Reign of Harsha, emperor of Kannauj
In 606 the sixteen-year-old Harshavardhana took the throne of Thanesar after his elder brother was murdered, and he made Kanyakubja (Kannauj) the capital of an empire that covered much of northern India. Known from the biography by his court poet Bana and from the account of Xuanzang, this patron of Nalanda, to whom Sanskrit plays are attributed, exchanged embassies with Tang China; after his death in 647 his empire fell apart.
- Date
- 606–647year known · duration: ≈ 41 years
- Place
- Kanyakubja (Kannauj), Harsha’s capitaltoday: Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh, India · South Asia
- Participants
- Harsha
- Threads
- South Asia (6th–10th c.)
- Also known as
- Harshavardhana; Harsha Vardhana; Shiladitya; Pushyabhuti dynasty; Vardhana dynasty; Empire of Harsha; Харшавардхана; Шиладитья; Пушьябхути; Держава Харши
Harsha belonged to the Pushyabhuti family of Sthanvishvara (Thanesar, in present-day Haryana). His father Prabhakaravardhana — ‘a lion to the Huna deer’, in the words of Bana’s Harshacharita — had extended the family’s power and married his daughter Rajyashri to Grahavarman, the Maukhari king of Kanyakubja. After Prabhakaravardhana’s death the king of Malava killed Grahavarman and imprisoned Rajyashri; Harsha’s elder brother Rajyavardhana defeated him but was treacherously killed by the king of Gauda, usually identified with Shashanka of Bengal. Harsha, then sixteen, took the throne in 606, rescued his sister as she was about to throw herself into the fire, allied with Bhaskaravarman of Kamarupa against Shashanka and made Kanyakubja his capital.
Xuanzang says that Harsha fought for six years to bring the ‘Five Indias’ under his allegiance, but historians regard this as hyperbole: at its height his overlordship was accepted by the Maitraka king of Valabhi in the west and by Bhaskaravarman in the east, while in the south Pulakeshin II stopped him on the Narmada. His seals call his ancestors worshippers of the Sun, his elder brother a Buddhist and himself a devotee of Shiva; Xuanzang, who visited his court, presents him as a generous patron of Buddhism, and after the Guptas he was the most notable patron of the monastery of Nalanda. Three Sanskrit plays — Ratnavali, Priyadarshika and Nagananda — are attributed to him. In 641, according to the New Book of Tang, Harsha, styling himself king of Magadha, sent an embassy to Emperor Taizong, and Tang envoys came in return.
Harsha died in 647 without an heir, and his empire broke up. When the Tang envoy Wang Xuance arrived with a new mission in 648, a minister named Aluonashun in the Chinese sources (perhaps Arunashva) had seized power and attacked the embassy; Wang escaped to Tibet, came back with Tibetan and Nepalese troops and carried the usurper captive to the Tang court. The episode is known only from Chinese and Tibetan sources, which may exaggerate it.
Connections
Includes
- Pulakeshin II repulses Harsha on the Narmadabetween 610 and 619 · South Asia
Related events
- Kumaragupta I and the founding of the Nalanda monasterybetween 415 and 455 · South Asiaafter the Guptas, Harsha was the most notable patron of Nalanda; a seal of his has been found there
- The Alchon Huns invade India: Toramana and Mihirakulabetween 496 and 500 – between 528 and 534 · South AsiaHarsha’s father Prabhakaravardhana, ‘a lion to the Huna deer’ in Bana’s words, fought the Hunas, whose wars had broken the Gupta Empire into regional kingdoms
- Songtsen Gampo builds the Tibetan Empirebetween 618 and 629 – between 649 and 650 · Central and Northern Asiaafter Harsha’s death (647) the Tang envoy Wang Xuance raised Tibetan and Nepalese troops against the new ruler, who had attacked his embassy
- Xuanzang’s journey to India629 – 8 February 645 · East AsiaXuanzang stayed at Harsha’s court and attended his assembly at Kannauj and the great almsgiving at Prayaga
Adjacent events in the thread
- Brahmagupta writes the Brahmasphutasiddhanta628 · South Asia
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Isidore of Seville compiles the Etymologiesc. 615 – 4 April 636
- Sutton Hoo ship burialbetween 610 and 635
- Samo’s realmbetween 623 and 626 – between 658 and 659
- Edict of Rothari22 November 643
- Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britainbetween 410 and 449 – between 550 and 625
Eastern Europe
- Kubrat throws off Avar rule: Old Great Bulgariabetween 634 and 640
- Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv: the legendary founding of Kyivbetween 500 and 700
- Rise of the Khazar Khaganatebetween 630 and 650 – c. 670
- The Pereshchepina treasure: a steppe ruler’s burial or treasure, perhaps Kubrat’sbetween 642 and 700
- Early Slavic cultures: Prague-Korchak, Penkovka and Kolochinc. 450 – c. 700
Balkans and Anatolia
- Avar–Persian siege of Constantinople29 June – 7 August 626
- Reign of Heraclius5 October 610 – 11 February 641
Middle East and Egypt
- Conquest of Meccabetween December 629 and January 630
- The Hijra: Muhammad’s emigration to MedinaSeptember 622
- Battle of the Yarmuk15–20 August 636
- Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628602–628
- Plague of Amwas638–639
+ 2 events
Africa
- Migration to Abyssinia: the first Hijrabetween 613 and 615
- Arab conquest of the Maghreb647–709
Central and Northern Asia
- The Tang destroy the Eastern Turkic Khaganate: Taizong becomes “Heavenly Khagan”13 December 629 – 2 May 630
- The Western Turkic Khaganate: the “ten arrows” from the Altai to the Oxus603 – between 657 and 658
- Songtsen Gampo builds the Tibetan Empirebetween 618 and 629 – between 649 and 650
East Asia
- Li Yuan founds the Tang dynasty18 June 618
- Xuanzang’s journey to India629 – 8 February 645
- Battle of the Salsu: Goguryeo destroys a Sui army26 August 612
- Emperor Yang digs the Grand Canal14 April 605 – 611
- The Isshi coup and the Taika reforms10 July 645 – 22 January 646
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- The Sui expedition of Liu Fang sacks the capital of Linyi605
- Chenla absorbs Funanbetween 550 and 600 – between 627 and 637
- Óc Eo, the port of Funanbetween 1 and 100 – between 601 and 700
North America
- Basketmaker III: pottery, beans and the bow on the Colorado Plateauc. 500 – c. 750
- The Late Woodland period in eastern North Americac. 500 – c. 1000
Latin America
- Kʼinich Janaab Pakal rules Palenquebetween 24 July and 26 July 615 – between 26 August and 28 August 683
- The burning of Teotihuacan’s ceremonial centrebetween 550 and 650
- Wari culture and the Middle Horizon state in the Central Andesc. 600 – c. 1000
- Nazca culture and the Nazca Linesbetween 200 and 100 BC – between 500 and 800