VARDHAN DYNASTY (500 -647 CE)
INTRODUCTION
The Pushyabhuti dynasty, also known as the Vardhana dynasty, came into prominence after the decline of the Gupta Empire. Prabhakara Vardhana, the first king of the Pushyabhuti dynasty, was instrumental in consolidating the small republics and monarchical states that had sprung up in North India after the downfall of the Gupta dynasty. When Prabhakara Vardhana passed away in 605 CE, his eldest son Rajya Vardhana became the new ruler. Harshavardhana was Rajya Vardhana’s brother and they also had a sister named Rajyashri. Rajyashri went on to marry the Maukhari King Grahavarman. Rajyashri’s husband, King Grahavarman, was defeated by the Malwa King Devagupta and Rajyashri was imprisoned. King Devagupta was now ruling over the subjects of King Grahavarman. Also, Rajyashri was ill-treated during her stay in the prison. Unable to tolerate the treatment given to his sister, Rajya Vardhana marshalled his troops into the kingdom of Devagupta and managed to defeat him. Around the same time, a Gauda ruler Shashanka entered Rajya Vardhana’s kingdom. Unfortunately, Rajya Vardhana failed to make out the motive behind Shashanka’s entry into his kingdom. Shashanka had posed as Rajya Vardhana’s friend, and had gained knowledge about his military affairs. But in reality, Shashanka was an ally of Rajya Vardhana’s arch-rival. Rajya Vardhana never suspected Shashanka’s intentions and he eventually paid the price for it as he was murdered by Shashanka. When Harshavardhana came to know about his brother’s death, he waged a war against Shashanka and defeated him convincingly. He then ascended the throne and took over the leadership of the Vardhana dynasty at the age of 16.
Political Conditions in 6th-century CE India
The fall of the Gupta empire and the absence of any other empire in its stead led to the political disintegration of northern India. Along with the Pushyabhutis, there rose a number of similarly independent powers: the Maukharis of Kosala/Kanyakubja (present-day state of Uttar Pradesh), and the Later Guptas of magdha and Malwa (present-day states of Bihar and Madhya Pradesh). The other kingdoms included those established in the present-day states of Odisha, Bengal, and Assam. In the 7th century CE, the gauda kingdom under King Shashanka (c. late 6th century CE - 637 CE) came into being, comprised of the northern and most of the western parts of Bengal.
Administration
Harsha governed his empire on the same lines as the Guptas did, except that his administration had become more feudal and decentralised. The accepted title of a great king in Harsha’s days was Parma-Bhattaraka Mahesvara and Maharajadhiraja which implied the existence of lesser kings with considerable authority within the empire.
The King was the centre of administration, helped by the crown prince. Other princes were appointed as Viceroys of provinces. Ministers of various types and advisers assisted the king in the administration. During Harsha’s time high officers i.e., Daussadha Sadhnika, Pramatara, Rajasthaniya, Uparika and Vishayapati, etc., were not paid in cash for their services to the state, but were compensated by way of offering one-fourth of the royal revenues.
Thus under Harsha, revenues were granted not only to priests and scholars but also to the officials of the state, a practice the existence of which is supported by the paucity of coins belonging to this period. In the areas administered by the Samantas (feudal chiefs), the emperor realised annual taxes from them and not from the subjects.
Bana speaks of samanta, mahasamanta (chief samantaj, aptasamanta (those who willingly accepted the vassalage of the overlord), pradhana samanta (were the most trusted chiefs of the emperor, who never disregarded their advice), shatru mahasamanta (conquered army chiefs) and pratisamanta (a hostile vassal).
Defeated kings were made to render three kinds of services to king in the court. They held chowries, served as door-keepers in the court and served as reciters of auspicious words like success (jaya). Normally, an important duty of these rajas and samantas was to render military aid to their overlord.
Decentralisation of administrative authority was caused by increasing grants of land and villages with fiscal and administrative immunities to priests and temples. The vesting of magisterial and police powers together with fiscal rights on the priests evidently weakened the central authority.
The local administration was, for all practical purposes, independent of the centre. The officers in charge of the districts (ayukta) and the provincial official (kumaramatya) were the link between local administration and the centre. Village came under the control of rural bodies consisting of the headman and the village elders.
Harsha maintained contact with public opinion both through his officers and by his own tours, which gave him the opportunity of supervising the administration.
