THE REGIONAL KINGDOMS OF EARLY MEDIEVAL INDIAfamous biography, Harshacharita, in classical prose with which he
immortalised the deeds (carita) of his royal patron. At the same time the
Chinese pilgrim, Xuanzang, reported in great detail about India in the days
of Harsha. He spent thirteen years (630 to 643) in India, and eight of these
thirteen years in Harsha’s realm, before he returned to China with 20
horses loaded with 657 Buddhist texts and 150 relics. He translated 74 of
these texts into Chinese himself. As a keen observer, he reported many
facts which give a vivid impression of Harsha’s times. No other Indian
ruler after Ashoka and before the later Islamic rulers about whom we
know from many chronicles emerges so clearly from the shadows of the
past as Harsha does due to Bana’s and Xuanzang’s writings.
The size and splendour of his empire make it appear as if Harsha were a
latter-day replica of the great Gupta rulers. But this was not so. At the
height of their power the Guptas had no rivals in India. Harsha, however,
was faced with many rivals who could hold their own against him. He had
succeeded to the throne after his elder brother had succumbed to an
intrigue of Shashanka, King of Bengal. Although Harsha was able to find
an ally in the King of Kamarupa (Assam) he was unable to vanquish
Shashanka. Only after Shashanka’s death about 621 was Harsha able to
conquer large parts of eastern India and Orissa. When he then turned to
the south and ventured beyond the Vindhyas like Samudragupta had done
he met a crushing defeat about 630 at the hands of his great contemporary,
Pulakeshin II (610–642), of the Chalukya dynasty of Badami in Karnataka.
Xuanzang hinted cautiously at the discomfiture of his royal patron:
His subjects obey him with perfect submission but the people of
this [Chalukya] country alone have not submitted to him. He has
gathered troops from the five Indies, and summoned the best
leaders from all countries and himself gone at the head of his army
to punish and subdue these people, but he has not yet conquered
their troops.^1Pulakeshin therefore proudly proclaimed in his Aihole inscription:
Harsha, whose lotus feet were arrayed with the rays of the jewels
of the diadems of hosts of feudatories, prosperous with
unmeasured might, through Him (Pukaleshin) had his mirth
(harsha) melted away by fear, having become loathsome with his
rows of lordly elephants fallen in battle.^2After Pulakeshin’s victory over Harsha no ruler of North India ventured to
conquer the South for nearly 600 years until the Sultans of Delhi ushered
in a new era. The hegemony of the North over the whole of India which
was a characteristic feature of ancient Indian history had definitely come