History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c11.s5.2

c11.s5.2

There is a remark of Yuan Chwang that "Harṣa waged incessant warfare until in six years he had brought the Five Indias under allegiance,"² which has unfortunately been the source of some error in history. Relying on it Dr. R. K. Mookerji states that "we may assume that all his (Harṣa's) conquests were over by about A. D. 612, and that he had become king six years earlier (the period of his conquests) in A. D. 606.”¹ He adds further : “it is thus reasonable to conclude... that Harṣa’s wars with Valabhi and Pulakeśi took place within A. D. 612.” This assumption, however, seems gratuitous and open to several objections. First, it is quite needless and baseless to suppose that Yuan Chwang’s “six years” began in A. D. 606, the year of Harṣa’s accession, and ended in A. D. 612. Secondly, it would involve a discrepancy since the term “Five Indias,” as explained above, implies sovereignty over Gauḍa and Orissa also, but we have on the other hand positive evidence in the Ganjam inscription that his inveterate enemy Śaśāṅka was flourishing in these regions as late as the year 619 A. D. Thirdly, we know that Pulakeśi II came to the throne about the year 609-10 A. D., and it would indeed be almost a miracle if at the very start of his career and with his position still unconsolidated at home, the Cālukya monarch inflicted a crushing defeat on Harṣa, who already had—as alleged—become “lord of the Five Indias.”