Indian Epigraphy c15.t18.3.2

c15.t18.3.2

a *cakravartin* or *sārvabhauma* monarch, an emperor) nor did the Allahabad region, where Harṣa's conversation with the Chinese pilgrim is said to have taken place, form a part of his dominions. With the death of his elder brother Rājyavardhana, only the small kingdom of Thanesar about the eastern part of the Punjab came into Harṣa's possession. The dominions of the Maukharis covering the major part of U. P. and Bihar were then under the occupation of the king of Mālava (Devagupta) and his ally Śaśāṅka of Gauḍa. Harṣa came to free the dominions of his Maukhari relatives from the Mālava and Gauḍa enemies, which work may have taken him no less than six years as suggested by a statement of Hiuen-tsang quoted above. That he formally declared himself lord of the erstwhile Maukhari dominions in U.P. and Bihar a few years later seems to be clear from the following statement in Hiuen-tsang's *Records*: "The Bodhisattva promised him secret help but warned him not to occupy the actual throne and not to use the title *Mahārāja*. Thereupon Harṣavardhana became king of Kanauj (i.e. the former Maukhari capital) with the title *Rājaputra* and the style *Śīlāditya*."¹ It is clear that Harṣa of Thanesar offered to drive the Mālavas and Gauḍas out of the Maukhari dominions at first as a relative and ally of the late Maukhari king Grahavarman, but that he formally declared himself master of the Maukhari empire after having freed it from the Mālava and Gauḍa enemies.