The Kanauj Empire after Harsha
Harsha died either at the end of AD 646 or the beginning of 647. The removal of his strong personality let loose forces of disintegration and disorder in the Madhya-desa (upper Ganges valley). After a reign extending over more than forty years Harsha transmitted his crown to successors who must have struggled to maintain their heritage for some time. Attempts were made by princes like Yasovarman, and possibly Indra-raja to restore the fallen fabric of imperialism and win for Kanauj that proud position which it once occupied under Harsha. But their efforts were frustrated by the war-like potentates beyond the limits of the Madhya-desa to whom the acquisition of the imperial seat of Harsha was the goal of political ambition. The history of the upper Ganges valley from the end of 646 to 836 is one of internal strife and of external invasion which ended when the royal throne of Harsha passed into the hands of the Pratiharas.
It is doubtful if Harsha left a son. He had a daughter who was given in marriage to Dhruvabhata of Valabhi. It is significant that in the Gupta years 326-330, which almost synchronise with Harsha’s death, Dharasena IV, son of Dhruvabhata, assumed the imperial titles of Paramabhattaraka Maharajadhiraja Paramesvara Chakravarti. He doubtless looked upon himself as the imperial successor in Western India of the Kanauj monarch, who may have been his maternal grandfather. Among other pretenders were a brother of Grahavarman, and one of Harsha’s ministers named Arjuna or Arunasva. The latter seized some provinces in the Ganges valley and came into conflict with a Chinese mission headed by Wang-hiuen-tse. The Chinese envoy received assistance from Tibet and Nepal and inflicted crushing defeats on the enemy. He also obtained large supplies of cattle and accoutrements from Kumara (Bhaskaravarman), king of Kamarupa and carried off the usurping minister to China.
In AD 672 the most powerful sovereign in the Madhya-desa was Adityasena, son of Madhava Gupta, the ally of Harsha. Adityasena signalised his accession to power by the performance of the horse-sacrifice. He strengthened his position by matrimonial alliances with the most illustrious families of his age. Himself a scion of the “later Gupta” dynasty of Malwa and Magadha, he gave his daughter in marriage to Bhogavarman Maukhari. His granddaughter, born of Bhogavarman’s wife, became the queen of Sivadeva of Nepal, and mother of Jayadeva. This Jayadeva married Rajyamati daughter of Harshadeva of the Bhagadatta family of Kamarupa.
Adityasena was followed by three “Gupta” successors, Deva Gupta, Vishnu Gupta, and Jivita Gupta II. Early in the eighth century the throne of Magadha is found in the occupation of a Gauda king.
But the Gaudas were not left in undisturbed possession of Magadha for any length of time. The kingdom of Kanauj revived about this time under the vigorous rule of Yasovarman, a prince claiming descent from the Lunar race, whose exploits are described in the Prakrit work entitled the Gaudavaho by Vakpatiraja. The career of Yasovarman reminds one of the great Harsha. He led an expedition against the Gauda king and killed him in battle. Having next subjugated the Vangas of Eastern and Central Bengal he turned to the south and reached the Nerbudda. After a brief stay on the banks of that river he returned to his capital through the desert of Rajputana and the plain of Thanesar. Like Harsha he maintained diplomatic intercourse with the Chinese empire (AD 731). He extended his patronage to the illustrious poets Bhavabhuti and Vakpatiraja. In the end this enterprising prince roused the hostility of Lalitaditya, king of Kashmir, and perished in a conflict with his mighty northern adversary.
Kashmir
Kashmir now appears on the scene as a keen competitor of the Gangetic powers. The valley had formed part of the empires of Asoka, Kanishka and Mihiragula. In the seventh century AD it grew into a first-rate power under a local dynasty, styled Karkota, founded by Durlabhavardhana. Two grandsons of Durlabhavardhana, Chandraidpa and Muktapida Lalitaditya, succeeded him. Lalitaditya was an ambitious prince. We have already referred to his victory over Yasovarman of Kanauj. Kalhana, the historian of Kashmir, credits him with having led his troops to distant countries. The account of these exploits mostly reads like the conventional panegyric of an epic hero. More importance attaches to those parts of Kalhana’s narrative which refer to his triumphs over Tibetans, Dards and the Turks on the Indus and the slaughter of a king of Gauda. Lalitaditya is justly eulogised for his pious foundations, among which the famous temple of Martanda standspre-eminent.
Jayapida Vinayaditya emulated the exploits of his grandfather, Lalitaditya, by defeating the kings of Gauda and Kanauj. He was a great patron of learning and his court was adorned by Kshirasvamin, Udbhata, Damodara Gupta, Vamana and other scholars. His fiscal exactions, however, made his name odious. His dynasty came to an end in AD 855 and was supplanted by the house of Utpala.
Avantivarman, the founder of the new line, is famous for his irrigation works carried out under the direction of his minister Suyya. The next king, Sankaravarman, son of Avantivarman, extended the boundaries of Kashmir in several directions. He seems to have come into conflict with the emperor Bhoja I of Kanauj and Lalliya Shabi of Udabhandapura or Und on the Indus, and wrested a portion of the Punjab from the Gurjaras. Like Jayapida of the previous dynasty he harassed the people by fiscal extortions and met his end in a conflict with the people of Urasa, the modern Hazara district. A period of turmoil followed. The widowed queen Sugandha, attempted to rule in the name of puppet kings. But she had to encounter formidable opposition from the powerful military factions of the Tantrins who made themselves virtual dictators of the state. The Tantrins were eventually put down by certain feudal chiefs. In the end an assembly of Brahmanas raised to the throne, a member of their own order named Yasaskara. The line of Yasaskara was followed by that of Parva Gupta. In the time of Kshema Gupta, son and successor of Parva Gupta, the virtual ruler was his queen Didda, daughter of a chief of Lohara and descended through her mother from the Shahis of Udabhandapura. Didda, at first, ruled in the name of puppet kings and then seized the crown herself. She kept it till AD 1003 when she transmitted her sceptre to her nephew Samgramaraja, the founder of the Lohara dynasty. A terrible leader now appeared on the scene. The Shahi kingdom of Udabhandapura fell after a heroic struggle, in spite of the assistance it received from the ruler of Kashmir. The kingdom of Samgramaraja fortunately escaped destruction at the hands of Mahmud of Ghazni, but it was too much weakened by internal conflicts to interfere successfully in the I affairs of Northern India. It gradually sank to the position of a minor power and finally succumbed to the Muslims in AD 1339.
