History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c12.s6.11

c12.s6.11

Lastly we are told that the citizens were given to learning and the arts, while they were clear and suggestive in discourse. Thus says Yuan Chwang in praise of the people of “Mid India” (which term probably stands for Kanauj and adjacent territories) at this time: “They are pre-eminently explicit and correct in speech, their expressions being harmonious and elegant, like those of the Devas, and their intonation clear and distinct serving as rule and pattern for others.”¹ The monasteries also at Kanauj were far-famed as repositories of learning. One such college was the Bhadravihāra, where Yuan Chwang stayed for three months studying under the direction of Viryasena, a celebrated doctor of the Three Piṭakas.² In short, Kanauj was under Harṣa the centre of culture and crafts, power and politics, religion and riches; while its grandeur was apparently so great that according to the *Cach-Nāma* long afterwards the expression “you want Kanauj” passed into a proverb, meaning “you want the impossible.”³