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296 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[VOL. XXX neighbours, i.e. the Maukharis, while they were iriends of the Later Guptas who ruled on the further side of the Maukhari dominions.
The Later Guptas were similarly enemies of the Maukharis' but friends of the Gaudas and again enemies of the Kämarupa kings. It is very probable that the Bhaums kings of Kāmarūpa were likewise friends of the Maukharis. At least this is suggested by the haste with which Bhāskaravarman of Kamarūpa offered friendship to Harshavardhana as soon as the latter came to be the successor of the last Maukhari king Grahavarman. Harshavardhana belonged to the family of the Pushyabhūtis of the Eastern Punjab and the neighbouring region. That family also became powerful after the decline of the Imperial Guptas. At first the Pushyabhūtis were matrimonially allied with the Later Guptas ;' but, when the throne of the Later Gupta king Mahāsēnagupta, who was probably the maternal uncle of the Pushyabhūti king Prabhākaravardhana, passed to the usurper Dēvagupta, they contracted matrimonial relations with and became friends of the Maukharis. Some of the known facts of history indicating the political relations among the above powers were discussed by me elsewhere."
1 According to the Haraha inscription of Vikrama Samvat 611=563 A.D. (above Vol. XIV, pp. 115 ff.; JRASB, Lottors, Vol. XI, p. 69, n. 4), Maukhari Isänavarman defeatod the Gaudas, while the Harshacharita, supported by the accounts of the Chinese pilgrim Hiuen-tsang, describes how the king of Gauda (Sabanka) led an expedition jointly with the king of Malava (apparently Dévagupta) against the Maukhari king Grahavarman and was responsible for the death of the latter's brother-in-law Rajyavardhana, the Pushyabhūti king of Thaneser (Tripathi, History of Kanauj. pp. 63-68). Earlier success of the Gaudas against the Maukharis at least in Bihar is suggested by the fact that Sasanka seems to have been originally a viceroy under the Gauda king with his headquarters at Rohtaugarh in the Shahabad District (cf. Corp. Ins. Ind., Vol. III, p. 284). The fact that according to the Aphsal inscription, king Mahasenagupta of Mālava (probably a friend of the Gauda king) led an expedition against king Susthitavarman of Kāmarupa without encountering Maukhari opposition seems to indicate the same state of things. It is probablo that tho encounter between Mahasēnagupta and Susthitavarman and between the Gaudas and tho latter's sons were two phases of the same war resulting from a joint Gauda-Mälava invasion of Kämarupa.
* The Gauda king Sasanka was a friend of the Later Gupta ruler of Mälava (Dēvagupta) who usurped Mahasēnagupta's throne. They fought together against the Maukharis and their Pushyabhūti relatives. As indicated above, Mahāsēnagupta also was possibly a friend of the Gaudas and led his Kamarupa expedition as an ally of the contemporary Gauda king.
* The Later Gupta king Kumāragupta defeatod Maukhari Isänavarman and extended his power upto Prayaga (Allahabad) in the east, but the same Maukhari king defeated and killed Kumāragupta's son Damodaragupta and he himself or his son Sarvavarman extended Maukhari power in Bundelkhand (of. Bhandarkar's List, No. 25; above, Vol. XIX, pp. 17 ff.). Sarvavarman's grandson Grahavarman was defented and killed by the Malava king (Devagupta) with the help of the king of Gauda (Sasänka).
• Mahasõnagupta defeated the Kamarupa king Susthitavarman on the banks of the Lauhitya or Brahmaputra probably in alliance with the Gaudas.
It is usually believed that the Pushyabhūti king Prabhākaravardhana's mother Mahāsēnagupta was a sister of Mahāsēnagupta of the Later Gupta dynasty. After the usurpation of Mahäsēnagupta's throne by Dēvagupta, his sons Kumiragupta and Madhavagupta fled to Prabhākaravardhana's court for protection. According to the Harshacharita, Kumāra was installed as king by Prabhākaravardhana's son Harshavardhana (IHQ, Vol. XIX, p. 278, n. 2), although the country where he was installed is not specified. Ho may have been given merely the position of the king of Mālava at the Pushyabhati court; cf. the case of the Stuart Pretenders at the French court. Madhavavarman may have been established by Harsta as his viceroy over some parts of Bihar where his son Adityasina carved out a powerful kindom after Harsha's death.
• Prabhākaravardhana's daughter Rajyaért was married to Maukhari Grahavarman. After the death of Grahavarman at the hands of the Malava king (Dēvagupta) supported by the Gauds king (Sasanka), Prabhakara. vardhana's oldest son and successor Rajayavardhana came to fight with the enemies of his brother-in-law. But he was soon killed by Sasanka. Then Rajyavardhana's younger brother and guccessor Harshavardhana took the field against the Lator Guptas and Gaudas. He succeeded in clearing the Maukhari kingdom of the enemies and ultimately annexed it to his own dominions. He transferred his capital from Thanesar to Kanauj possibly because the lattor had been the capital of Grahavarman.
7 JRASB, Letters, Vol. XI, pp. 69-74.
