IIS DEEMED TO BE

UNIVERSITY
History class activity
Topic sources and military campaign of Harshavardhan

Name Bhavika maharwal

Enr no IISU/2021/ADM/33395
Introduction g
■ The ancestors of Harsha rule over Kingdom of sthanvisvara , modern Thanesar,Haryana
Kingdom is routedly according to burner the Kingdom was founded by Pushpabhuti
however he does not mention the successor of Pushpabhuti and start his account with
Prabhakar Vardhan .
■ Royal seals and inscriptions give us the name of many more kings maharaja Narayan
Vardhan Maharaj rajyavardhan Maharaj Aditya Vardhan and Paramabhattaraka
Maharajadhi Raja , Prabhakar Vandana.
■ Harsha was only 16 year old when he as send the throne however he prevailed upon to
do so by the councillor of the state thus he become the king of Thane Sara in 606 A.D.
Sources:
■ Writing of Hieun Tsang and Banabhatta given us epigraphics and numismatic evidences
about the harshavardhan reign in in Northern India.
1. Hiuen Tsang-Hiuen Tsang was a Chinese pilgrim who visit who visited India between
360 and 644 A D.
2. Another another of information for the resign of Harsha is harshacharitra of Bana
3. Richard burn was responsible for finding out silver coins out of which 9 were those of
Shri Pratapasila 284 of Sri Siladitya and one of Harsha
4. We come across two seals of Harsha the Sonipat Copper seal was the figure of a bull at
the top the Nalanda scene has a mutilated inscription in which Harsha is described
maharajadhiraja
5. I-Tsing has left to us a lot of information regarding the social religious and economic
life of the people of India of his Times
Hiuen Tsang
■ Hieun Tsang also known as “Prince of pilgrims ”“masters of law “and present Satya Muni
■ At 29 he decide to visit India the land of the moon
■ He secretly escape from his country he passed through tashkand summer and Barkha
Andreas gandhara in 630 A.D
■ From there there he went Kashmir where he stayed for 2 years
■ he came to the Punjab and also visited important places connected with the life of Buddha
such as kapilvastu, Banaras, Gaya and Kushinagar
■ She tell us that people had a high standard of living
■ Both silver and gold coins were in circulation
■ The soil was rich and their was lot of production various kind of fruits and vegetable were
grown
■ Also tell as us about making of fine cloth of silk wool and cotton had reach perfection.
 Bana
■ Bana was a Brahman he was a court poet of Harsha
■ Harsha Charita is the history of reign of Harsha it’s first chapter is devoted to the life
and family of the author himself
■ The second third fourth chapters deal with the ancestors of Harsha and history of the
house of Thanesar
■ Madhuban plate inscriptions dated 331 A.D trace the genealogy of Harsha up to four
generations
■ Sonpat inscriptions help us in solving the cronological difficulties about the reign of
Harsha
■ The banskhera inscription of the year 628 A.D gives us a facimile of the signature of
Harsha it shows that Harsha was the expert calligraphist
■ DrD. Devahuti point out that Bana has been accused by some scholars of writing a
buyers a their food the base account of life office patron in Harsha Charita
Coins and seals
■ Dr Hoernle has found a gold coin which is attimated to Harsha it has on it the landline
Harshad Deva with the figure of horseman
■ Harsha is called Harsha Deva not only in inscriptions but also in Bana Harshacharita
■ We come across two sealsof Harsha namely Sonpat copper seal and Nalanda seal
■ Nalanda seal Harsha Vardhan describe as maharajadhiRaja
I Tsing
I-Tsing was a Chinese traveller who visited India between 672 and 688
He give us information regarding the life of Buddha the place associated associate with his
name and the way he is to the people
He tell us that Buddha peace to the lay followers in a very simple language Buddha believe
that most of the sin of the people of the world could be covered by the regulation of Sheela
and morality
He also tell us about the people of India and further India had knowledge of the four nayika
all those the number of worshippers varied from place to place even where Buddhism
flourish other religion as list side by side
He tell us that India was known as Arya desha
The term arya means noble and desha means region
The information given by I Tsing is very useful in having their picture of Indian society at
the time of his visit to India
Military campaigns:

