Indian Antiquary Vol 13

SR No.: 032505
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: John Faithfull Fleet, Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 492
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 22 MB

Page 86

74
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[MARCH, 1884.
name in the inscriptions of the Western Chalu- dynasty. The Chinese pilgrim says he was of kyas, and their relatives of the Gujarat branch. Foi-she class, thus leading Gen. Cunningham Thus, in the Aihole Mégati inscription, No.LV. to think he was a Vaisya by caste. He was of Mr. Fleet's series in this Journal, Pulikani connected by marriage both with the kings of II. is described as causing the joy of Harsha, MAlava and the rulers of Valabhî. And he whose feet, which were like waterlilies, were established an era of his own, known as the covered with the rays of the jewels of the Sri-Harsha Samvat. chiefs that were nourished by his immeasurable | Hiuen Tsiang describes Harshavardhana power, to melt away throngh fear;40 in the as a powerful king, who snbdued distant Nirpaņ grant, No. LXXVI. of the same series, peoples and made the neighbouring nations fear he is described as defeating the glorious Sri- him, and who carried his victorious arms from Harsha, the supreme lord of the region of the the east to the west, only failing to make his north ;' and in the Karnıl grant, No. CXIX.," power acknowledged by the people of Mahathe Togurshode' grant, No. XXIX., and rashtra, which was the kingdom of Pulikêsî II. others that follow the same form, he is And he further states that, not only did described as acquiring the second name of Harshavardhana and Pulikesi II. meet and Paramásvara or supreme lord' by defeating fight, but Harshavardhana in person marched Sri-Harshavardhana, the warlike lord of out to punish the people of Maharashtra, - all the region of the north. So, also, in an i.e. he himself headed an invasion of that unpublished grant which I have of the Yuva- kingdom. raja $11dditya-Śry åóraya of the Gujarat With so powerful and warlike a king of all branch, Pulikési II. is described as acquiring the region of the north, invading distant kingthe banner of victory in battle with Harsha- doms, and oppressing and overpowering all the vardhana, the lord of the region of the neighbouring nations, and with no other king north.
of the same name who can be referred to the In the case of Palikest II., whose date was same period, we need look no further for the from A.D. 610-11 to at least A.D. 634-35, this great lord, the illustrious Harshad dve, Harsha or Harsha vardhana is admit- after whose attack protection was given to the tedly the great monarch of that name, also lord of Valabhi by Dadda II. We are in fact called stladity, of Thåndáwar or of Kanauj, driven to identify him with this same Ha who, according to M. Reinaud's calculations, shavardhana of Thåndgwar or of Kanxoj, reigned from A.D. 607 to about 648, and whose who reigned from A.D. 607 to about 648. court was visited by the Chinese pilgrim Hinen 1. If, now, we refer the earliest recorded and Tsiang between A.D. 629 and 645.
the latest probable ,dates of 380 and 405 for This great king Harsha or Harshavar- Dadda II. to the Saka era, we obtain: A.D. dhana is well-known to students of Sanskrit 458 and 483; the latest of which is more literature; and the record of his life written by than a hundred years too early for him to the poet BAņa and called the Sri-Harsha- have been the contemporary of Harshavar: Charitra, is extant. This work, however, was dhana. Therefore, in connection with what I composed in the early part of his reign, and have already said as to the authority of the does not contain all the events of his life. Umêta and Tað grants, I now finally abandon When Hiuen Tsiang visited his court, Harsha- the theory of the Saks era for their dates. If, vardhana was at Kananj, performing religious next, we refer the same dates to the Vikrama daties. But, according to Båņa's work, his ers, to the Gupta-Valabhi era as commencing, original capital was Sthåndsvara, or the mo- according to Gen. Cunningham in A.D. dern Thindwar in Northern India. According 166 or according to others, in 190, or if we to the poet, he was of the Pushyabhati refer these dates to the Valabhi-Samvat that
10 ante Vol. VIII. p. 244. 11 anto Vol. IX. p. 125. 13 ante Vol. XI. P. 68. 13 ante Vol. VI. p. 87.
" Professor MAI Müller seems to prefer A.D. 610 to 600;. India: What can it thanh wel p. 200. But no
Reinaud, Frag. Arab. Pers., P. 189; Bendall, Cam bridge Catalogue of Bud. M88. int. pp. xl.i.; Hell's Vaswadatta, int. pp. 611.; Beal's Bud. Roc. of West. World, Vol. I, p. 210.-ED. I. 4.
Mr. Beal suppones he ww of olan alled Vairs or Baian.-Bud. Rac. w. World, Vol. I, p. 300.-Ed.I.A.