Harshavardhana
Prince Harsha, knowing of his brother's murder, swore vengeance on Shashanka who by then had occupied Kanyakubja and declared war. He marched with his army and concluded a treaty with King Bhaskaravarman (r. 600-650 CE) of Kamarupa (present-day Assam state). The unfinished Harshacharita is silent on what happened as regards this war; "Indeed, the court poet does not even inform us how his patron proceeded against the Gauda king, who was the immediate object of his wrath" (Tripathi, 296). It appears that at that point, Shashanka fearing the combined might of Harsha-Bhaskaravarman and his own weak position, especially after the rout of the allied Malwa army, withdrew from the contest. Harsha managed to rescue his sister and occupy Kanyakubja.
It is believed that Avantivarman, Grahavarman's younger brother, succeeded to the throne (possibly as regent), and after his death, Harsha became the king of the Maukhari realm. He first administered the realm in the name of his sister Rajyashri, the queen of Grahavarman, and later assumed full sovereignty and openly assumed the crown. The capital too was shifted from Sthanishvara to Kanyakubja and the two kingdoms amalgamated into one. It is believed that Harsha had been the de facto king of the Pushyabhutis since 606 CE but only after subduing powerful enemies like Shashanka could he even think of coronation.
Important Personalities
There were two important personalities during the reign of Harshavardhana.
a) Banabhatta was a poet in Harsha’s court. He wrote ‘Harshacharita’ a biography of Harshavardhan with detailed account of the events leading upto his rise of power. It was written in Sanskrit language. He also wrote a drama called ‘Kadambri’.
b) Hiuen-Tsang a Chinese pilgrim visited Harsha’s court, wrote a book ‘Shi-Yu-Ki’ (the world of the west) after going back to China. Along with Harshavardhan Hiuen-Tsang in his book also praised two other kings- Narsimha Varman of Pallava dynasty and Pulkesin II of Chalukya dynasty. He came through central Asia via Afghanistan and went back through the same route. Hiuen-Tsang studied at Nalanda and later taught there only for nine years.
Socio-economic condition
The land grants paved the way for feudal development in India from the fifth century onwards. From the sixth century, share croppers and peasants were particularly asked to stick to the land granted to the beneficiaries. Apart from Hiuen-Tsang, for the first time, Asahya, a legal commentator of the seventh century, describes the shudras as agriculturists.
In the tribal areas, agriculturists were placed under the control of the religious beneficiaries, especially the brahmanas, who were granted land on a large scale. The villages transferred to the grantees were called sthana-jana-sahita, janata -samriddha and saprativasi-jana-sameta. All this worked- for a closed economy, which was fostered by the decline of trade and commerce.
The major portion of land continued to be in possession of free peasants, who paid revenues directly to the state. Besides this, the peasants were subjected to various impositions such as Udranga (frontier tax), Uparikara, tribute to the divisional officer called Uparika and had also to perform forced labour of all varieties (Sarva-vishti) probably for military purposes.
All this naturally caused depreciation in the position of free peasants. The guilds of artisans and merchants also began to lose their earlier importance because of the decline of trade and urban life.
The rise of the quasi-feudal mode of production modified the varna-divided society. This period witnessed the ascendancy of varnasramadharma and it became an indispensable cornerstone of the Brahmanical social structure. Hiuen Tsang writes about the existence of four varnas or orders in India.
Both Bana and Hiuen Tsang talk about the existence of many subcastes. The position of women seems to have suffered a further decline during this period. Remarriage of widows was not permitted particularly among the higher varnas. Sati and dowry was prevalent during this period.
Coin
The Vardhana / Pushyabhuti Dynasty minted their Silver coins on the pattern of early Gupta Dynasty coins. Even their gold coins are on the pattern of Gupta coins. A gold coin found by Dr.Hoernle has been attributed to Harsha. It has on it the legend Harshadeva with the figure of a horseman. Harsha is called Harshadeva not only in inscriptions but also in Bana’s Harshacharitha. About 284 silver coins with the name ‘Sri Siladitya’ was discovered by Sir.Richard Burn.
Cultural Conditions
From the Harsha’s time started the formation of regional cultural units such as Bengal, Gujarat Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan, etc Harsha was a man of considerable literary interests and talents and despite his administrative duties, he managed to write plays i.e. Ratnavali, Priyadarshika and Nagananda.
He maintained a magnificent court where philosophers, poets, dramatists and painters flourished. Bana, the author of Harshacharita and Kadambari, was the court poet of Harsha. Mayura the author of Mayurashataka, and Bhartrihari, the author of Vakapadiya, a grammarian, also lived at the court of Harsha.
