History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c11.52

c11.52

Thus *Kia-shi-mi-lo* or Kashmir was another powerful state in Northern India holding sway over many outlying kingdoms. Unfortunately the *Life* and the Records of Yuan Chwang's Travels are both silent regarding the name of its king, who treated the pilgrim with marked ceremonious respect and hospitality, and "gave him twenty clerks to copy out manuscripts and five men to act as attendants."¹ The Rājatarangiṇī, however, affords us a clue, for, according to Kalhaṇa, Durlabhavardhana, who inaugurated the Karkoṭa dynasty, came to the throne in 3677 of the Laukika era or 601 A. D. He ruled for 36 years, which makes him exactly contemporary with Harṣa. Dr. R. K. Mookerji, on the other hand, tries to show on the supposed authority of the Life that Kashmir "in a way acknowledged the suzerainty of Harṣa."² To quote its testimony, we are told that "Śīlādityarāja, hearing that Kashmir possessed a tooth of the Buddha, coming in person to the chief frontier, asked permission to see and worship it."³ The congregation was unwilling to accede to this request, and concealed the tooth, but the king of Kashmir fearing the exalted character of Harṣa, had the tooth unearthed and presented to him. Then "Śīlāditya seeing it was overpowered with reverence, and exercising force, carried it off to pay it religious offerings."⁴ The episode, as narrated in the Life, will hardly bear the interpretation put upon it; and the expression that Śīlāditya carried off the tooth by "exercising force" probably means nothing more than that he brought it to Kanauj much against the wish of the people of Kashmir, who were even unwilling to allow Harṣa to see and worship the relic. There could be no question of any fight with the king of Kashmir, as the latter presented the sacred tooth to Harṣa of his own accord.