■ Harsha was the great warrior and conqueror and no wonder fought against many power
however it is unfortunate that we do not prose must definite data about the same and
there is lot of controversy among the scholars about them
Sasanka
■ Sasanka ka was a king of Bengal was a contemporary of Harsha
■ When Dev Gupta was defeated by rajyavardhan the letter was invited by Sasanka to his
quarters and kill their no wonder s target of Harsha
■ The date of death of Sasanka is not known his last known date is 6819 ad he must have
died for a long before 637 ad asking refer to it as a recent event
■ This happened more than 30 years after Harsha has send the throne
■ The first of Harsha did not lead to any permanent result
Kamarupa
part of Bengal lay to the east of Bhagirathi or not of Padma river
However it is definite that bunker Verma the king of Karma Roopa was the sometime master of the territory
It is possible that he was given this territory by Harsha as a reward option services to him in his war against sankaya
It is also possible that for sometime herself was queens of Bengal and bhangar Varma got progression of this territory
after the death of Harsha

War with Pulakesin II

Hing strong tell us that Harsha himself March at the hand of his troops to fight
against PulakesinII
Before starting March together troops from the five indeed and someone the peace
leader from all countries
But unfortunately unable to defeat pulak in second
Valabhi
At first harshavardhan gained some success against the king of Valabhi birth
situation was saved on account of the help given to the king of Valabhi by Dadda II
According to Dr manjumdar the view that Valabhi was ever conquered by Harsha
and its ruler us become his subordinate vassal

DaddaII of Broach unity of Harsha by taking up the call of the ruler of vallabhi

Sindh
It well known that Sindh was hostile to Prabhakar Vardhan and it is possible that have lead a
campaign against it
However the account of Hieun Tsang shows that send was a strong and
independent Kingdom when he visit it this prove that Harsha was not successful
against Sindh
Nepal and Kashmir
■ The state of Nepal and Kashmir probably outside the empire of Harsha
■ Bhagwan Lal Indra ji and Buhler of the opinion that contest of Harsha extent to Nepal
■ The use of Harsha era does not necessarily means that Nepal was dependency of Harsha
■ Nepal was closed neighbour of Harsha Empire
■ Description in which the Harsha Era has been used probably from those part of Nepal
territory which work contaminious with the empire of Harsha
■ It is possible that the king of Nepal use the in those inscriptions as they were being
widely known and understand by thePeople of particular locality where inscriptions
are placed
Orissa

■ As record Orissa there is evidence to show that it become a part of Harshal Empire by
contest
■ Harsha lead and expenditure to konkonda a Ganjam and also fix his camps in Orissa
■ After it’s conquest mayana conference was held in Orissa and Buddhist scholar from
Nalanda invited to it
■ It was after the conference that Harsha offers to Jaya Sena the Buddhist scholar the
venue of 8 large Towns of Orissa
■ King udito jalandhara has been described as the King of north India
■ The wish of Harsha was compiled by the king of kapsia
Relations with China

■ Harsha seems to have been impressed by the power and prestige of Chinese emperor
from what he have was told him about him by things one
■ In 641 ad Harsha send a Brahmin avoid to the Chinese court
■ Harsha must has been in a great trouble and he is too badly in need for the help from the
king of China
■ However there does not seem to be any basin of such a view it is too much to believe
that Harsha could expect any material help from the distance country as China
■ In 643 A.D a second Chinese mission came to India under Lipiao and Wang hiuen tse.
■ Unfortunately Harsha was died before the arrival of third Chinese mission
Extent of Harsha Empire
■ South India inscriptions tell us that Harsha was supreme uttarpatha or North India
■ According to be a Smith Harsha ruled over a great empire during later years of his
resign he ruled over the whole of the basin of Ganga from the Himalaya to Narmada
■ Dr manjumdar does not accept the view of doctor Smith that king was well love you
was auditory or vessel of Harsha
■ He also rejected Smith death Malwa Gujarat Kutch kathiyawad peninsular work with
him the limit of Harsha vampire
■ Harsha came to the status of an emperor having over the entire not India appears well
founded
India in the times of Harsha
 Reference:

■ Mahajan V.d – ancient India/Schand publishing, Schand and company limited