Political History of Northern India

Author(s): Gulabchandra Chaudhary
Publisher: Sohanlal Jain Dharm Pracharak Samiti Amrutsar

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POLITICAL HISTORY OF N. INDIA FROM JAIN SOURCES
Dr. K. B. Pathak3
Besides the Hûpas, the new aspirants for imperial power were mainly Yasodharman of Mälava, Maukharis of Kanyakubja and the Puşyabhūtis of Thaneswar. All these new emerging powers at the outset of their career were bound to wage wars against the devastating Hūpas who had seized a large portion of the Gupta empire and were threatening to establish their hold in the Madhyadeśa.
Out of this confusion and struggle arose the famous dynasty of the Puşyabhūtis of Thaneswar near Kurukşetra, which succeeded in arresting the growth of the power of Maukharis and establishing a powerful kingdom near the territory of the Hunas. Such was the condition in the closing decades of the sixth century.
I. PUSYABHUTIS
Harsa: Among the rulers of the Puşyabhuti dynasty only Harşa (-vardhana), the greatest of his line, is mentioned in the Jain sources. The first document which throws light on Harsa is the Aihole inscription of Ravikirti of the time of Pulikesin II, dated 556 Saka or A.D. 634. It contains an eulogistic account of the Calukya family and especially of the numerous and wide conquest of the great Calukya emperor Pulikeśin II, also called Satyaraja," just as the Allähäbåd Pillar inscription describes the conquests of the Gupta emperor Samudragupta. There is no reason to suppose that the account given by the poet is either false or exaggerated. We know from this inscription a number of dynasties that ruled in the Deccan in the beginning of the seventh century A.D., as we know from the Allāhābād inscription of the dynasties that ruled in India in the beginning of the fourth century A.D. This inscription clearly states that Pulikeśin was the emperor of almost the whole of Southern India as from other sources we know that Harşavardhan was the emperor of almost the whole of Northern India at the same time."
The verse number twenty-three of this inscription, with regard to the greatest achievement of Pulikeśin II, states that he forced Harsa, the paramount sovereign of Northern India, whose military success was otherwise
1 Jaina Hitaişi, Vol. 13, No. 12 Kalki Avalara Ki Aitihäsikatä, and Gupta Rajaon Ka kāla, Mihirakula aur Kalki.
समरसंसक्तसकलोत्तर पथेश्वरश्रीहर्षवर्धन पराजयोपलब्धपरमेश्वरापरनामधेयः श्रीवभो महाराजाधिराजः।
2 EI., VI, pp. 1-10
3 IA., VI, p. 828: