History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c10.s3.50

c10.s3.50

Having fully discussed Harṣa’s political status in Thanesvar after his brother's death, let us now resume the thread of the narrative. With the resources of Thanesvar at his command Harṣa's immediate and pressing duties were to recover his sister, the widowed queen of Kanauj, from distress; relieve Kanauj from foreign occupation; and punish the treacherous murderer of his brother. Without losing any time he advanced with a huge army to realise these objectives, and on the way was met by Haṃsavega, who had come with precious presents as "confidential messenger" of the king of Prāgjyotiśa (Assam) to seek an "undying alliance."¹ Harṣa readily accepted, being in dire need of staunch allies to help him in his "first expedition" undertaken, when he was yet young and inexperienced in the methods of war. Then permitting Haṃsavega to depart with return gifts Harṣa advanced against the enemy. Soon he came across Bhaṇḍi, who was in charge of the "Malwa king's whole force, conquered by the might of Rājyavardhana's arm,"² and learned from him that Rājyaśrī had been released—or as the poet puts it, "she had burst from her confinement, and with her train entered the Vindhya forest,"³ where in spite of numerous searchers her whereabouts remained unknown. This news being extremely alarming, Harṣa, in fondness for his distressed sister, bade his army halt by the Ganges, and for the present postponed his march against the Gauḍa king, who was in occupation of Kanauj. Thenceforth, in conjunction with Mādhavagupta and a few tributary kings, Harṣa undertook in all haste the urgent task of finding his sister. He plunged into the depths of the Vindhya forest, and chanced to meet the Buddhist sage Divākaramitra, the “boy-friend of the deceased Grahavarman.”¹ Through his good offices Harṣa succeeded in tracing Rājyaśrī, who, despairing of help and prostrate with grief, was just at the point of putting an end to her life by “mounting the funeral pile, surrounded by a troop of women.”² After rescuing his sister, Harṣa desired to take leave of Divākaramitra, but Rājyaśrī was so overwhelmed by the heavy burden of successive misfortunes, and so impressed by the tranquil atmosphere of the hermitage, that she expressed a wish to assume the “red garments.” The sage would not, however, approve of the idea and Harṣa added: “My sister, so young and so tried by adversity, must be cherished by me for a while, even if it involves the neglect of all my duties;”³ and “at the end when I have accomplished my design, she and I will assume the red garments together”⁴.