowments to the University at Nalanda. Two seals of Harsha have been found in Nalanda in the course of the excavations. All these favours and donations of the great emperor were crowned by the construction of a lofty wall enclosing all the buildings of the university to defend the institution from any other possible attack. In 643 he held a Buddhist convocation at Kanauj which was reputedly attended by 20 kings and thousands of pilgrims.^[11]

In 641, following Xuanzang's visit, Harsha sent a mission to China which established the first diplomatic relations between China and India. The Chinese responded by sending an embassy consisting of Li Yibiao and Wang Xuanze, who probably traveled through Tibet and whose journey is commemorated in inscriptions at Rajagriha - modern Rajgir, and Bodhgaya.

Wang Xuanze made a second journey in 648 but he was badly treated by Harsha's successor and his mission plundered. This elicited a response from Tibetan and Nepalese troops, who soundly defeated the Indians. ^[12][13]

Harsha was a noted author on his own merit. He wrote three Sanskrit plays – Nagananda, Ratnavali and Priyadarsika.

His reign is comparatively well documented, thanks to his court poet Bana and Xuanzang. Bana composed an account of Harsha's rise to power in Harsha Charitha, the first historical poetic work in Sanskrit language. Xuanzang wrote a full description of his travels in India.^[14]

After Harsha

Harsha died in the year 647 AD. He ruled over India for 41 years. After Harsha's death, apparently without any heirs, his empire died with him. The kingdom disintegrated rapidly into small states. The succeeding period is very obscure and badly documented, but it marks the culmination of a process that had begun with the invasion of the Huns in the last years of the Gupta Empire.

Neither Bana's nor Huan Tsang's account gives any details of this period. A few tantalising glimpses are offered in some ancient Chinese and Tibetan Books. The one in the Tibetan book The White Annals^[15] tells that Harsh had sent an envoy to the Chinese Emperor, who in turn sent a Chinese one(named in the Chinese sources as Wang Xuance) with a convoy of thirty horsemen. When they reached India they found that Harsha was dead and his minister Arjuna had usurped the throne. Arjuna is said to have been persecuting the Buddhists and attacked the envoy who had to flee to Tibet. The Tibetan king decided to avenge the insult to the Chinese emperor and sent the envoy back with an army that finally managed to defeat and take Arjuna and his family as prisoners, and sent them back as prisoners to the Chinese emperor. Historians have not yet managed to unravel what the facts were from these meagre accounts.

References

1. RN Kundra & SS Bawa, History of Ancient and Meddieval India
2. Mahajan, V. D. Ancient India. 8th Edition. 1978, Chand & Company, New Delhi, p. 498.
3. Page 21, The tribes and castes of Bombay, By Reginald Edward Enthoven, Published 1990 by Asian Educational Services, ISBN 8120606302
4. Grand dictionnaire Ricci de la langue chinoise. 7 volumes. Instituts Ricci (Paris – Taipei). Desclée de Brouwer. 2001. Vol. II, p. 578.
5. Watters, Thomas. On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India. Two volumes. 1904-1905, Royal Asiatic Society, London. One volume reprint: Munshiram Manoharlal, Delhi, 1973, pp. 343-345.
6. Cunningham, Alexander. The Ancient Geography of India: The Buddhist Period, Including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang. 1871, Thübner and Co. Reprint by Elbiron Classics. 2003., p. 377.
7. Watters, Thomas. On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India. Two volumes. 1904-1905, Royal Asiatic Society, London. One volume reprint: Munshiram Manoharlal, Delhi, 1973, pp. 344-345.
8. Watters, Thomas. On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India. Two volumes. 1904-1905, Royal Asiatic Society, London. One volume reprint: Munshiram Manoharlal, Delhi, 1973, p. 168.
9. Li, Rongxi. The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions. Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 1996, pp. 58-59.
10. Drekmeier, Charles. 1962. Kingship and Community in Early India. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California. ISBN 0-8047-0114-8, p. 187
11. Watters, Thomas. On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India. Two volumes. 1904-1905, Royal Asiatic Society, London. One volume reprint: Munshiram Manoharlal, Delhi, 1973, pp. 343-344.
12. Stein, R. A. Tibetan Civilization 1962. Revised English edition, 1972, Faber & Faber, London. Reprint, 1972. Stanford University Press, p. 62. ISBN 0-8047-0806-1 cloth; ISBN 0-8047-0901-7 pbk., pp. 58-59
13. Bushell, S. W. "The Early History of Tibet. From Chinese Sources." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. XII, 1880, p. 446
14. Beal, Samuel, Si-Yu-Ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World, by Hiuen Tsiang. 2 vols., 1884, Translated by Samuel Beal. London. 1884. Reprint: Delhi. Oriental Books Reprint Corporation. 1969.
15. Deb-Ther-Dkar-Po, The White Annals, Tibetan Freedom Press, Darjeeling, 1964

• Sri-harsha-charita, trans. Cowell and Thomas (1897)
• Ettinghausen, Harsha Vardhana (Louvain, 1906).
• Political and Social history of the Jats, Dr B K Dabas, 2001. Sanjay Prakashan, New Delhi, India
• Jat Viron ka Itihaas, Dilip Singh Ahlawat, 1998, Mathan Press, Rohtak, India
• Deb-Ther-Dkar-Po, The White Annals, Tibetan Freedom Press, Darjeeling, 1964.

Middle kingdoms of India
Timeline:	Northern Empires	Southern Dynasties	Northwestern Kingdoms
6th century BCE  5th century BCE  4th century BCE  3rd century BCE  2nd century BCE  1st century BCE  1st century CE  2nd century  3rd century  4th century  5th century  6th century  7th century  8th century  9th century 10th century 11th century	Magadha Shishunaga dynasty Nanda empire Kalinga Maurya Empire Sunga Empire Kuninda Kingdom Western Satraps Gupta Empire Harsha Pala Empire Solanki Sena dynasty	Pandyan Cholas Chera Satavahana empire Kalabhras Kadamba Dynasty Pallava Chalukya Rashtrakuta Western Chalukyas Hoysala Empire	Gandhara (Persian rule) (Greek conquests) Indo-Greeks Indo-Scythians Indo-Parthians Kushan Empire Indo-Sassanids Kidarite Kingdom Indo-Hephthalites (Islamic invasions) Shahi (Islamic empires)

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Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; from the article "Harsha". Image Credit.

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