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606-647 CEReputable source · 2 sourcesWell documented

Harsha Builds an Empire from Kannauj

A Chinese pilgrim's firsthand account gives historians a rare outside witness to the last major classical-era Indian empire

On the timeline · around 606-647 CE · The Gupta Golden Age and Early Medieval IndiaThe Gupta Golden Age and Early Medieval IndiaHarsha Builds an Empire from Kannauj400 CE450 CE500 CE550 CE600 CE650 CE

Quick facts

Reign
606-647 CE
Capital
Kannauj
Key outside source
Xuanzang (Hiuen Tsang), Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, Si-yu-ki
Court biography
Harshacharita, by Banabhatta

What happened

Harshavardhana, the last and most notable ruler of the Pushyabhuti dynasty, came to power in 606 CE and united the kingdoms of Thanesar and Kannauj, moving his capital to Kannauj, which became the political center of northern India for the length of his reign. During his rule, the Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang, also transliterated Hiuen Tsang, traveled through India and spent time at Harsha's court, later writing an account known as the Si-yu-ki that describes Harsha's administration, his patronage of Buddhism, and daily life under his rule in specific, firsthand detail. Xuanzang records that Harsha organized a grand assembly at Kanyakubja specifically so that the pilgrim and other scholars could discuss the merits of Mahayana Buddhism, and that Harsha periodically gave away the contents of his own treasury in acts of alms-giving, down to his personal clothing, a practice repeated at intervals of several years. Harsha's empire held together only as long as he personally ruled it; upon his death in 647 CE without an heir, it fragmented rapidly into competing regional successor states.

Why it matters

Harsha's reign is one of the last periods of large-scale centralized rule in northern India before the region fractured into the many regional kingdoms of the early medieval period, and Xuanzang's eyewitness account gives historians an unusually direct, outside verification of Gupta-successor court life that most ancient Indian rulers never receive. The empire's swift collapse after Harsha's death also illustrates, again, how personally dependent early Indian centralized states could be on a single ruler's authority.

How we know

Xuanzang's Si-yu-ki is a firsthand travel account written by an eyewitness who met Harsha directly, making it one of the strongest outside primary sources available for any ruler in this period of Indian history, supplemented by the Harshacharita, a court biography composed by Harsha's own poet, Banabhatta.

Sources

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