Harshvardhana and Pushyabhuti dynasty as discussed by H. Kumar
The Pushyabhutis were a small power in the north India during the second half of the 6th century AD. They emerged as a major power in north India during the reign of Harshvardhana. The main sources of information about the Pushyabhuti dynasty are Harshacharita written by Banabhatta and account of Chinese pilgrim Xuan Zang.
They were initially based in Thanesar (Haryana). There is little information about the first three kings of the dynasty. The fourth king was Prabhakara Vardhana, who marry his daughter, Rajyashri to Maukhari ruler Grahavarman of Kanyakubja (Kannauj). Maukhari king Isanvarman was the one who repeatedly defeated Hunas and crushed their courage to attack India.
Maukhari’s also subjugated later Guptas. They were attacked by ruler of Bengal, Sashank and Devgupta of Malwa during the rule of Grahavarman. In this war, Grahavarman was killed, after that Rajyavardhana, the elder son of Prabhakara Vardhana went to protect the kingdom of his sister but he also killed by Sashank of Bengal.
Prabhakar Vardhana was died by shock when he heard this disastrous news. As a result, Harshvardhana had to accepted responsibility of not only his own kingdom but also the kingdom of his sister. Harsha integrated both the empires and transferred his capital to Kannauj. This paved way for the rise of Harsha as the overlord of North India (Sakaloutarapatha).
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Achievements of Harsha
The four long reign of Harsha enjoyed a great significance in the early Medieval history of India as he made immense achievements in the fields of both war and peace. The unity and integrity in north India were established by Harsha after a long gap of years. He established a strong and efficient administration. Peoples were happy as they enjoyed significant amount of liberty in public and personal life.
People need not be register themselves with state as the burden of taxes was light as only 1/6th of produce was collected as land revenue. He took deep interest in affairs of state, he used to visit the different parts of empire to understand the problem of peoples. He ordered his officials to visit their region for understanding the problems of masses. The politico-administration system of Harsha was liberal and secular in nature.
He used to issue huge amount of donation to education institutions, man of leaning and religious institutions. He used to organize a great charitable assembly known as Mahamokshaparishad, once in every five years. 5th of such assembly was witnessed by Huien Tsang in c. 643 AD. He used to donate everything which he earned in last five years. This was the age of Feudal forces.
These feudal forces were brought under the central authority of state by Harsha. His reign also deserve appreciation as he came to power when Maukhari and Pushyabhuti Kingdoms were in serious crisis. He put many efforts in the consolidation of empire.
Military Achievements
The rise of Harsh transformed the North India into an important military power. He maintained a large army comprising elephant force, cavalry and infantry. Harsh achieved a number of military successes. He conquered eastern India and adopted the title of Magadhraj. He also conquered Gujarat region successfully.
Diplomatic Achievements
Harsha was aware of significance of diplomatic relations. Bhaskarvarma, king of Kamrupa (Assam) was his close friend. He exchanged number of embassies with Chinese ruler, Tai Tsung. According to Chinese records, three embassies were sent by Tai Tsung to the court of Harsha. The last embassy was reached India just after the death of Harsha.
Cultural Achievements
He was also a great patronage of art and culture. Banabhatta who wrote Harshacharita and Kadambari lived in his court. He also patronized Huien Tsang who lived in Harsha’s court for many years. He himself was a great writer as he was the author of Ratnavali, Nagananda and Priyadarshika. He also patronized and promoted Mahayana Buddhism and organized assembly at Kannauj in c. 643 AD for promotion of Mahayana Buddhism.
Limitations of Harsha’s Reign
Harsha was no doubt a great ruler but his greatness was with some limitations. The unity and integrity during the reign of Harsha was not absolute as his empire did not include whole of the north India because Kashmir and Sindh were independent during his reign. Though he subjugated feudal lords but he failed to eliminate them as a result they resurfaced after his death.