Harsha was in the beginning, a devotee of Siva. Probably owing to the influence of his sister Rajyashri and the Buddhist saint Divakara Mitra, he accepted Buddhism. Later on, he changed over to Mahayana Buddhism under the influence of Hiuen Tsang. But he respected all religions and patronised them equally. With a view to popularise and propagate the doctrines of Mahayana Buddhism, Harsha arranged at Kannauj, a great assembly, which was presided over by Hiuen Tsang.
Another great ceremony was held for 75 days at Prayag (Allahabad). The images of Buddha, Sun and Siva were worshipped and gifts of valuable articles and clothing were distributed in charity. Harsha had diplomatic relations with the Chinese, for his contemporary T’ang emperor sent three embassies to his court. The last of these, under Wang-hiuen-tse arrived in India in 647 A.D. when Harsha was no longer alive. Harsha himself had sent a brahmana envoy to China in 641 A.D. Harsha ruled for aperiod of 41 years and is said to have died about 647 A.D.
Religious Condition
Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism were still the popular religions in India. Hinduism was continuing its popular hold on the people and temples of various gods and goddesses were built in large numbers. Vishnu and his different incarnations and Siva were the most popular gods of the Hindus. Prayag and Banaras were the main centres of Hinduism. The popular sect of Buddhism was Mahayanism.
Its main centres were Kashmir, Jalandhar, Kanyakubja. Gava and Swetpur. Nalanda was the primary centre of Buddhist learning and its university had gained fame far and wide. Jainism was also quite popular in different parts of India. Thus, all the three religions of India coexisted with a spirit of mutual toleration though Hinduism was the predominant religion at that time also.
What was the religion of Harsha? Banabhatta described him as a Hindu-Saiva while Hiuen Tsang stated that he was a Buddhist. It seems that he was a devotee of Siva and worshipped Surya as well during the early period of his life. However, during the later period of his life, he was attracted towards Buddhism. He is said to have erected many Buddhist Stupas and monasteries. He summoned a convocation of the Buddhist monks annually for discussion of religious problems.
He prohibited the slaughter of animals and, like Asoka, made arrangements for free supply of food and medicines to the poor and the destitute. But, Harsha was never a convert to Buddhism and continued to worship Siva and Surya even during the later period of his life. Thus, he practised tolerance of every faith. Harsha used to have a religious assembly at Prayag every fifth year. He had six such religious assemblies during his reign.
These assemblies were proofs of his tolerant religious views. Buddha was worshipped on the first day of each such assembly. Siva was worshipped on the second day and Surya was worshipped on the third day. Harsha distributed money and articles generously to all people on each day and on the fourth and final day he used to give even his personal clothing and ornaments in charity and request his sister Rajyasri to give him something to cover his body.
Harsha also called an assembly at Kannauj in honour of the Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang. The assembly was presided over by Hiuen Tsang and religious discourses continued for twenty-one days. It was a favour to Buddhism and Hiuen Tsang.
This infuriated a section of orthodox Hindus which also resulted in an unsuccessful attempt on the life of Harsha. However, when the assembly was over, Harsha honoured both Hindu priests and Buddhist monks by giving them many things in charity. Thus, Harsha was a religious minded man and a tolerant king to all his subjects of different faiths.
Education and Literature under Harsha
Besides being a great conquer and a religious minded and generous king, Harshavardhan was also a great lover of education and learning. He supposed to be the author of ‘Ratnavali’, ‘Priyadarshika’ and ‘Nagananda’.
The Chinese pilgrim I-Tsing has stated that Harsha was exceedingly found of literature and that he put in verse the story of Buddhisattva Jimutavahan. The poet Jayadeva had also referred to Harsha’s accomplishment as a poet. In his book ‘Gita Govind’. Jaidev has compared Harsha with Kalidas.
Harsha a great patron of education and scholars. According to Dr R.K. Mookherjee “By his liberal patronage or learning. Harsha attracted to his court some of the best men of letters of those days. The chief of them was ‘Bana’ himself”.
Bana Bhatta, author of ‘Harsha Charita’ and ‘Kadambari’ was his court poet. Hiuen-Tsang writes that one fourth of the revenue of the kingdom was spent on promotion of learning Hiuen-Tsang writes that Harsha was impressed by the erudite scholarship of a man in Magadha named Jayasena and offered him the revenue of eighty towns. Harsha highly honoured Hiuen- Tsang, foreigners for his erudition.
The famous scholar Dandi was also the contemporary of Harsha; but he wrote his literary works ‘Dasakumar Charita’ and ‘Kavadarsha’ after the death of Harsha. His patronage made Nalanda, the greatest Buddist University in Asia. In spite of the administrative duties he proved to be a writer of no small merit. In this respect he is more fortunate than Samudragupta.
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