Rajyavardhana | |
---|---|
King of Thanesar | |
Reign | c. 605 – c. 606 CE |
Predecessor | Prabhakarvardhana |
Successor | Harsha |
Dynasty | Pushyabhuti dynasty |
Father | Prabhakarvardhana |
Mother | Yasomati |
Rajyavardhana, also known as Rajya Vardhan, was the king of Thanesar from 605 to 606, and the eldest son of Prabhakarvardhana and member of the Pushyabhuti dynasty. He ascended the throne after his father's death and was succeeded by his younger brother, Harsha.
Contemporary information regarding the life of Rajyavardhana is limited in scope and utility. He is mentioned by Xuanzang, the Chinese traveller, and in Harshacharita , a seventh-century CE work by the poet and bard Bāṇabhaṭṭa. Neither offer impartial accounts and they differ in substantive details. [1] The military historian Kaushik Roy describes Harshacharita as "historical fiction" but with a factually correct foundation. [2]
Rajyavardhana was the elder of two sons of Prabhakarvardhana and his queen, Yasomati. The couple also had a daughter, Rajyashri, who married Grahavarman, a member of the Maukhari ruling family at Kannauj. [2] Prabhakarvardana was the powerful ruler of the Thanesar region around 585-606 CE, although exact dates are uncertain. The historian Ramesh Chandra Majumdar says he died and was succeeded by Rajyavardhana in 604 CE [1] but Kaushik Roy gives 606 CE as the year, [2] and some sources say 605. [3] Prabhakarvardhana had expanded his territory by defeating rulers in Gujarat, Gandhara and Sind, and he had also resisted the invasion of the Huna people. He died while his sons were fighting the Hunas. [2]
The marriage alliance of Grahavarman and Rajyashri had strengthened ties between the families to a point that Shashanka, the ruler of the Gauda kingdom in Bengal, found unacceptable. He retaliated by allying with the Malava kingdom and the forces appear to have launched a successful surprise attack on the Maukhari capital at Kannauj. Grahavarman was killed and Rajyashri captured at this time, which caused Rajyavardhana to retaliate in turn. He commanded a 10,000-strong cavalry force that was successful in defeating the Malava ruler, with the main army of infantry and war elephants supporting it under the charge of his younger brother, Harsha. [1] [2]
Rajyavardhana's success was against an advance guard of his enemy. He died later in 606 as he made his way onwards to press an action at Kannauj itself. He was perhaps murdered by Shashanka, who may have invited him to a meeting with treachery in mind, although the only sources for this claim are Bāṇabhaṭṭa and Xuanzang, who both had reasons to write unfavourably of Shashanka. [1] [2] [4]
Harsha succeeded Rajyavardhana as ruler of Thanesar and vowed to avenge his brother's death. [2]
Kannauj is an ancient city, administrative headquarters and a municipal board or Nagar Palika Parishad in Kannauj district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city's name is an evolved form of the classical name Kanyakubja. In Ancient Vedic period, it was famous city of Panchala Mahajanpada and also its capital during Panchala king Vajrayudha.
Harshavardhana was the emperor of Kannauj and ruled northern India from 606 to 647 CE. He was the son of Prabhakaravardhana, the king of Thanesar who had defeated the Alchon Huns, and the younger brother of Rajyavardhana, son of Prabhakaravardhana and next king of Thanesar. He belonged to Bais clan of Rajputs and a ruler of the Pushyabhuti dynasty.
Shashanka was the first independent king of a unified polity in the Bengal region, called the Gauda Kingdom. He reigned in the 7th century, some historians place his rule between c. 600 and 636/7 CE, whereas other sources place his reign between 590 and 625 CE.
Thanesar is a historic city and Hindu pilgrimage centre in the Kurukshetra district of Haryana, India. It is located approximately 160 km northwest of Delhi. The city Kurukshetra's area merges with Thanesar.
Bāṇabhaṭṭa was a 7th-century Sanskrit prose writer and poet from India. He was the Asthana Kavi in the court of the Emperor Harsha, who reigned c. 606–647 CE in northern India, first from Sthanvishvara, and later Kanyakubja. Bāna's principal works include a biography of Harsha, the Harshacharita, and one of the world's earliest novels, Kadambari. Bāṇa died before finishing the novel and it was completed by his son Bhūṣaṇabhaṭṭa. Both these works are noted texts of Sanskrit literature. The other works attributed to him are the Caṇḍikāśataka and a drama, the Pārvatīpariṇaya. Banabhatta gets an applause as "Banochhistam Jagatsarvam" meaning Bana has described everything in this world and nothing is left.
Pulakeshi II popularly known as Immaḍi Pulakeśi, was the greatest Chalukyan Emperor who reigned from Vatapi. During his reign, the Chalukya Empire expanded to cover most of the Deccan region in peninsular India.
