History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c10.s3.7

c10.s3.7

He gave instructions to Harṣa to remain behind with all the "kings and elephants," probably with a view to guarding the rear against any fresh Hūṇa upheaval, and asked only Bhaṇḍi⁴ to follow him "with some ten thousand horse.”¹ But Destiny had decreed trouble for the ill-starred brothers at every step, and now it was young Harṣa’s turn to take a plunge into the stirred waters of the political storm. After sometime Harṣa learned from one of the favourite cavalry officers that Rājyavardhana, “though he had routed the Malwa army with ridiculous ease, had been allured to confidence by false civilities on the part of the king of Gauḍa, and then, weaponless, confiding and alone, despatched in his own quarters.”² Who the miscreant allies of Gauḍa and Malwa were, we have no means of ascertaining from the Harṣacarita, but we can identify them with the help of other authorities. The Madhuban and Banskhera inscriptions affirm that “the kings Devagupta and others, who resembled wicked horses, were all subdued with averted faces”³ by Rājyavardhana. If we remember that young Rājyavardhana could get opportunities to fight against two enemies only, viz., the Hūṇas of the North-West (against whom he was despatched by his father), and the king of Malwa⁴ who had taken Grahavarman of Kanauj by