Vardhan Empire

vardhan empire
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Harsh Vardhan
Emperor Harshavardhana, better known as Harsha, lived from 590 to 647

CE and was the third ruler of the Vardhana Empire, the last great empire in
ancient India before the Islamic Invasion. He ruled from 606 CE to 647 CE.
After Harshavardhana’s death, however, the Vardhana dynasty came to an
end and its empire dissolved.
India, the land beyond the Indus river, has seen many rulers who dreamt of
conquering the vast country and rule from the Himalayas in the north to
Deccan in south, from the mountains of Kandhar in the west to Assam in
the east, yet very few have been able to subdue history according to their
will. Harshavardhana was one such ruler. His empire may not be as large
as the great Mauryan’s, yet he deserves special mention. After the fall of
great Gupta Empire in the middle of the 6th century CE, under whom India
saw its own golden age, it was Harshavardhana who unified most of
northern India and ruled for four decades from his capital Kannauj.
RISE TO POWER & MILITARY CAMPAIGNS
The Vardhana dynasty was started by Prabhakarana Vardhana who ruled

the kingdom of Thaneshwar, modern-day Haryana. Prabhakarana’s queen
Yasovati gave birth to two sons Rajyavardhana and Harshawardhana and
a daughter named Rajyashri who was later married to king Grahvarmana
of Kanyakubja, modern-day Kannauj. This was a period of tension as India
had to frequently deal with the invasion of the Huns of Central Asia. Once,
emperor Skandagupta of the Gupta Empire laid a crushing defeat on these
barbaric tribes, yet these constant fights were so costly that they weakened
the empire to the core, and this eventually led to the downfall of the Gupta
Empire. As the western frontiers of India and areas adjoining the Indus
river were under the occupation of Huns, skirmishes between Huns and
Thaneshwar were regular. While Harsha and his brother were busy dealing
with the Huns in the west, king Prabhakarana died in Thaneshwar. He was
succeeded by his elder son, Rajyavardhana.
AFTER HIS BROTHER’S DEATH, AT THE AGE OF 16,
HARSHAVARDHANA BECAME THE UNDISPUTED RULER OF
THANESHWAR AND DECLARED WAR ON SASAKA TO AVENGE HIS
BROTHER AND EMBARKED UPON A CAMPAIGN OF DIGVIJAY, I.E.
TO CONQUER THE WORLD.
Meanwhile, in the east far greater events were happening which altered
the course of history. Sasaka, king of Gauda, modern-day Bengal,
marched and killed king Grahvarmana, Rajyashri’s husband, and then
kidnapped her. The kidnapping of his sister forced the elder Vardhana
brother to march east and confront Sasaka. Sasaka then invited
Rajyavardhana for a meeting and treacherously killed him. After his
brother’s death, at the age of 16, Harshavardhana became the undisputed
ruler of Thaneshwar and declared war on Sasaka to avenge his brother
and embarked upon a campaign of Digvijay, i.e. to conquer the world
(which in this context means conquering whole India). Yet, his foremost
enemy was now Sasaka who had to face an angry brother’s wrath. Harsha
issued a proclamation to all kings known to either declare allegiance to him
or face him on the battlefield. As Sasaka’s enemies responded to Harsha’s
call, he marched on to Kannuaj.
Although there is no evidence, a story in Harshacharitra claims that

Rajyashri, when released from prison, took refuge in the forest of
Vindhyas. Hearing this, Harsha hurriedly went into the forest to save her
and found her just when she was about to commit suicide by throwing
herself in a fire. Rescuing his sister, he rejoined his army at the bank
of Ganges. After this, Harsha easily conquered Kannauj as Sasaka went
back to Bengal, and thus began a long enmity. It was only after Sasaka’s
death that Harsha was able to control entire eastern India
including Magadha, Bengal and Kalinga.
Harsha’s Digvijay, or the conquest of the world had now begun. After
Kannauj, he turned his attention towards Gujarat. He defeated the local
Valabhi kingdom and expanded his empire. Yet, this rapid expansion led to
tensions between him and the Chalukya king Pulakesin II. It was now that
the most powerful kingdoms of northern and southern India came face-to-
face on the battlefield on the banks of river Narmada. In the end, the
southerners under the able leadership of Pulakesin II prevailed leaving the
ambitious northern ruler, Harsha, defeated. They say Harsha lost his cheer
when he saw his elephants dying in the battle.
Harsha entered a peace treaty with the Chalukya king, which established
Narmada river as the southern boundary of his empire and after that he
never advanced south again. Yet, this did not halt his conquest of the
north. He took the title of sakal uttara patha natha (lord of northern India).
Hieun Tsang tells us that:
He waged incessant warfare, until in six years he had fought thr five
Indians(referring to five largest kingdoms). Then, having enlarges his
territory, he increased his army, bringing the elephant corps upto 60,000
and the cavalry upto 100,000, and reigned in peace for thirty years without
raising a weapon (Majumdar, 252).
Yet many historians believe his claim may be exaggerated. Still, this gives
a glimpse of his military prowess.
The Vardhana Empire consisted of two distinctive types of territories: areas