The Maukhari dynasty was the ruling house of the Kingdom of Kannauj and controlled the vast plains of Ganga-Yamuna for over six generations from their capital at Kannauj. They earlier served as vassals of the Guptas. The Maukharis established their independence during the mid 6th century. The dynasty ruled over much of Uttar Pradesh and Magadha. Around 606 CE, a large area of their empire was reconquered by the Later Guptas of Magadha. According to Hieun-Tsang, the territory may have been lost to King Shashanka of the Gauda Kingdom, who declared independence circa 600CE.
The Harshacharita is the biography of Indian emperor Harsha by Banabhatta, also known as Bana, who was a Sanskrit writer of seventh-century CE India. He was the Asthana Kavi, meaning Court Poet, of Harsha. The Harshacharita was the first composition of Bana and is considered to be the beginning of writing of historical poetic works in the Sanskrit language.
The Malavas or Malwas were an ancient Indian tribe. The malavas are Malhi/malli people (Malloi) who were settled in the Punjab region at the time of Alexander's invasion in the 4th century BCE. Later, the Malavas migrated southwards to present-day Rajasthan, and ultimately to Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Their power gradually declined as a result of defeats against the Western Satraps, the Gupta emperor Samudragupta, and the Chalukya emperor Pulakeshin II.
Bhaskarbarman was king of medieval Kamarupa and the last of the Barman dynasty. After being captured by the Gauda king during the reign of his father, he was able to re-establish the rule of the Varmans. He made political alliances with Harshavardhana of Thaneswar, against the alliance of the Gauda and East Malwa. He was visited by Xuanzang and Wang Xuance, the envoys of the Tang dynasty who have left accounts of the king and the kingdom.
The Gauḍa Kingdom was a kingdom during the Classical era in the Indian subcontinent, which originated in the Gauda region of Bengal in 4th century CE or possibly earlier.
Grahavarman was the king of Kannauj around the early seventh-century CE. He came from the Maukhari dynasty and succeeded his father, Avantivarman. Grahavarman married Rajyashri, the daughter of the ruler of Thanesar, Prabhakar Vardhana. The marriage appears to have been an alliance of the two dynasties against the king of the Malavas.
Prabhakaravardhana was a king of Thanesar in northern India around the time of the decline of the Gupta Empire. According to the historian R. C. Majumdar, he was the first notable king of the Vardhana dynasty but the fourth ruler from the family, who are also referred to as the Pushpabhutis. He had been preceded by his father, Adityavardhana, grandfather Rajyavardhana I and great-grandfather, Naravardhana, but inscriptions suggest that Banabhatta, the seventh-century bard and chronicler of the Vardhanas, may have been wrong to call these earlier rulers kings and that they may instead have been mere feudatory rulers of minor significance.
Gurjaradesa, or is a historical region in India comprising the southern Rajasthan and northern Gujarat during the period of 6th–12th century CE. The predominant power of the region, the Gurjara-Pratiharas eventually controlled a major part of North India centered at Kannauj. The modern state of "Gujarat" derives its name from the ancient Gurjaratra.
The origin of the Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty of India is a topic of debate among historians. The rulers of this dynasty used the self-designation "Pratihara" for their clan, but have been described as "Gurjara" by their neighbouring kingdoms. Only one particular inscription of a feudatory ruler named Mathanadeva mentions him as a "Gurjara-Pratihara".
The Pushyabhuti dynasty, also known as the Vardhana dynasty, was the ruling dynasty of the Kingdom of Thanesar and later the Kingdom of Kannauj in northern India during the 6th and 7th centuries. The dynasty reached its zenith under its last ruler Harsha Vardhana, whose empire covered much of north and north-western India, extending till Kamarupa in the east and Narmada River in the south. The dynasty initially ruled from Sthanveshvara, but Harsha eventually made Kanyakubja his capital, from where he ruled until 647 CE.
The Later Gupta dynasty ruled Magadha in eastern India between the 6th and 8th centuries CE. The Later Guptas succeeded the Imperial Guptas as the rulers of eastern Malwa or Magadha, but there is no evidence connecting the two dynasties; these appear to be two distinct families. The "Later Guptas" are so-called because the names of their rulers ended with the suffix "-gupta", which they might have adopted to portray themselves as the successors of the Imperial Guptas.
Yasomati was an ancient Indian queen as the chief wife of King Prabhakaravardhana of Thanesar.
The Kingdom of Kannauj was a kingdom in Northern India during the Early Mediaeval Era. It was established by Harivarman in 510 who was crowned Maharaja of Kannauj by the Magadhan Emperor. The kingdom of Kannauj expanded into a vast realm that spanned across northern India during the reign of Harshavardhana in the early seventh century.
Devagupta I was the last king of the rump state of Malwa in the western part of what had been the Magadhan Empire prior to the conquest of its eastern part by the Kingdom of Kannauj. He was the eldest son of Mahasenagupta and a member of the Later Gupta dynasty. Devagupta is known for having engineered a Malwa–Gauda alliance with Shashanka of Gauda to counter the Thanesar–Kannauj alliance. The alliance was initially successful, and Devagupta's forces reached Kannauj and killed the king of Kannauj. However, the king of Thanesar defeated Malwa and killed Devagupta, but was himself killed in the war with Gauda. Harsha succeeded him and defeated Gauda, finally winning the war.
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