A History of Assam c8.27

c8.27

It is said that while in camp in Bengal Harsha Vardhana met Hiuen Tsiang and was greatly attracted by his discourse. He, therefore, resolved to hold a great assembly at Kanauj in order to give the greatest possible publicity to his teaching. The invitation to attend this assembly reached the pilgrim during his visit to Kāmarupa; and as Bhāskara Varman had himself been invited to attend, the two went together. The pilgrim tells us that Harsha marched to Kanauj in state along the south bank of the Ganges, while Bhāskara Varman, who seems to have been the most important of the attendant Rajas, kept pace with him on the opposite bank: he had with him five hundred elephants clad in armour. Kanauj was reached in the spring of 644 A.D. after a journey of ninety days. Daily processions took place there, at which an image of Buddha was carried; the canopy was borne by Harsha himself, attired as the God Sukra, while Bhāskara, clad as Brahma, waved a white *chaunri*. This went on for many days. A second ceremonial followed at Allahabad, at the confluence of the Ganges and Jumna rivers. At its close the pilgrim started on his return journey to China. He was offered many valuable presents, but apart from the money needed to defray the cost of the journey, the only thing he accepted was a fur-lined cape, the gift of Bhāskara Varman.