directly under Harsha’s rule such as Central Provinces, Gujarat, Bengal,
Kalinga, Rajputana, and the states and kingdoms which had become
feudatories under him including Jalandhar, Kashmir, Nepal, Sind,
Kamarupa (modern-day Assam). Thus, many historians do not find the title
justified as he was never able to bring the entire north under a single
command. Yet, this does not mean his power was not felt beyond the limits
of his direct rule. His writ ran across entire north India. Under his
command, King of Jalandhar escorted the Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang to
the frontiers of India. Another time, king of Kashmir had to submit a tooth
relic of Buddha to Harsha. The Chinese source suggests that the King of
Kamarupa could not dare to detain a Chinese pilgrim in his capital against
the wishes of Harsha.
ART & EDUCATION

Harsha was a patron of both art and education. He himself was an author
and wrote three Sanskrit plays, Nagananda, Ratnavali, Priyadarshika.
One-fourth of his revenue went for patronizing scholars. Hiuen Tsang gives
a quite vivid description of the famous Nalanda University which was at its
zenith during Harsha’s reign. He described how the regularly laid-out
towers, forests of pavilions, temples seemed to “soar above the mists in
the sky” so that from their cells the monks “might witness the birth of the
winds and clouds”.
The pilgrim states:
An azure pool winds around the monasteries, adorned with the full-blown
cups of the blue lotus; the dazzling red flowers of the lovely kanaka hang
here and there, and outside groves of mango trees offer the inhabitants
their dense and protective shade (Grousset,158,159).
In its heyday, Nalanda had around 10,000 students and 2,000 teachers.
The admission process was very strict. Records say there was a rigorous
oral examination conducted by gatekeepers, and many used to be
rejected. The curriculum included Vedas, Buddhism, philosophy, logic,
urban planning, medicine, law, astronomy, etc.
SOCIETY & RELIGION
Caste system was prevalent among Hindus. They were divided into four
castes or varna: Brahmana, Vaishya,Kshariya and Shudra, which among
them had their own subcastes. The untouchables, who came at the lowest
in the hierarchy, led a miserable life. The status of women declined as
compared to the liberal era of earlier times. Satipratha (widow immolation)
was common, and widow remarriage was not allowed in higher castes.
Harsha was a worshiper of Shiva in the beginning but later became a

Mahayana Buddhist. Yet, he was tolerant of other faiths. With a view to
popularize and propagate the doctrines of Mahayana Buddhism, Harsha
arranged at Kannauj a great assembly which was presided over by Hiuen
Tsang. Hiuen Tsang took a lot of manuscripts to China and translated more
than 600 of them from Sanskrit. Another great ceremony was held for 75
days at Prayag (Allahabad). The images of Buddha, Sun and Siva were
worshiped, and gifts of valuable articles and clothing were distributed in
charity. Every five years religious ceremonies were celebrated at the
ancient city of Allahabad. Here, he held the ceremony of Dana, or giving,
which lasted for three months. During this, most of the wealth accumulated
in the last five years was exhausted. Once, he even gave his clothes and
jewellery and begged his sister for an ordinary garment to wear.
DEATH & LEGACY
Harsha’s empire marked the beginning of feudalism in India. Land was

granted in villages, which made the local landlords powerful. This led to the
weakening of the empire and gave rise to local feuds. Harsha had to be in
constant movement to keep things in order.
Harsha died in 647 AD, and the empire with him. The death of
Harshavardhana is not well documented. It is said that he was married to
Durgavati and had two sons named Vagyavardhana and Kalyanvardhana.
The story goes that they were killed by a minister in his court, even before
the death of Harsha himself. Therefore, Harsha died without any heir. As a
result, Arjuna, one of the chief ministers took up the thrones. Later in 648
CE, Arjuna was captured and held prisoner in an attack by the Tibetians.

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vardhan empire

Emperor Harshavardhana, better known as Harsha, lived from 590 to 647

RISE TO POWER & MILITARY CAMPAIGNS

The Vardhana dynasty was started by Prabhakarana Vardhana who ruled

Although there is no evidence, a story in Harshacharitra claims that

The Vardhana Empire consisted of two distinctive types of territories: areas

ART & EDUCATION

SOCIETY & RELIGION

Harsha was a worshiper of Shiva in the beginning but later became a

DEATH & LEGACY

Harsha’s empire marked the beginning of feudalism in India. Land was

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