The peace and stability were also with limitation as Huien Tsang himself mentioned that he was looted twice while he was passing through central India. His military powers were not that great as Aihole inscription of Ravikirti mentioned that Sakaloutarapatha (identifies as Harsha) was defeated by Pulakeshin, Chalukyan King, when he tried to cross the River Narmada.
Harshvardhana took a vow not to sleep properly and relax till the time he does not kill Sashank, the man behind the killing of brother and brother-in-law. But he did nothing as Sashank himself died in c. 636 AD. The cultural achievements of Harsha were also limited because there were no significant developments in the fields of architecture, sculpture, paintings, music and dance.
It was the age social down hill trends as social rigidity increased enormously during this time period. The social evils like untouchability, Child marriage, practice of veiling and prohibition on widow remarriage all these became very common during this age. The secondary and tertiary activities of economy was on decline as art and culture, and trade and commerce lost their relevance.
Economy was mainly based on the primary sector (agriculture) and Harsha failed to reversed this trend. North India witnessed deurbanization during the Harsha’s reign. The researches have revealed that cities like Ahichchhatra and Kaushambi were abandoned by 7th century AD after flourishing for more than 1000 years.
Harshvardhana and Huien Tsang (Xuan Zang)
Huien Tsang was a Chinese traveler who visited India during 1st half of the 7th century AD (c. 629 – c. 645 AD). He lived in the court of Harsha for some years. He compiled his knowledge of India in his book Si-Yu-Ki. In this book, he portrayed the reign of Harsha in a very glorified manner. According to him, the empire of Harsha was very extensive as he ruled over five Indies.
It was for the five parts of Harsha’s empire named Kannauj, Mithila, Gauda, Utkala and Sareshvata (the land of river Saraswati). He mentioned that Harsha maintained a large and powerful army comprises 60k elephants, one lakh cavalry and five lakhs of infantry but contemporary gave no evidence of such large army. In actual, the soldiers were maintained by feudal lords and they supported the king during war and battle times.
According to Huien Tsang, there was a department of Archives to maintain the records, but no such thing found in excavation. Harsha was used to divide his state income in four parts; one was for pay of officials, second for manage state expenses, 3rd to support intellectuals and final was for charitable activities and for religious purposes. No such evidence of this division was confirmed from other sources.
As per Huien Tsang, Harsha divided his daily schedule in two parts; first for administrative and state activities and other was for religious purposes. He built number of monasteries but no such evidence of such kind was found. According to Tsang, the land revenue was fixed at 1/8th of produce but contemporary evidences confirmed it was 1/6th of the produce.
The peace and stability were also with limitation as Huien Tsang himself mentioned that he was looted twice while he was passing through central India. Huien Tsang was escorted by Jalandhar king Udit when he departed to China. Thus, all these suggested that since, Tsang was living in the court of Harsha, so it was hard to criticized the ruler under his rule.
Harshvardhana and Banabhatta
According to Banabhatta, Harsha’s empire extended to snow-capped mountains which indicates that Kashmir was under the control of Harsha but Rajatarangini of Kalhana confirmed that Kashmir was ruled by king Lalitaditya Muktapida. According to Bana, Sindh was a part of Harsha’s empire but contemporary sources confirmed it was an independent empire.
According to Banabhatta, Harsha made elaborated developments preparations to fight a war against Sashank of Bengal which went for six months. But he did not mention the date and outcome of the war, this may be because Harsha did not succeed. Other contemporary sources confirmed that Sashank ruled till his death (c. 636 AD). he did not mention the defeat of Harsha in the hands of Pulakeshin. These all evidences indicates that he was selective when he wrote Harshacharita.
Banabhatta was a court poet. He was patronized by Harshvardhana. Since, he was in the mercy of Harsha, so it was difficult for him to be remain neutral. Thus, it quite expected to think that he was indulged in the unrealistic glorification of his ruler.
But apart from these facts Harshvardhana was no doubt was a great ruler because he faces number of challenges when he took over as the King.