In India, across the Indus River, there have been many rulers who dreamed of conquering a vast country, from north to Himalayas to south to Deccan, from west to Candal Mountains to east to Assam, but few people can conquer history according to their own will. Harshavardhana is such a ruler. His empire may not be as big as the Great Peacock Dynasty, but he deserves special mention. In the middle of the 6th century, after the collapse of the Gupta Empire, India ushered in its golden age, and later unified most of northern India, and ruled Hashavadena for four years from its capital, KanYakubu Jaya.
Power and military movement
The origin of Pushyabhuti dynasty is uncertain, but since 580 AD, Prabhakaravardhana ruled Thaneshwar kingdom, namely modern Haryana state. Yasovati, the queen of Prabhakaravardana, gave birth to two sons, Rajyavardhana and Harshavardhana, and a daughter named Rajyashri, who later married Grahvarman, the king of Kanyakubja, the modern Kannauj. This is a tense period, because India has to deal with the invasion of Xiongnu in Central Asia frequently. Continued fighting cost a lot, they weakened the core of the empire and eventually led to the collapse of Gupta Empire. Because the western border of India and the area near the Indus River were occupied by Huns, there were frequent skirmishes between Huns and Taneshwar. While Hasha and his brother were busy dealing with the Xiongnu in the west, Pabaka Lavadana died in Taneshwar. His eldest son Rajyavardhana succeeded to the throne.
After the death of his brother, at the age of 16, Hashavahana became the undisputed ruler of Taneshwar, declared war to get back at his brother in Welissa Gonzaga, and started DIGVIJAY movement to conquer the world.
At the same time, a bigger event happened in the East, which changed the historical process. Shashanka of Gundam Kingdom, modern Bangladesh, * * * killed Rajyashri's husband, King Grahvarmana, and kidnapped her. His sister was kidnapped, forcing Wardana's brother to March eastward and confront Sasha. Shashanka then invited Roger Jabal Dan to attend the meeting and killed him treacherously. After his brother's death, Hashavahana, aged 16, became the undisputed ruler of Taneshwar, and announced his brother's revenge in the Welissa Gonzaga War and started Digvijay's activity, that is, conquering the world (here, conquering the whole India). However, his number one enemy now is Sasha, and she has to face the anger of her angry brother. Hasha issued a proclamation to all known kings, either loyal to him or facing him on the battlefield. When Shashanka's enemies responded to Hasha's call, he marched on Kanua.
Although there is no evidence, a story in Ha Shacari Tra claims that Rajyashri took refuge in Vindhyas forest after he was released from prison. Hearing this, Hasha hurried into the forest to save her, and just as she was about to throw herself into the fire, she found her. After rescuing his sister, he rejoined the army by the Yokogawa River. Later, with Shasanka's return to Bengal, Hasha easily conquered Kan yakubu Jia, and thus began a long-term hostility. It was not until Shashanka's death that Hasha was able to control the whole of East India, including Mugato, Bangladesh and Kalinga.
Digvijay of Harsha, or conquering the world, begins now. After Kannauj, he turned his attention to Gujarat. He defeated the local kingdom of Walabi and expanded his empire. However, this rapid expansion led to the tension between him and Prakashin II (reigned in 609-642 AD), king of Chalukya. Now, the most powerful kingdoms in northern and southern India are facing each other on the battlefield along the Narmada River. Finally, under the wise leadership of Prashin II, the southerners won and the ambitious northern ruler Hasha was defeated. They said that Hasha lost his cheer when he saw his elephant die in the battle.
Hasha signed a peace treaty with King Chalukya and established the Narmada River as the southern border of his empire. After that, he never went south again. However, this did not stop him from conquering the north. He won the title of sakal uttara patha natha (Lord of North India). Xuanzang told us:
He waged endless wars until he hit five Indians (referring to the five largest kingdoms) in six years. Then the territory was expanded and the army was increased, so that the elephant corps reached 60,000 and the cavalry reached 654.38+million, and they ruled peacefully for 30 years without weapons (Majumdar, 252).
However, many historians think that his statement may have been exaggerated. Nevertheless, it also gives us a glimpse of his military strength.
Wardana Empire consists of two distinct territories: Hasha, such as Central Province, Gujarat, Bengal, Kalinga and Rajputana, and countries and kingdoms that became feudal countries under its rule, including Jalandhar, Kashmir, Nepal, Sindh and Kamarou Pa (now Assam). So many historians think that this title is unreasonable, because he has never been able to put the whole north under a single command. However, this does not mean that his power will not exceed his direct rule. His books are all over northern India. Under his command, King Jalandhar escorted China traveler Xuanzang to the Indian border. On another occasion, the King of Kashmir had to hand over the tooth of Todo Loki to Hasha. News from China shows that King Gama Juba dare not detain a China pilgrim in his capital against Hasha's wishes.
Art and education
Hasha is a patron of art and education. He is a writer himself and has written three Sanskrit plays, Naananda, Ratnavali and Priya Dashka. A quarter of his income is used to support scholars. Ceng Xianzi vividly described the famous nalanda university, which was in its heyday during the reign of Hasha. He described the regular layout of towers, pavilions and temples as "soaring above the mist in the sky", so monks "can witness the birth of wind and clouds from their cells".
The pilgrim said:
A blue pool surrounds the temple, dotted with blooming blue lotus cups; Lovely Kanaka's dazzling red flowers hang here and there, and the mango forest outside provides dense protection shade for residents (grouse, 158, 159).
At its peak, Nalanduo had about 65,438+00,000 students and 2,000 teachers. The admission procedure is very strict. According to the records, the gatekeeper had a strict oral examination and many people were rejected. Courses include Vedas, Buddhism, philosophy, logic, urban planning, medicine, law, astronomy and so on.
Society and religion
The caste system prevails among Hindus. They are divided into four castes or Varna: Brahmins, Vedas, Charlias and sudra, among which there are their own sub-castes. The lowest untouchables lead a miserable life. Compared with the early era of freedom, the status of women has declined. Satipratha (widow self-immolation) is very common, and high castes do not allow widows to remarry.
Hasha was an admirer of Shiva at first, but later became a Mahayana Buddhist. However, he is tolerant of other faiths. In order to promote the teachings of Mahayana Buddhism, Hasha arranged a grand ceremony in Kanye Gubuza, which was presided over by Zeng Xianming. Xuanzang brought a large number of manuscripts to China and translated more than 600 Sanskrit manuscripts. Another grand ceremony was held in Prager for 75 days. Sacrifice Buddha statues, sun gods and Shiva gods and distribute valuables and clothes as gifts in charity. Every five years, religious ceremonies are held in the ancient celebration city of Allahabad. Here he held a charity ceremony for three months. During this period, most of the wealth accumulated in the past five years was consumed. On one occasion, he even gave him his clothes and jewelry and begged his sister to wear an ordinary dress for him.
Death and legacy
The Hasha Empire marked the beginning of feudalism in India. The land was awarded to the village to strengthen the local landlords. This led to the weakness of the empire and caused local disputes. Hasha must keep moving to keep order.
Hasha died in 647, and the empire was with him. Harshavardhana's death is not well documented. It is said that he is married to Durgavati and has two sons, Vagyavardhana and Kalyanvardhana. The story is that they were killed by a minister in his court, even before Hasha himself died. So after Hasha died, there was no heir. As a result, Arjuna, one of the chief ministers, ascended the throne. Later, in 648 AD, Azhou was captured and imprisoned in a western attack.