[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924) › c30.69 # The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c30.69 The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c30.69 - **Language:** English ### [c30.69](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c30.69) ² Beal, \*Life of Hiuen Tsiang\*, p. 180. In the second edition, a legend related by Tāranāth (Schiefner, p. 128) concerning a certain king named Śrī Harsha, was erroneously applied to Harsha of Kanauj. The historian states that Śrī Harsha enticed 12,000 followers of outlandish religions to assemble in a wooden building, where he burnt them all alive with their books, and so reduced the religion of the Persians and Śakas to very narrow limits for nearly a century. This atrocity is said to have taken place near Multān. Tāranāth adds that Śrī Harsha, in order to atone for his sins, built four great monasteries severally situated in Maru (Mārwāṟ), Mālava, Mewāṟ, Pituva, and Chitavara, in each of which 1,000 monks were maintained. I cannot identify Pituva or Chitavara, nor can I determine the date; but it is clear that Śrī Harsha must have been a chief in Rājputāna, probably of Mārwāṟ, the first country named. The sixth century seems to be indicated as the time. Harsha was born in Mārwāṟ, and ruled all the kingdoms of the west (ibid., p. 126). Ettinghausen (\*Harśa Vardhana\*, p. 84), who also erroneously identified the Śrī Harsha of Mārwāṟ with Harsha of Kanauj, cites Ceylonese versions of the story of the burning. I have not yet found a Rāja Harsha in the Rājputāna lists, but there was a town called Harshapura in Mewāṟ (\*Ind. Ant.\*, 1910, p. 187), which may have been named after the hero of Tāranāth's story. - [Previous: c30.68](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c30.68) - [Next: c30.70](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c30.70) - [Up: c30](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c30) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c30.69](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c30.69) · Pramāṇa