History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c11.s2: Note A. An objection
History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c11.s2
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Note A. An objection
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A possible objection to our view may be raised in the title “Sakalottarāpathanātha,” given to Harṣa in the southern inscriptions. This has been interpreted as implying that Harṣa “achieved the proud position of being the paramount sovereign of the whole of Northern India.”¹ But there are grounds for supposing that the epithet does not bear any geographical significance. There is mention of another “Sakalottarāpathanātha” in the inscriptions of Cālukya Vinayāditya,² and the sug-
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¹ *Harṣa*, p. 43.
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² Compare for example : “Vinayāditya Satyāśraya had acquired the insignia of supreme dominion by crushing the lord of all the region of the North” (*Sakal-ottarā-patha-nātha-mathan-opārjjita*)—*Ind. Ant.*, IX, p. 129; *Ibid.*, VII, pp. 107,111.
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instance. The *Life* informs us that Harṣa charged its king, Wu-ti, to escort Yuan Chwang in safety to the frontiers, whereas from the *Records* we learn that a former ruler of Jalandhara was on terms of close friendship with the king of “Mid-India” (*See ante*).
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(b) The kings of these territories may have been conquered and subsequently reinstated by Harṣa, having accepted his nominal suzerainty. Similarly, we are told in the Allahabad pillar inscription (*C. I. I.*, III, No. I, p. 14) that Samudragupta “established (again) many royal families, fallen and deprived of sovereignty.”
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(c) The existence of certain kingdoms on the southern route at the time of Yuan Chwang is also in no way incompatible with Harṣa’s southern campaigns. They must have given a passage to the latter’s forces through their territories to escape incurring his wrath. Or, if they had submitted to his yoke previously, they may have taken advantage of Harṣa’s discomfiture when warring against Pulakeśi II. Yuan Chwang visited these parts after this event, and it is certain from his description that these territories were then under their native rulers.
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gested identification is that in all probability he was one of the successors of Mahārājādhirāja Ādityasena in the Later Gupta line of Magadha. In this case, however, it is known beyond doubt that his dominions did not comprise the whole of Northern India. It is thus evident that the expression “Sakalottarāpathanātha” was used in a vague and loose way, and did not necessarily connote the whole of the region extending from the Himalayas to the Vindhya ranges.